Amazon has become one of the largest corporations on the planet, and few of us who are motorists have been on the street without seeing one of their trucks running around. Because of their size, and because of their corporate structure, truck accidents involving Amazon vehicles have become incredibly complicated.
We’d like to thank our friends from Blaszkow Legal, PLLC for the following discussion about how Amazon truck accidents are very different from regular truck accidents.
Employer Responsibility In Truck Accidents
A standard truck accident case is pursued against the person who is responsible for causing that crash. In a case where the truck driver is at fault, this means the case is pursued against the truck driver. However, due to ancient laws about employee-employer responsibility, the employer is responsible for that driver provided the driver was within the scope of his or her employment. This is why Amazon crashes are so complicated: Most of the trucks that you see with Amazon on the side are not owned by Amazon!
Types Of Amazon Vehicles
That may come as a shock to you, but it’s simply the way it is. Amazon vehicles fall under three separate but distinct categories:
- Amazon-Owned Vehicles: These vehicles are owned by Amazon and operated by Amazon employees.
- Amazon-Business Partners (Contractors): These vehicles are owned by a private dedicated company, often that only has one client—Amazon. These companies can be small and only have one truck, to massive outfits that have hundreds. What makes these so difficult to figure out is many of these Amazon partners actually have the Amazon logo on the side of the truck! They have that same gray color and the same Amazon markings as the trucks that are actually owned by the Amazon company itself.
- Amazon Flex: These vehicles are far easier to identify, as these are personal vehicles rather than company vehicles. This is the Amazon equivalent of, for example, UberEats and DoorDash.
Tractor Trailers And Intermodal Shipping
The layers of the onion, as it were, still need to be peeled back even more, especially when Amazon accidents involve tractor trailers. Here again, most of the tractor trailers, both the tractors and the trailers, are not owned by Amazon. They are often owned by private companies that work with Amazon and are hired and contracted to work very specific routes.
As if that wasn’t complicated enough, Amazon is involved in intermodal shipping. So you may be involved in an accident where an Amazon container is on a trailer being pulled by a tractor. So who is your case against? Well, it could be the 1) driver, 2) trucking company, 3) trailer owner (if different), 4) the dispatcher, and maybe 5) the shipper itself, or Amazon.
Contact An Experienced Truck Accident Lawyer Immediately
Because of the varying nature of these crashes, you have got to contact an experienced truck accident lawyer near you right after one of these truck accidents. Do not wait. The longer you wait, the harder you make it for a truck or car accident lawyer to investigate the circumstances of your crash. The only people who benefit from waiting are the insurance company and Amazon itself.
