Trusted personal injury attorneys with over 75 years of combined experience representing truck accident victims across New York.
If you’ve been hit by a truck in Hempstead, NY, you may be dealing with severe injuries and concerns about your recovery. Our Hempstead, NY truck accident lawyer has represented injured victims across Long Island and New York City for over 75 years. At Isaacson, Schiowitz & Korson, LLP, we take these cases on contingency. No upfront fees, and no costs unless we recover. Contact us for a free consultation.
Truck Accident Lawyer Hempstead, NY
A fully loaded commercial truck (18-wheeler, tanker, or flatbed) can legally weigh up to 80,000 pounds. A passenger car weighs roughly 4,000. When those two things collide, physics does not negotiate. But beyond the physics, the legal picture is far more complicated than a standard car accident. The driver might be at fault, but so might the carrier that employed them. Or we may uncover that the logistics company that scheduled the route, maintenance contractor that signed off on brakes that shouldn’t have passed inspection, or the manufacturer of a component that failed shares liability.
Types of Truck Accident Cases We Handle in Hempstead
The type of crash matters, as it shapes who’s liable, what evidence exists, and how the case gets built. We handle commercial vehicle collision claims across a wide range of fact patterns throughout Hempstead and Nassau County.
- Car accidents. When a commercial truck hits a passenger vehicle, the car absorbs the force of impact. We pursue every avenue of recovery to build the strongest possible case for what our clients actually lost.
- Rear-end truck collisions. Tractor-trailers don’t stop like cars do. When a driver follows too closely or reacts too slowly, the results can be catastrophic. We investigate driver fatigue, distraction, and equipment failure as potential contributing causes.
- Jackknife accidents. The trailer swings wide from the cab, sometimes at 90 degrees, and sweeps across lanes with no warning. These crashes are often tied to improper braking technique, slick pavement, or neglected maintenance.
- Underride crashes. A smaller vehicle slides beneath the rear or side of a trailer. Federal law requires underride guards for this exact reason. When those guards are missing, improperly installed, or fail on impact, there is accountability to be had, from the carrier, the manufacturer, or both.
- Wide turn accidents. When a driver misjudges the turn radius or doesn’t check mirrors, cyclists, pedestrians, and other vehicles get caught.
- Overloaded or improperly loaded cargo. An overloaded truck handles differently, the brakes are harder, tips more likely, and rolls can happen. Shifted cargo can destabilize a vehicle in an instant. Liability here often extends past the driver to shippers and loading companies.
- Fatigued driving and hours-of-service violations. The FMCSA sets strict limits on how long a commercial driver can operate before mandatory rest. Companies may push these limits, or sometimes they violate them outright. When fatigue causes a crash, the carrier often shares responsibility for the pressure that created it.
- Drunk or impaired driving. The federal BAC threshold for commercial drivers is 0.04%, which is half the standard limit for other drivers. It’s lower because the stakes are higher. A commercial driver operating above that threshold is in clear violation, and that matters significantly when establishing liability.
- Wrongful death. Collisions between commercial trucks and cars produce widespread casualties. We handle the full scope of those claims, including through our practice when lives are lost.
- Motorcycle accidents. A motorcyclist hit by a truck has almost no protection. The injuries can be severe and the bias from insurers is real and challenging.
Why Choose Isaacson, Schiowitz & Korson, LLP for Truck Accidents in Hempstead, NY?
Trial-Ready Attorneys With Decades Behind Them
Martin Schiowitz has been practicing since 1973. He co-founded Isaacson, Schiowitz & Korson, LLP in 1978 (over 50 years ago) and has spent his career trying high-stakes personal injury, wrongful death, products liability, and civil rights cases. His peers have recognized him as a Super Lawyer, a distinction that goes to the top 5% of attorneys in the field. He is a longtime member of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers.
Jeremy Schiowitz came into this work being inspired by his father Martin. He has spent over 16 years representing injury victims across New York City and Long Island. He argued the appellate case that changed how train platform accident liability works in New York City. He has been named a Super Lawyer every year from 2014 through 2025, recognized by the National Association of Distinguished Counsel in the Top One Percent, and named one of the 10 Best Attorneys in New York by the American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys in 2015.
Together, the attorneys at Isaacson, Schiowitz & Korson, LLP have helped clients recover millions of dollars across verdicts and settlements. As a personal injury lawyer in Hempstead, NY, we understand the full arc of a serious injury case, from the first phone call to the final resolution.
Results That Matter
We handle truck accident cases on contingency. You don’t pay us unless we win, and there is no retainer, hourly billing, or out-of-pocket costs to get started. We believe this allows us to help those who need it the most without adding more financial pressure to their already difficult situation.
Understanding Truck Accident Cases in Hempstead
Damages, Liability, and Compensation in Truck Accident Cases
These cases typically involve larger damages and more potential defendants than almost any other personal injury matter. New York truck accident compensation generally includes economic damages (concrete financial losses) and non-economic damages (subjective, non-monetary losses). Here are examples of damages you may be entitled to receive:
Economic Damages:
- Hospital bills
- Follow-up treatment
- Surgery
- Physical therapy
- Lost wages while you could not work
- Lost future earning capacity if you cannot return to the same job
Non-Economic Damages:
- Physical pain
- Anxiety and emotional distress
- Relationships that changed
- Activities you used to do but no longer can
Punitive Damages:
- A carrier knowingly put a dangerously fatigued driver behind the wheel
- Maintenance records were falsified
- A known defect was ignored
Liability in a truck accident is governed in part by federal standards. The FMCSA imposes specific obligations on carriers around driver qualifications, vehicle upkeep, cargo securement, and hours of service. A violation of those regulations is direct evidence of negligence. We request the truck’s electronic logging device data, GPS records, driver qualification files, and maintenance logs as early as possible, because trucking companies don’t always hold onto evidence they’re not required to produce.
Important Aspects of Your Truck Accident Case
A few things shape these cases more than anything else:
- Evidence disappears or gets destroyed. One of the first things we do is send a formal demand requiring the carrier to preserve all relevant records, including black box data and maintenance records. That letter creates legal consequences if they don’t comply.
- Federal regulation compliance. The FMCSA regulations apply nationwide. A driver who ran past their hours limit, or a carrier running a truck with a flagged brake issue, may have violated federal law before the crash even happened.
- Multiple defendants. The driver, trucking company, maintenance contractor, and cargo loader may all share liability. We investigate and pursue every claim.
- Insurance minimums. Federal law requires commercial carriers to carry far more coverage than a private driver. Minimums start at $750,000 for standard freight and go higher for hazardous materials. That coverage exists because these crashes cause serious, often permanent harm.
Truck Accident Case Timeline
No two cases proceed or conclude in the same way, but here’s the general shape of how these matters unfold:
- Immediately after the crash: Get medical care, report the accident, and call an attorney before speaking to the carrier’s insurer.
- Investigation: We collect police reports, witness statements, ELD and black box data, medical records, accident reconstruction if needed. This phase can take weeks or months depending on complexity.
- Filing and discovery: If negotiations stall, we file suit. Discovery involves depositions, document production, and expert reports.
- Negotiation or trial: Most cases resolve before a jury hears them. But we prepare every case for trial because that preparation is exactly what drives better settlements.
- Resolution: Disbursement of settlement proceeds or enforcement of a verdict. If an appeal is necessary, we handle that too.
What to Bring to Your Truck Accident Consultation
Bring what you have, but don’t wait until you think you have everything. We can use the information you have gathered thus far to give you individualized guidance.
- The police report, or the report number if you don’t have the full document yet
- Medical records and bills tied to your injuries
- Photos, including the scene, your vehicle, your injuries, anything you captured
- Contact information for witnesses, if you have it
- Any communications from the trucking company or their insurer
The consultation costs nothing, it is complimentary so you can learn more about your options. We’ll go through what happened, answer your questions, and give you an honest read on what to do next.
New York Legal Resources for Truck Accident Victims
Truck accident cases in New York sit at the intersection of state civil law and federal commercial regulation. These resources can help you understand the framework:
- New York CVP § 1411: New York’s comparative negligence statute, allowing partial recovery even when a plaintiff bears some fault.
- New York CPLR § 214: Sets the three-year deadline to file most personal injury lawsuits in New York, including car accidents, slip and falls, and general negligence claims.
- New York EPTL § 5-4.3: Defines recoverable wrongful death damages in New York, including pecuniary loss, medical expenses, funeral costs, and punitive damages where the decedent could have recovered them if they had survived.
Reach Out to Isaacson, Schiowitz & Korson, LLP to Schedule a Consultation
If you or someone you love was seriously injured in a commercial vehicle crash in Hempstead, contact Isaacson, Schiowitz & Korson, LLP for a free consultation. There are no up-front fees unless we recover for you. Please reach out today so we can be of immediate assistance.
