San Diego Truck Accident Lawyer

Meet with us by appointment at 3511 Camino del Rio S., Suite 400, San Diego, CA 92108. Our team takes calls and online messages 24/7, in English or Spanish. Our San Diego office page has directions and lists the other cases we handle in the county.

Three truck cases our team resolved in San Diego County:

• $5 million (2024, Interstate 5): a car-carrier truck rear-ended a driver and pushed the car about half a mile, causing neck and back pain.
• $2.9 million (2022, Chula Vista): a big rig hydroplaned, sideswiped a vehicle, and pushed it into a rail, leaving an occupant with neck, back, arm, and hip pain.
• $2.8 million (2025, Poway): a commercial delivery van turning left across traffic struck a family car, injuring an occupant's neck and upper and lower back.

View more truck accident results on our settlements and verdicts page. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different.

Freeways. State law usually puts the CHP in charge of freeway crashes, but in a city larger than 300 square miles, city police hold that job unless the city council asks the CHP to take it by resolution (Veh. Code § 2400(d)). San Diego covers 372 square miles, and the City states that the CHP handles collisions on the freeway. The CHP's San Diego Area office, 5902 Kearny Villa Road, covers 14 freeway systems in San Diego, Chula Vista, National City, and Coronado, and its El Cajon Area office lists I-8, SR-52, SR-94, and SR-125 among the freeways it patrols.

City streets. San Diego police respond to crashes with injuries and to hit-and-runs. The Traffic Division's Collision Investigation Bureau takes major-injury, fatal, felony, and hit-and-run collisions and crashes involving city vehicles. When a regulated truck is involved in an injury or fatal crash, the division's Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officers respond and perform a Level 1 inspection.

Getting the report. Order an SDPD collision report online through LexisNexis eCrash, or pay $12 by mail or in person. Mail requests go to SDPD Records, MS#726, P.O. Box 121431, San Diego, CA 92112, with a check to the City Treasurer and a stamped, self-addressed envelope; in-person requests go to 1401 Broadway, Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Allow 3 to 10 business days.

The courthouse. Our office's ZIP code, 92108, is in the court's Central Division, where unlimited civil cases are heard at the Hall of Justice, 330 W. Broadway. Cases from East County and South County are filed there too, while North County cases go to 325 S. Melrose Drive in Vista.

Claims against public agencies must be presented within six months (Gov. Code § 911.2):

• City of San Diego: the Risk Management Department's Public Liability and Loss Recovery Division, through its online claims portal or on form RM-9 mailed or hand-delivered to 1200 Third Ave., Suite 1000. Email claims haven't been accepted since December 11, 2023.
• County of San Diego: the Office of County Counsel's Claims and Investigation Division at 1600 Pacific Highway, by mail or in person; no faxes.
• Caltrans: claims of $12,500 or less go to the District 11 claim office, 4050 Taylor Street, on form DOTLD-0274; larger claims go to the state's Government Claims Program with a $25 filing fee.
• MTS (buses and the San Diego Trolley): claims go to the MTS Claims Administrator, on a form from the agency's Office of General Counsel.

The border shapes San Diego's truck traffic. In 2025, 990,111 trucks crossed into the U.S. at Otay Mesa, compared with 446,835 at Calexico East and 60,494 at Tecate. The CHP runs a commercial vehicle enforcement facility at Otay Mesa that inspects trucks entering California from Mexico.

Caltrans data show where that freight travels. On State Route 905 at I-805, about 83,000 vehicles pass each day, and a 2022 count found roughly 13,700 of them were trucks, more than 40% of those with five or more axles. On I-805 at the 905, Caltrans lists 155,000 vehicles a day and estimates about 25,500 trucks among them. Farther north, a 2023 count on I-15 at Deer Springs Road, near Escondido, found 145,000 vehicles a day, about 15,200 of them trucks.

Countywide, crashes involving trucks killed 21 people and injured 482 in 2021, according to the CHP's annual report for that year. The CHP counts vehicles with two or more axles and truck tractors, and leaves out pickups and vans.

The company and its coverage. A business answers for an employee's negligence in the course of its work (Civ. Code § 2338), so a truck claim can reach the company and its insurer, not only the driver. A for-hire carrier hauling ordinary freight across state lines or across the border, in a truck rated at 10,001 pounds or more, must carry at least $750,000 in public liability coverage, and some hazardous loads require $5 million (49 CFR § 387.9).

Records with short shelf lives. Federal rules require carriers to keep drivers' duty-status records and supporting documents for only six months (49 CFR § 395.8(k)), and inspection and maintenance records for one year, and for six months after a truck leaves the carrier's control (49 CFR § 396.3(c)). We may send the carrier a written demand to preserve those records and the truck's electronic data soon after we take a case.

The roadside inspection. A Level 1 inspection, the North American Standard Inspection, covers the driver's license, medical certificate, and hours of service, and the truck's brakes, tires, lights, and cargo securement. Its findings can show whether the driver or the truck should have been on the road that day. We may also request the truck's engine and electronic logging data and work with reconstruction engineers.

Delivery vans count too. Not every commercial truck crash involves a big rig. Our Poway result involved a commercial delivery van turning left across traffic, and when a driver is working, the employer can be responsible for the crash as well.

Our San Diego office takes truck cases from across the county, including the Chula Vista and Poway results above.

Chula Vista. The police department's Traffic Unit investigates collisions on city streets. Report copies cost $1.00 from Police Support Services, 315 Fourth Avenue, and most take 10 to 14 business days. A claim against the City goes online or on the Claim for Damages form to the City Clerk, 276 Fourth Avenue, within six months, and the City Attorney processes it. Lawsuits from Chula Vista are filed at the Hall of Justice.

Escondido and North County. I-15 and State Route 78 through Escondido are state freeways, and the CHP's Oceanside Area office, based in Vista, lists both among the routes it patrols, along with I-5. On city streets, Escondido police have a Traffic Unit, and accident reports come from the Records Division at 1163 North Centre City Parkway. A claim against the City goes to the City Clerk at 201 North Broadway within six months, and North County lawsuits are filed in Vista.

We pursue compensation for medical care now and in the future, lost wages and lost earning capacity, and pain, suffering, and emotional distress. California calls the first group economic damages and the second non-economic damages (Civ. Code § 1431.2(b)). When more than one company is responsible, each pays only its own share of the non-economic damages (§ 1431.2(a)), so we look for each company that played a part, which may include the carrier, a broker, the shipper that loaded the trailer, or a repair shop. Families who lost someone can bring a wrongful death claim.

Deadlines at a glance:

• Injury lawsuit against the driver, the carrier, or another company: two years from the crash (Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1).
• Damage to your vehicle: three years (Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1)).
• Claim to the City of San Diego, the County, MTS, Chula Vista, Escondido, or Caltrans: six months (Gov. Code § 911.2).
• Lawsuit after a public agency's written rejection: six months from the date the notice is mailed or personally delivered (Gov. Code § 945.6(a)(1)).