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Freight does not slow down for Montgomery. Rigs heading for the Gulf, for Atlanta and for the Midwest all pass through the point where I-65 and I-85 meet, and the people in the cars around them have no margin for a trucker’s error. When that error lands you in a hospital bed, the motor carrier already has its claims handler assigned. You should have someone too. The Wilson PC’s Montgomery truck accident lawyers, with 1400+ excellent client reviews and millions recovered, secure the truck’s records first and then go after each company that shares the blame.
For our full list of local services and the details on our Dexter Avenue location, visit our Montgomery, Alabama office page.
No Worries About Paying Upfront
Proving a case against a motor carrier takes engineers, data specialists and sworn testimony, and none of it is cheap. Our firm fronts those expenses. A fee is owed only when money comes in on your Montgomery truck accident claim.
No Language Barriers
Someone answers day and night, in English and Español. If you would rather explain the wreck in Spanish from your room at Baptist Medical Center South, that is how we will take it down.
Don’t Accept Less – Let Us Deal with the Trucking Company
Carriers hauling through Alabama understand that this state still applies contributory negligence, and they train their claims staff around it. A friendly question about how fast you were traveling is a search for a reason to pay zero. Hand the phone to us instead, beginning with the very first voicemail.
Montgomery is where two interstates end their separate runs and share pavement, and commercial traffic from U.S. 231 (Eastern Boulevard / Troy Highway), U.S. 80, U.S. 82 and Atlanta Highway feeds into the same junction. Statewide, the ALDOT 2024 Alabama Crash Facts report logged 140,118 collisions, 36,601 people hurt and 967 lives lost during 2024. Of those fatalities, 44 belonged to Montgomery County. A passenger vehicle that meets a loaded trailer absorbs the force, which is why these wrecks fill so many of the serious-injury files we open.
A lawyer for this kind of case has to be fluent in federal motor carrier rules as well as state injury law. Under 49 C.F.R. § 395, a property-hauling driver may drive 11 hours at most following 10 straight hours off duty, may not drive once 14 hours have passed since coming on duty, must stop for half an hour once 8 driving hours accumulate, and is held to 60 hours in 7 days or 70 hours in 8. Under 49 C.F.R. § 387, a for-hire carrier moving ordinary freight needs no less than $750,000 of liability insurance, rising to $1,000,000 or $5,000,000 for certain hazardous loads.
State law supplies the hard part. Alabama courts apply pure contributory negligence, so a carrier that convinces a jury you were careless, and that your carelessness helped bring about the wreck, pays nothing on the negligence claim. For 13+ years The Wilson PC has built injury cases with that defense in mind. Our Montgomery team works from 445 Dexter Avenue, Suite 4050, Montgomery, AL 36104 and takes over the claim the day you call.
Motor carriers treat a serious wreck as a legal event from minute one. These five steps keep your Montgomery truck accident claim on equal footing:
Hiring us changes who the carrier has to answer to. From that day its insurer deals with a law firm, its records are under a legal hold, and you are free to spend your energy on rehabilitation.
The proof in a commercial vehicle case lives in documents most people never see. We request the duty-status logs, the engine computer report, the driver’s hiring and training file, drug and alcohol screens taken after the wreck, shop and inspection records, and the messages between driver and dispatcher. Those records tell us whether blame stops with the person at the wheel or reaches the company. When the insurer refuses a fair number, the lawsuit is filed at the Montgomery County Circuit Court (15th Judicial Circuit).
The work proceeds in this order:
Picture a box truck running a light on the U.S. 231 (Eastern Boulevard / Troy Highway), or a tanker drifting across a lane on I-65. The driver of the smaller vehicle may leave with broken vertebrae, a totaled car and no way to earn a paycheck. Alabama lets that person recover each of those losses from whoever is legally responsible. The job of a Montgomery truck accident lawyer is to list them completely and back each one with proof.
We sort the losses into two groups:
Physical Damages:
Financial Damages:
Expect the defense to raise Ala. Code § 12-21-45. That statute lets a jury hear that an insurer paid or will pay part of your medical expenses. It equally lets you prove the premiums you paid for that protection and any amount you are obligated to pay back. We assemble both sides of that ledger before trial.
Commercial traffic in Montgomery follows a pattern. Through freight stays on I-65 and I-85. Regional haulers and delivery fleets work U.S. 231 (Eastern Boulevard / Troy Highway), U.S. 80, U.S. 82 and Atlanta Highway. Much of it squeezes through the I-65 / I-85 interchange. Which agency responds depends on where the wreck happens: the Montgomery Police Department inside the city limits, and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office or state troopers elsewhere in Montgomery County. The county’s 44 traffic deaths in 2024 came from every kind of crash, and collisions with heavy trucks are among the ones most likely to cause a life-changing injury.
What we can say is how carriers behave afterward. A company with a fleet has done this before. It has a claims process, outside counsel on call and an insurer whose staff handle nothing except commercial losses. All of them understand that in this state, proof of your own negligence is a full answer to a negligence claim, and they organize their investigation around finding it.
Working from downtown, a Montgomery truck accident lawyer can get to the scene, the tow yard and your bedside at Baptist Medical Center South quickly, and knows how civil cases move at the Montgomery County Circuit Court (15th Judicial Circuit). We look closely at hours violations, skipped inspections and hiring shortcuts, because conduct showing reckless or conscious disregard for safety is wantonness, and contributory negligence does not defeat a wantonness claim.
The Wilson PC Personal Injury Attorneys – Let Us Get You the Settlement You Deserve
People from Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka and Pike Road and across the River Region can speak with us at no charge. Dial (470) 575-6130, describe the wreck, and we will explain the strengths and risks of your Montgomery truck accident claim in plain terms.
Looking for a truck accident lawyer close to where you live or where you were hurt in Montgomery, AL? Our Montgomery office sits on Dexter Avenue in downtown Montgomery, a short walk from the State Capitol and the Phelps-Price Justice Center. Appointments can be in person, over video or on the phone, and an attorney will travel to your hospital room or home if your injuries keep you there.
Our clients have recovered MILLIONS after collisions with commercial vehicles.
Fatigue, a text message, a missed inspection, a load that was never tied down: whatever the cause, the law allows full compensation for what you lost. If the evidence shows wantonness, a jury can also award punitive damages.
Millions Recovered for Injured People Like You!
Four things have to be established in a Montgomery truck accident case, as to each defendant. While proving them we also prepare for the defense that you were contributorily negligent:
First comes the duty of care. Anyone operating a commercial truck through the I-65 / I-85 interchange must drive as a careful professional would, and the carrier must follow federal rules on driving hours, vehicle inspection and repair, load securement and who is qualified to drive.
Second is breach. Examples include staying on the road after the 14th on-duty hour, editing a logbook to hide it, ignoring a required rest break, or sending out a tractor with brakes already flagged as defective. Proof that a safety regulation was broken supports a negligence finding and can support wantonness.
Third is causation: a link between the violation and your harm. Speed and braking data from the engine computer, logging device entries, camera video and an engineer’s reconstruction show what the truck was doing in the seconds that mattered.
Fourth are your measurable damages, from hospital charges and wages to the damage to your car and your physical pain. Since this is a contributory negligence state, we also gather proof that you drove carefully, or that the trucker acted wantonly or had the last clear chance to prevent the impact.
Commercial insurers are specialists. The person who calls you has evaluated hundreds of injury claims and is measured on how little the company pays. You, on the other hand, are doing this for the first time, probably while medicated and worried about rent. Add Alabama’s fault rule to that imbalance. A casual answer such as “traffic on U.S. 231 (Eastern Boulevard / Troy Highway) was stop-and-go and I glanced down for a second” may be quoted back later as proof that you contributed to the wreck.
There is also the matter of access. You cannot download a tractor’s engine computer or pull a driver’s duty records; the company holds them. Unless a formal hold is demanded, ordinary retention schedules allow much of that material to be deleted. Delay helps the insurer in another way, since unpaid bills make a small check look attractive.
With a Montgomery truck accident lawyer involved, the carrier receives a hold notice, your treatment in the Montgomery area is documented properly, each potentially liable company is identified, and the insurer receives a demand supported by evidence, with the Montgomery County Circuit Court (15th Judicial Circuit) as the next stop if it refuses.
You will find us at 445 Dexter Avenue, Suite 4050, Montgomery, AL 36104. The office is on Dexter Avenue in downtown Montgomery, a short walk from the State Capitol and the Phelps-Price Justice Center, and parking is available nearby. Many people hurt in truck wrecks cannot drive or sit for long, so we routinely hold first meetings by video or telephone and will send an attorney to a hospital, a rehabilitation center or your house anywhere in the River Region. Dial (470) 575-6130 and tell us which arrangement suits you. Bring, or have a relative bring, whatever you have so far: the officer’s card, photographs from the scene, and any letters from an insurance company.
Your health comes first: ask for an ambulance and let the emergency physicians at Baptist Medical Center South check for head, spine and internal injuries. Next, make sure law enforcement is notified. An injury wreck must be reported right away, to the Montgomery Police Department within the city or to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office or troopers beyond it, and the officer has 24 hours to forward the report to ALEA. If you are able, record the carrier name and USDOT number shown on the tractor, take pictures of the vehicles and any cargo on the road, and get contact details from witnesses. Wrecks near the I-65 / I-85 interchange often have several. Then contact a lawyer and refer every caller from the carrier to that lawyer.
We take over the dispute with the motor carrier from start to finish. In practical terms:
For most injury claims the limit is two years, measured from the day of the wreck, under Ala. Code § 6-2-38. A wrongful death claim must likewise be brought within two years of the death.
Because Montgomery is home to state, county and city government, publicly owned trucks are a real possibility here, and they carry their own rules. A claim against a city requires a sworn statement filed within six months. A claim against Montgomery County must be presented to the county commission within twelve months. Claims against the State itself or a state agency are heard by the Board of Adjustment instead of a court.
Do not plan around the two-year mark. Records that carriers are allowed to discard, and data that recycles automatically, may be gone long before then.
It will try. Alabama is a pure contributory negligence state, which allows a defendant to escape a negligence claim by proving that the injured person was also negligent and that this negligence helped cause the injury. The carrier carries the burden of proving it. That explains the early questions about your speed, your following distance and whether you were on a phone.
Three points work in your favor. A driver or company that acted wantonly, meaning with reckless or conscious disregard for the safety of others, cannot use your negligence as a shield. The last clear chance doctrine helps when the trucker saw the danger in time and still failed to avoid it. And Ala. Code § 32-5B-7 says failing to buckle a seat belt is not evidence of contributory negligence. Our Montgomery investigation is organized around those points.
The recovery is meant to cover everything the wreck took from you. That begins with medical expenses: emergency treatment, operations and hospital days at facilities such as Baptist Medical Center South, Jackson Hospital and Baptist Medical Center East, followed by rehabilitation and the care your physicians predict you will need in the years ahead. It includes wages you have missed and, when you cannot go back to the same work, the reduction in what you are able to earn.
It also includes the human losses: pain, mental distress, scarring and the hobbies and routines you have had to give up. Alabama has no general cap on compensatory damages in injury cases, and nothing in state law limits truck cases specifically. When clear and convincing evidence shows wantonness by the trucker or the carrier, punitive damages may be awarded as well.
Not before a lawyer reads it. Commercial insurers make early offers for a reason: a claim settled in the first weeks is settled before anyone knows whether you will need another surgery, how long you will be out of work, or what the truck’s own data shows about fault.
Read the release that accompanies the check. It usually ends your rights against the driver and the carrier and also against companies you may not have heard of yet, such as the freight loader, the repair vendor or the maker of a defective part. You cannot reopen the claim later if your condition worsens. A Montgomery truck accident lawyer at our firm will review the offer and the release without charge and tell you how the figure compares with the losses you can prove.
Longer than a typical two-car claim. A year or more is common, and contested cases run past that. Several things drive the schedule: serious injuries need time before doctors can describe the long-term outlook, several companies and insurers may be involved, and engineers need time to analyze the electronic records.
When liability is denied, or the carrier insists you were contributorily negligent, we file in the Montgomery County Circuit Court (15th Judicial Circuit), and from then on the court’s calendar controls the pace. Settlement can still happen at any stage, including shortly before trial.
We advise against closing a claim while treatment is ongoing. Once you settle, you cannot return for more if your recovery stalls, so the timing should follow your medical progress, not the insurer’s preference.
When the call comes, note the caller’s name, company and claim number, say that your attorney will respond, and end the conversation. You are under no obligation to be recorded.
Payment normally comes from the carrier’s liability policy. Federal rules require a for-hire carrier hauling ordinary freight to hold $750,000 or more in coverage, with $1,000,000 and $5,000,000 tiers for specified hazardous materials. Carriers that operate only within Alabama fall under Public Service Commission rules. Private passenger cars, by comparison, need only 25/50/25 coverage. Other companies tied to the load or the equipment may bring additional policies. Should the truck belong to a small operator without enough insurance, the uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy, governed by Ala. Code § 32-7-23, can be claimed too.
These cases turn on records and expert interpretation. We collect four kinds of proof:
We also keep your own vehicle available for inspection and look for cameras on nearby businesses and traffic signals.
Yes, because you pay no money to begin. The Wilson PC represents people hurt in Montgomery truck accidents under a written contingency agreement. It sets our fee as a share of whatever is recovered, and you see that percentage before you sign.
Costs that arise along the way are covered by the firm: the police report, medical record charges, the engine computer download, engineers, court filing charges and deposition transcripts. Should the case end without a recovery, no attorney fee is due.
This arrangement matters in trucking litigation, where the defense is well funded. It lets a family in Prattville or anywhere in the River Region bring a case to the Montgomery County Circuit Court (15th Judicial Circuit) with the same preparation the carrier can buy.
You deserve a direct answer. If a jury finds that you were negligent and that your negligence contributed to the collision, Alabama’s rule allows the carrier to defeat the negligence claim entirely. There is no percentage reduction as in most other states.
That said, an adjuster’s accusation is not a finding. Insurers raise shared fault routinely because the rule rewards them for it. The evidence often tells a different story: a logbook showing the trucker was beyond legal hours, engine data showing no braking, or video showing the truck entering your lane. Facts like those can establish that you were careful, that the trucker was wanton, or that the trucker had the last clear chance to avoid you. Bring us the facts before you accept anyone’s opinion about blame.
A wreck with a commercial truck near Montgomery calls for a firm with specific skills: command of the federal motor carrier regulations, a process for securing electronic records quickly, the money to retain qualified experts, and readiness to present the case to a Montgomery County jury. It also calls for people who pick up the phone and explain each development as it happens.
Our demand includes each kind of loss Alabama law recognizes, present and future, so nothing you are owed is overlooked.
We understand that money can be tight, so we work quickly to get you the compensation you deserve.
Navigating the legal system can be tricky, but we’re experts. We know all the rules and strategies to make sure your voice is heard.
We’re professionals, and we hold ourselves to high standards.
We don’t want to add to your burdens. We’ll handle everything related to your compensation, making it a hassle-free experience for you.
We’re here to support you every step of the way in your journey to recovery. If you forget to tell us something, we’ll reach out and ask.
Think of us as your hosts. We’re happy to get to know you and assist you in any way we can.
We’ll explain everything you need to know and keep you updated. You can always reach out to us if you have questions.
Contact us today if you or a loved one have been injured in an accident. Your consultation is free, quick and confidential.
Be it understanding your rights, navigating legal procedures, or fighting for your just compensation, you can depend on The Wilson PC!
