Santa Clarita Truck Accident Lawyer

A loaded truck weighs many times what your car does, so a crash with one tends to change your life in a second. If you were hit on State Route 14, on Interstate 5, or on a street like Soledad Canyon Road, you are probably facing hospital bills, missed work, and a trucking company that already has a team working to limit what it pays. That team moves fast. The truck's electronic data and the driver's logs can be erased or overwritten if nobody demands they be saved. Here you will find where these crashes happen, which federal rules help you, who can be held responsible, where reports and cases go, and which deadlines apply. Moe Abdallah takes truck cases personally, and he talks with clients by call and text so you are never left guessing. The first call is free, and you pay no fee unless he wins. If a truck hit you, call before you talk to the carrier's adjuster.

Where trucks and commuters collide around the I-5 and SR-14 interchange

Santa Clarita sits where two major freeways meet. State Route 14, the Antelope Valley Freeway, runs north into the high desert, and Interstate 5, the Golden State Freeway, connects Los Angeles with points north. Big rigs, box trucks and delivery vans share those lanes with a huge commuter crowd heading to and from the Valley and downtown. A local news article from February 2026 called the I-5/SR-14 interchange and the Magic Mountain Parkway on-ramps perpetual hotspots for rear-end and sideswipe crashes, though the article cites no data. A law firm's analysis of 2025 CHP crash data counted 156 reported incidents on northbound SR-14, 103 on southbound SR-14 and 99 on northbound I-5 in Santa Clarita, with SR-14 the most of any road in the city. Those counts include every vehicle type and are a third-party tally, not an official ranking, so they do not tell you how many involved trucks. They do show where traffic is thick. A tall, heavy truck needs far more distance to stop, and it is hard to merge or change lanes beside one. On surface streets, trucks also turn onto arterials such as Soledad Canyon Road and Newhall Ranch Road, where wide right turns can sweep through a bike lane or into a car beside them.

Hours of service and the logs that can show a tired driver

Federal rules limit how long a commercial driver can work, and a violation can prove negligence. For property-carrying drivers, 49 CFR section 395.3 allows at most 11 hours of driving inside a 14-hour on-duty window after 10 straight hours off. A driver must take a 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving, and total on-duty time is capped at 60 hours in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days. Trucks keep electronic logs, and those records show when the driver started, stopped and slept. Fatigue is a common reason a truck drifts into a lane, rear-ends slowed traffic, or misses a stopped line of cars near a freeway merge. Logs are only one piece of the picture. Fuel receipts, toll records, dispatch messages, and cell phone use can show whether the paperwork matches reality. Carriers sometimes push drivers to make a delivery window, and the paper trail may say so. After some serious crashes, the employer also has to test the driver for drugs and alcohol under 49 CFR section 382.303, and the clock on those tests is short, 8 hours for alcohol and 32 hours for drugs. Skipped tests are a red flag. Moe asks for all of it early and checks it against what the truck itself recorded.

Black box data, dash cams and the preservation letter

Modern trucks record more than most drivers realize. The engine control module can store speed, braking, and throttle data from the moments before impact. Many fleets also run forward-facing or driver-facing cameras, GPS tracking, and collision-warning systems. All of it can disappear on a routine schedule. Video loops over. Trucks get repaired and returned to service. A carrier that wants to avoid blame has little reason to keep what hurts it. That is why Moe sends a preservation letter right away, telling the carrier, the driver and any other responsible party to keep the truck, its data, maintenance files, driver qualification file, training records and dispatch communications. A company that destroys evidence after receiving that notice risks having it held against the company in court. You can help too. Photograph the truck, the company name and DOT number on the door, the license plate, the trailer, the skid marks and the road. Get witness names and numbers. Ask whether shops or homes near the crash have cameras. On a freeway, that may mean asking which agency responded so the right report and any CHP photos can be requested. Evidence in a truck case is a race, and the first week matters most.

Driver, carrier, owner or broker: who can be responsible

A truck crash often has more than one responsible party, and each can have a separate insurance policy. The driver is the obvious target, but the company that employs him is usually liable for what he does on the job. A carrier can also be responsible for its own mistakes, such as hiring a driver with a poor record, skipping training, or letting maintenance slide. The truck's owner, a leasing company, a cargo loader whose load shifted, a parts maker, or a freight broker may all share blame depending on the facts. Insurance is the other half. Federal law requires for-hire interstate carriers hauling non-hazardous property in vehicles of 10,001 pounds or more to carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage under 49 CFR section 387.9. Hazardous loads require more. Those are minimums, and your case can be worth more than a minimum. California also follows pure comparative negligence, so if the carrier says you were partly at fault, you can still recover and your award shrinks by your percentage. Under Proposition 51, each defendant pays its own fair share of non-economic damages like pain and suffering, so naming every responsible party matters. Moe identifies all of them early instead of settling for the first policy that answers.

Sheriff and CHP reports, claims against government trucks, and deadlines

Start with the report. The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station, 26201 Golden Valley Road, (661) 260-4000, patrols the city. Its collision reports are requested through the LASD Records and Identification Bureau in Norwalk by calling (562) 345-4441 for an appointment, Monday through Thursday, 8 am to 5 pm. A freeway crash on SR-14 or I-5 may have been handled by another agency, such as the California Highway Patrol, so check the card or paperwork the officer gave you and ask which agency took your report. Next, watch the clock. You generally have two years to sue for injury or wrongful death under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1, and three years for damage to your vehicle under section 338(c)(1). If a city, county or public works truck hit you, a written claim must be presented to the public entity within six months under Government Code section 911.2, and if it rejects you in writing, you have six months to sue under section 945.6. For the City of Santa Clarita, that starts with the City Clerk's Office at 23920 Valencia Blvd, Suite 120, (661) 259-2489. The Santa Clarita Courthouse in Valencia is at 23747 W. Valencia Blvd, but we could not confirm which courthouse hears injury suits, so Moe checks venue before filing.

Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, serious injuries and how Moe handles your case

Truck crashes cause injuries that change how you live: spinal cord damage, traumatic brain injury, crushed limbs, burns, and internal bleeding. Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital on McBean Parkway in Valencia is a designated Level II trauma center, with a trauma surgeon and anesthesiologist on hand 24 hours a day, according to the hospital. Some injuries, especially brain injuries and herniated discs, are not obvious on day one, so get checked even if you walk away. Keep every bill, discharge sheet and work note. Your claim should cover more than the ER bill: future surgery, rehab, lost income, lost earning power, and the pain of daily life. Insurers for trucking companies often argue that you were at fault, that your injuries were already there, or that you waited too long for care. Moe prepares for those arguments from day one. He takes the calls himself, updates you by call and text, and gets the evidence moving fast. He has recovered policy limits on several cases, including $30,000 limits after a head-on crash that left a client with femur and ankle fractures and surgery. Past results do not predict a similar outcome. You pay nothing unless he wins. Call (323) 716-1992 any time, day or night.

Talk to a Santa Clarita truck accident lawyer

Call (323) 716-1992 for a free, no-obligation case review. You pay nothing unless we win, and we'll handle the insurance companies for you. Learn more about our truck accidents representation →

Frequently Asked Questions

Other cases we handle in Santa Clarita

See everything we handle in Santa Clarita →

Truck Accident lawyers in other cities we serve