If an 18-wheeler hit you on I-10, the Bayway, or anywhere in Mobile County, you need a lawyer involved before the trucking company’s insurance adjuster calls you. They will call. Usually within 24 hours. I’m Chris Simmons, and I personally handle every truck accident case at my firm. Call me directly at (251) 306-8333.
Why Trucking Companies Move Fast After a Crash
Within hours of a serious wreck on I-10 near the Wallace Tunnel, on the Bayway heading into Baldwin County, or on US-98 outside Mobile, the trucking company has already dispatched a rapid-response team. Investigators. Reconstruction experts. Defense lawyers. They are not there to figure out what happened. They are there to build a file against you.
I’ve seen it happen on Airport Boulevard. I’ve seen it happen on I-65 north of the Beltline. The driver gets coached. The black box data gets pulled and interpreted in the carrier’s favor. Witnesses get contacted before you’ve even left University of South Alabama Medical Center.
This is why the first 72 hours matter more in a commercial truck case than in any other type of motor vehicle wreck. By the time most people start calling lawyers, the trucking company has a head start measured in days.
I move faster. I send a spoliation letter the same day I’m hired so the carrier cannot “lose” the dashcam footage, the driver logs, the maintenance records, or the electronic logging device data. If they destroy evidence after that letter, an Alabama judge can sanction them for it.
Alabama’s Contributory Negligence Rule — And Why It Wrecks Truck Cases
Alabama is one of only four states left in the country that still uses pure contributory negligence. Here’s what that actually means: if a jury decides you were even 1% at fault for the crash, you recover nothing. Not reduced damages. Nothing.
Trucking insurance adjusters know this rule cold. They train for it. Every conversation they have with you is engineered to get you to say something — anything — that puts a sliver of fault on you. “Were you in a hurry?” “Did you see him before the impact?” “How fast do you usually drive on the Bayway?”
They are not asking because they’re curious. They are asking because in Alabama, 1% is all they need.
The Port of Mobile pumps an enormous volume of commercial truck traffic onto I-10, Theodore Dawes Road, and the industrial corridor running down toward Dauphin Island Parkway. Every one of those trucks is insured by a carrier whose adjusters know Alabama law better than most lawyers do. They will use contributory negligence against you if you give them the chance.
Do not give them the chance. Do not give a recorded statement. Do not post about the wreck on social media. Do not sign anything they send you. Call me first.
What to Do After a Truck Accident in Mobile
If you can do these things, do them. If you cannot, that is what I’m here for.
1. Get medical care immediately. Even if you think you’re fine. Adrenaline masks injuries, and gaps in treatment are the first thing defense lawyers point to. University of South Alabama Medical Center is the Level I trauma center for the region. Mobile Infirmary and Springhill Medical Center are also strong options depending on where you are in the city. Get evaluated. Document everything.
2. Call 911 and let Mobile Police or Alabama State Troopers work the scene. A commercial truck wreck almost always generates a formal crash report. That report matters.
3. Photograph everything you safely can. The truck. Its DOT number. The trailer. Skid marks. Debris. Road conditions. The intersection. If the wreck happened on Government Street, on Springhill Avenue near the medical district, or on Old Shell Road, the layout matters and memories fade.
4. Get names and numbers from witnesses. Police reports do not always capture every witness. The independent ones — drivers who pulled over on the Bayway, pedestrians on Dauphin Street — are gold.
5. Do not talk to the trucking company’s insurance adjuster. Not even to be polite. Tell them your lawyer will call them back. Then call me.
6. Save everything. Medical bills. Lost wage documentation. Pharmacy receipts. Mileage to and from appointments. Photographs of injuries as they progress.
Where Truck Wrecks Happen in Mobile
If you’ve driven Mobile, you already know the trouble spots. I-10 through the Wallace Tunnel and across the Bayway is the obvious one — heavy commercial traffic, weather that turns dangerous fast, congestion that backs up without warning. Bayway crashes involving 18-wheelers are some of the most catastrophic wrecks I see, and fog rolling off Mobile Bay makes them worse.
Airport Boulevard between I-65 and the airport carries delivery and freight traffic all day. US-98 west toward Mississippi is a commercial truck route. Theodore Dawes Road and Dauphin Island Parkway feed the industrial corridor that supports the Port of Mobile, and the truck volume there is constant.
The surface streets matter too. Government Street, Springhill Avenue, Old Shell Road, and Dauphin Street were not built for the kind of commercial traffic that now uses them as cut-throughs. When an 18-wheeler tries to navigate downtown Mobile and clips a passenger vehicle, the damage is rarely close to even.
Most truck accident cases filed by my clients end up in Mobile County Circuit Court at 205 Government Street. I know that courthouse. I know the judges. I know how truck cases get tried in this county.
Who Pays in a Commercial Truck Case
This is one of the biggest differences between a regular car wreck and a truck wreck. In a passenger car case, you typically have one driver and one insurance policy. In a commercial truck case, you may have multiple responsible parties: the driver, the trucking company, the company that owned the trailer, the company that loaded the cargo, a maintenance contractor, or a broker who arranged the load — with multiple layers of insurance, often stacking into the millions.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations control a lot of this — hours-of-service rules, drug and alcohol testing, vehicle inspection requirements, driver qualification files. When a carrier violates those regulations and someone gets hurt, that violation becomes evidence.
I pull the driver’s qualification file. I subpoena the electronic logging device data. I get the maintenance records on the truck and trailer. I find out whether this driver had been flagged before and the carrier kept him on the road anyway. That is how you build a truck case in Alabama.
Why Simmons Law
I am the lawyer on your case. Not an associate. Not a paralegal. Me. I personally review every file at this firm, and I personally handle every truck accident case that comes through the door.
I answer my own cell phone: (251) 306-8333. If you call during the day and I’m in court or with another client, I call you back the same day.
I graduated from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. Before law school I worked as a congressional staffer, which taught me how regulations actually get written and enforced — useful background when the case turns on FMCSA rules. I have recovered significant results for truck accident clients in Mobile County, including on cases another attorney had already declined. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
No fees unless I win. Free consultation. Call (251) 306-8333 or use the contact form on this page.
