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San Antonio 18-Wheeler & Commercial Truck Accident Attorneys · 30+ Years

San Antonio Truck Accident Lawyers

Hit by an 18-wheeler, delivery truck, or commercial vehicle in San Antonio? Patterson Law Group has recovered $100 Million+ for injured Texans and tries cases against the largest motor carriers in the country. Local San Antonio office. Free consultation, no fee unless we win.

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Awards & Recognition
Selected to
Super Lawyers®
2026
Texas Bar Foundation
Fellow
$100 Million Dollar Club — American Academy of Attorneys
Million Dollar Advocates Forum Life Member
AVVO 10.0 Superb
#1 Wrongful Death
Settlement
TX · 2024
Fort Worth Magazine Top Attorney
360West
Top Attorneys
2026
Independently selected by peer-recognition organizations.
$100M+
Recovered for clients
30+
Years fighting for Texans
483+
5-star Google reviews
#1
Wrongful Death settlement TX, 2024

San Antonio office — local attorneys, federal trucking experience

Our San Antonio office at 926 Chulie Drive is staffed by attorneys who know Bexar County juries and the Texas commercial-trucking docket. We handle Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulation (FMCSR) cases regularly — preservation of electronic logging device data, post-crash drug-and-alcohol testing under 49 CFR §382.303, driver qualification files, and the corporate-deposition strategy that exposes whether a motor carrier's safety culture caused the crash. If you cannot come to the office, we come to you — at the hospital, at home, by phone, or by Zoom.

San Antonio & surrounding cities we serve

We represent truck-accident clients across Bexar County and the surrounding South Texas counties. If a commercial vehicle caused your injuries in any of the cities below — or anywhere else within the San Antonio metro — call us.

San Antonio Alamo Heights Converse Helotes Leon Valley Live Oak Schertz Universal City

Counties covered: Bexar, Comal (New Braunfels), Guadalupe (Seguin), Atascosa, Wilson, Medina, and Kendall (Boerne).

Why injured San Antonio clients choose Patterson Law Group

Real trial lawyers

We try cases. Three decades of trial practice across Texas courts, including Bexar County's civil district docket. Every truck case is built for the courthouse from day one — preservation letters, ECM downloads, expert workups, and depositions of the corporate safety director on the carrier side.

$100 Million+ recovered

Three decades of trial-tested results for Texas families, including the highest Wrongful Death Settlement in Texas in 2024 — an 8-figure recovery for a grieving family. We bring that same trial-readiness to every San Antonio truck case we take.

No fee unless we win

You pay nothing up front. We only get paid when you do, and our fee comes out of the settlement, not your pocket. The firm advances investigation, expert, and litigation costs. Free consultation, no obligation, available 24/7.

What to do after an 18-wheeler crash in San Antonio

Truck crashes destroy evidence faster than passenger-car crashes. The first 48 hours matter more than almost any other point in the case. Here is what we tell our San Antonio clients:

  1. Get medical care immediately. San Antonio has University Health (the region's only Level I trauma center, on the Medical Center campus), Brooke Army Medical Center at Joint Base San Antonio (a federal Level I trauma center that also serves civilian crash victims), Methodist Hospital (Level II trauma), Baptist Medical Center, and Christus Santa Rosa. Even if you feel fine, soft-tissue injuries, internal bleeding, and concussions can take hours or days to surface — and a documented medical visit creates a record the carrier cannot easily dispute later.
  2. Report the crash and capture the truck's identifiers. San Antonio PD handles crashes inside the city; Bexar County Sheriff handles unincorporated county; DPS handles state highways and interstates. Get the case number. Photograph the truck's USDOT number, MC number, trailer plate, company logos, and any visible damage. Those numbers tie the truck back to the motor carrier and its insurance.
  3. Photograph everything. The vehicles, the scene, license plates, road conditions, traffic controls, skid marks, debris pattern, and any visible injuries. Memories fade. Adjusters exploit gaps. Photos do not.
  4. Get witness contact info. Independent witnesses can decide a case. Get a name and phone number before they leave the scene.
  5. Do not give a recorded statement to the trucking company's insurer. Their adjusters call within hours and they are trained to get statements that limit your recovery. You are not required to talk to them. Refer them to us.
  6. Call a lawyer before you sign anything. Early settlement offers are almost always low — and once you sign a release, you cannot reopen the claim, even if your injuries turn out to be worse than expected. We send preservation-of-evidence letters within hours so the ECM data, ELD logs, dashcam, and driver qualification file are locked down before the routine destruction window passes.

Texas and federal trucking law — what San Antonio clients should know

Two-year statute of limitations

Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §16.003 gives you two years from the date of the crash to file most personal injury and wrongful death claims. Federal claims and claims against governmental entities may have shorter notice deadlines under the Texas Tort Claims Act.

Modified comparative fault

Under §33.001, Texas follows a 51% bar rule: you can recover damages as long as you are 50% or less at fault. Your recovery is reduced by your share of fault. Trucking-defense lawyers push that percentage hard onto the passenger-vehicle driver — we push it back with reconstruction evidence and downloaded crash data.

Paid or incurred medical bills

§41.0105 limits medical-damage recovery to amounts actually paid or incurred — not what was billed. With Level I trauma stays at University Health or Brooke Army running into six figures, careful documentation of the paid-or-incurred numbers is critical to preserving the full medical claim.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations

Interstate and many intrastate commercial trucks must comply with 49 CFR Parts 350–399, the FMCSR. The regulations govern driver qualification, hours-of-service, drug-and-alcohol testing, vehicle maintenance, and post-crash procedures. A clear FMCSR violation can be negligence per se in Texas — a powerful tool when the regulation was designed to protect the kind of person who was injured.

MCS-90 and federal minimum coverage

Under 49 CFR §387.9, interstate motor carriers must carry minimum financial responsibility of $750,000 for general freight and $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 for certain hazardous materials. The MCS-90 endorsement on the carrier's policy guarantees payment to the public for the carrier's liability — even when the named insured tries to dispute coverage. We identify every primary, excess, and umbrella policy in play.

Negligent hiring, retention, supervision, entrustment

Under Texas common law, a motor carrier can be directly liable when it hired a driver with a poor safety record, retained a driver after a known violation, failed to supervise compliance with the FMCSR, or entrusted a commercial vehicle to an unqualified operator. These claims open access to the carrier's training, hiring, and safety-management files — and they support exemplary damages under §41.003 when the carrier acted with gross negligence.

Exemplary damages

§41.003 permits exemplary damages on clear and convincing evidence of fraud, malice, or gross negligence. Falsified driver logs, knowing service of an unsafe driver, driving under the influence, and repeated FMCSR violations are the kinds of facts that support gross-negligence pleadings. §41.008 caps exemplary damages, with statutory exceptions.

Stowers doctrine

When a commercial-trucking carrier refuses a reasonable within-limits settlement demand, the Texas Stowers doctrine exposes the insurer to liability for any excess judgment — key leverage in San Antonio motor-carrier cases.

Hospital liens and subrogation

Texas hospitals can attach a lien to your settlement under the Texas Hospital and Emergency Services Lien Act. Health insurers and federal payers (Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE — common for Brooke Army patients) have subrogation rights. We negotiate liens down so more of the settlement ends up in your pocket.

San Antonio's commercial trucking corridors

San Antonio sits at the convergence of three major interstate freight corridors and serves as the U.S. gateway for cross-border NAFTA/USMCA freight from Laredo. The corridors below produce most of our truck-accident case files:

  • I-35 (NAFTA Corridor). The single heaviest cross-border freight artery in the country. Trucks coming north from Laredo run I-35 through San Antonio and into Austin and DFW. The stretch from the Loop 1604 interchange through downtown is one of the highest truck-volume sections of interstate in Texas.
  • I-10. The Houston-to-El Paso east-west route. Long-haul trucks crossing Texas use I-10 through Bexar County constantly. Fatigue-driven crashes on the I-10 west of Boerne and east of Seguin are routine.
  • I-37. The Corpus Christi-to-San Antonio corridor, heavy with fuel hauls and refinery freight from the Gulf. Crashes on I-37 south of Pleasanton and into south Bexar County involve a higher-than-average share of hazmat cargo.
  • Loop 410 (IH-410). The original inner loop. Tight curves at the I-10/I-410 and I-35/I-410 interchanges produce constant merging crashes between commercial trucks and passenger cars.
  • Loop 1604. The outer loop. 65–70 mph speed limits, heavy commercial-truck traffic on the north side near La Cantera and the medical center, and toll-lane confusion on the new managed-lane segments.
  • US-281. Heavy commuter and commercial truck traffic from Bulverde, Spring Branch, and the Hill Country into San Antonio.
  • US-90. Commercial freight from the west — Castroville, Hondo, and Uvalde — into San Antonio. Two-lane sections produce head-on crash patterns with passing semis.
  • Port San Antonio & the rail-freight perimeter. Drayage trucks moving cargo between the port, the BNSF and Union Pacific yards, and the surrounding industrial parks generate a steady caseload of crashes at the access roads and intersections.

Where San Antonio truck accident cases are heard

Bexar County

Civil personal injury cases in Bexar County are heard at the Bexar County Justice Center, 300 Dolorosa Street, San Antonio. The 37th, 45th, 57th, 73rd, 131st, 150th, 166th, 224th, 225th, 285th, 288th, 407th, 408th, and 438th District Courts handle the civil docket.

Surrounding counties

Cases out of Comal County (New Braunfels) are heard at the Comal County Courthouse, 150 N Seguin Avenue. Guadalupe County (Seguin) cases go to the Guadalupe County Courthouse at 211 W Court Street. Kendall County (Boerne) cases are heard at the Kendall County Courthouse, 201 E San Antonio Avenue.

Federal court (W.D. Tex.)

Cases with diversity of citizenship or substantial federal-law issues can be filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division, John H. Wood Jr. Federal Courthouse, 655 East Cesar E Chavez Boulevard.

Most truck cases settle and never see a courtroom — but we file in the proper venue and build every case as if it will, which is part of why insurance companies settle them fairly.

Other San Antonio injury cases we handle

Common questions from San Antonio truck-crash clients

What is the deadline to file a San Antonio truck accident lawsuit?
Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §16.003 sets a two-year statute of limitations for most personal injury and wrongful death claims, including 18-wheeler and commercial truck cases. The clock starts on the date of the crash. Cases involving city, county, or state vehicles can also trigger the Texas Tort Claims Act, which has notice deadlines as short as six months. Federal claims and claims against multiple defendants can have their own deadlines. The safest move is to talk to a lawyer well before any deadline gets close — physical evidence (black box data, driver logs, dashcam) starts disappearing within days.
What if I was partially at fault for the San Antonio truck crash?
Texas follows modified comparative fault under §33.001. You can recover damages as long as you are 50% or less at fault — your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are 51% or more at fault, you cannot recover. Commercial-trucking carriers and their defense lawyers aggressively push the fault percentage onto the passenger-vehicle driver. We push back with the physical evidence, electronic logging device data, downloaded engine-control-module data, and a reconstruction expert when the case warrants one.
Why are commercial truck cases different from regular car accident cases?
Three reasons. First, the federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (49 CFR Parts 350–399, the FMCSR) impose detailed duties on motor carriers and drivers — hours-of-service limits, drug-and-alcohol testing, maintenance, driver qualification files. A violation of an FMCSR provision can be negligence per se in Texas. Second, the available insurance is usually much larger — the federal MCS-90 endorsement and 49 CFR §387.9 set minimum financial responsibility at $750,000 for general freight and $1,000,000 or $5,000,000 for hazardous cargo, and most national carriers carry far more in primary and excess layers. Third, the liability rarely stops at the driver. The motor carrier, the broker, the shipper, the loader, and the maintenance contractor can each be a defendant under negligent hiring, retention, supervision, or entrustment theories under Texas common law.
What evidence has to be preserved after an 18-wheeler crash in San Antonio?
The list is long and time-sensitive. Electronic logging device (ELD) data — required since the FMCSA mandate took full effect — captures hours-of-service compliance and can be overwritten or downloaded by the carrier within days. The engine control module (the truck's black box) captures speed, brake application, throttle position, and crash-pulse data. Driver qualification files, drug-and-alcohol test records, post-crash testing under 49 CFR §382.303, maintenance and inspection records, dashcam footage, dispatch communications, bills of lading, and the post-accident report under 49 CFR §390.15 are all discoverable but only if requested before they are routinely destroyed. We send preservation-of-evidence letters to the motor carrier and its insurer within hours of being retained.
Who else can be liable besides the truck driver?
Under Texas common law, the motor carrier can be liable for negligent hiring, negligent retention, negligent supervision, or negligent entrustment when the driver's qualifications, training, or safety record was deficient. A freight broker can be liable for selecting an unsafe carrier. A shipper can be liable for negligent loading or overloading. A maintenance contractor can be liable for defective repairs. A trailer manufacturer can be liable for product defects. Every potential defendant adds an insurance policy to the case. We map out the corporate structure and the contracting chain early so we know whose policies we are reaching.
What kinds of damages are available in a San Antonio truck case?
Economic damages include past and future medical expenses, lost wages, loss of earning capacity, and property damage. §41.0105 limits medical-bill recovery to amounts "paid or incurred," so documentation matters. Non-economic damages include past and future pain, suffering, mental anguish, physical impairment, disfigurement, and loss of consortium. Exemplary damages under §41.003 are available when clear and convincing evidence shows gross negligence — repeated FMCSR violations, driving under the influence, falsified logs, or a knowingly fatigued driver are the kinds of facts that open that door. §41.008 caps exemplary damages, with exceptions for specific intentional crimes.
Where are San Antonio truck accident cases filed?
Most Bexar County civil suits are filed at the Bexar County Justice Center, 300 Dolorosa Street, San Antonio, TX 78205. The 37th, 45th, 57th, 73rd, 131st, 150th, 166th, 224th, 225th, 285th, 288th, 407th, 408th, and 438th District Courts handle the civil docket. Cases involving freight that crossed county lines may also support venue in Comal County (New Braunfels), Guadalupe County (Seguin), Atascosa, Wilson, or Medina County. Federal cases can be filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division, at 262 W Nueva. We choose the venue that fits the case.
How much does it cost to hire Patterson Law Group for a truck case?
Nothing up front. We take commercial-trucking cases on contingency — you pay no attorney fees unless we recover for you. The consultation is free and confidential, and we cover the cost of investigation, experts, and litigation costs out of pocket until the case resolves. Our San Antonio office is at 926 Chulie Drive, San Antonio, TX 78216, and we also serve clients from our Fort Worth (2409 Forest Park Blvd) and Arlington (2310 W I-20 #100) offices. Se habla español.

Hit by an 18-wheeler in San Antonio? Talk to a Texas trial lawyer today.

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