Injured by a Delivery Driver

I’m David Holub, an attorney focusing on personal injury law in northwest Indiana.

Welcome to Personal Injury Primer, where we break down the law into simple terms, provide legal tips, and discuss personal injury law topics.

Many stores now utilize third-party delivery truck services to deliver goods to consumers.

Unfortunately, safety and insurance limit laws may not apply to these delivery programs.

First, commercial truck drivers must have a commercial driver’s license. This ensures that a driver has specialized training and skills.

Operating a small van or truck, smaller and lighter than a semi, enables a company to skirt commercial motor vehicle regulations that require more than a regular driver’s license.

Thus, third-party delivery companies are not required to mandate that drivers have a CDL.

Even though these delivery vehicles are being used in a commercial setting, the companies putting these vehicles on the road, are avoiding complying with other “commercial motor vehicle” laws, such as those that require minimum liability insurance coverage.

Many states, including Indiana, require insurance that mandates fleet coverage for commercial vans/trucks independent of VIN number. This means that where a commercial fleet is involved, an insurance carrier cannot escape liability by arguing that the vehicle involved in a crash was not specifically identified on a policy.

The law also requires minimum policy limits of $1,000,000.00. The purpose is to protect the public.

Often third-party delivery trucks are sized small enough so as to not qualify as commercial motor vehicles. This means that the companies who put these slightly smaller trucks and vans on the highway, can save money by not needing high premium $1,000,000  minimum insurance coverage mandated for commercial motor carriers.

Further, federal law states that commercial truck drivers must be found to be acting within the course and scope of their employment if they are operating a vehicle with a DOT license number displayed on the vehicle. It is mandatory. Before this law, enacted in the 1950s, commercial vehicle operators used the same specious “independent contractor” argument that these smaller delivery outfits are using to argue that they cannot be held liable for a driver’s negligence. In short, today’s third-party delivery truck fleets need not display DOT numbers; thus, no law is on the books mandating that a driver be found acting in the course and scope of their employment with the fleet owner.

Thus, big online merchants use third-party delivery truck companies and argue that these delivery drivers should be treated as independent contractors. If those drivers were found to be the merchant’s employees, the wealthy merchant could be held liable for the actions/inactions of its employee drivers.

If the merchant is not held responsible for the driver’s negligence, the motorist injured in a crash with the delivery truck may find that the driver has low-limit insurance.

Today’s third-party delivery drivers have all of the hallmarks of employees, but pieces of paper are signed that paint them as independent contractors.

As we just discussed, allowing merchants to bypass protective laws is fundamentally unfair to the motoring public.

Thankfully, a recent decision in Georgia state court found that a delivery truck service partner for Amazon was not an independent contractor. A jury found Amazon liable for negligently training a delivery truck driver who severely injured a child in a crash. The jury concluded that Amazon had sufficient control of the delivery truck company and its drivers and that the delivery driver was more like Amazon’s employee and not an independent contractor.

This is one of the first jury trials in the US that addressed the issue of whether Amazon is liable as an employer for the actions of its delivery partners’ drivers.

Hopefully, this Georgia case will encourage other judges and juries everywhere to see that merchants are held legally responsible for the negligence of delivery drivers.

I hope you found this information helpful. If you are a victim of someone’s carelessness, substandard medical care, product defect, work injury, or another personal injury, please call (219) 736-9700 with your questions. You can also learn more about us by visiting our website at DavidHolubLaw.com. While there, make sure you request a copy of our book “Fighting for Truth.”