Insurance coverage for truck drivers hurt or killed by other drivers

Trucking is among the more dangerous occupations. A significant percentage of my work as a trucking safety trial attorney in Atlanta is representation of injured truck drivers and their survivors when a crash is caused not by the trucker, but by another motorist.

Many lawyers in such situations may overlook the fact that many trucking insurance policies include uninsured motorist (UM) insurance coverage equal to the liability coverage. It’s not always there, but it’s definitely worth checking.

So if a truck driver is hurt or killed due to negligence of a motorist who has only $25,000 coverage, the truck’s UM coverage is available for damages above $25,000 up to the UM limits of the policy on the truck.

This morning I received an insurance policy in a case where I represent the folks who were hit by an 18 wheeler. The policy includes $1,000,000 for both liability and UM coverage. If the trucker had been killed due to negligence of the other driver, rather than the other way around, the truck driver’s family could collected on the $1,000,000 UM coverage.

Ken Shigley is a trial attorney in Atlanta, Georgia who has been listed as a “Super Lawyer” (Atlanta Magazine), among the “Legal Elite” (Georgia Trend Magazine), and in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers (Martindale), and is a Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He served as chair of the Southeastern Motor Carrier Litigation Institute, is on the National Advisory Board for the Association of Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America, and is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education programs for the Interstate Trucking Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice. Mr. Shigley has extensive experience representing parties in trucking and bus accidents, products liability, catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, spinal cord injury, brain injury and burn injury cases. Currently he is Secretary of the 40,000 member State Bar of Georgia.This post is subject to our ethical disclaimer.