Scranton Truck Accident Lawyers 

Board Certified Civil Trial Advocates Serving Lackawanna County Since 1982

If you’ve been injured in a truck accident, time is critical. At Abrahamsen, Conaboy & Abrahamsen P.C., we act immediately to protect your rights and preserve vital evidence before trucking companies and their defense teams can build their case against you.

Our Scranton truck accident attorneys know that trucking companies spare no expense when accidents occur. They dispatch lawyers and investigators to crash scenes within hours, gathering evidence, obtaining statements, and developing defense strategies while you’re still in the emergency room.

We counter those tactics by launching our own investigation immediately:

• Securing accident scene evidence before it disappears
• Obtaining truck maintenance records and driver logs
• Engaging accident reconstruction experts
• Downloading electronic data from the truck’s black box
• Identifying all liable parties
• Building the strongest possible case for compensation

All three of our attorneys are Board Certified Civil Trial Advocates certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Accredited Agency. That concentration of credentialed trial advocacy in a three-attorney firm is rare. Clients speak directly with a certified attorney from the first call through resolution.

Reach us online or at (570) 712-5545 to request a free case evaluation with a Scranton truck accident attorney. Consultations can be held virtually for your convenience. Hablamos español.

Why Truck Accident Cases Are More Complex

Tractor-trailer accidents are far more serious and legally complicated than standard auto accidents and must be handled accordingly.

Several factors create this complexity:

• Multiple defendants: You may be going up against not only the truck driver but also the trucking company, leasing companies, maintenance contractors, cargo loaders, and vehicle or parts manufacturers. Identifying every responsible party requires sophisticated legal analysis and thorough investigation.
• Immediate corporate response: Trucking companies don’t wait. They send lawyers and investigators to the scene immediately and spare no expense building their defense. Without equally aggressive representation from the outset, critical evidence can be lost, witnesses may become unavailable, and your legal position can be permanently compromised.
• Federal regulatory framework: The trucking industry operates under extensive Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations governing driver qualifications, hours-of-service limits, mandatory rest periods, vehicle maintenance, cargo securement, and safety inspections. Violations of these regulations are central to establishing liability in commercial truck cases.
• Substantial insurance and high stakes: Commercial trucks carry insurance coverage ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. Those policy limits motivate trucking companies and their insurers to employ aggressive litigation tactics to minimize what they pay.
• Carrier liability beyond the driver: Pennsylvania law holds motor carriers vicariously liable for driver negligence and also exposes them to direct claims for negligent hiring, retention, training, and supervision. Identifying every theory of liability requires attorneys who know federal transportation law and Pennsylvania civil practice.
• Complex causation: Determining fault often requires expert analysis of driver fatigue, mechanical failures, improper loading, inadequate maintenance, weather conditions, and road defects. Building that case demands a comprehensive investigation and qualified expert testimony.

With over 80 years of combined experience, more than 24,000 cases handled, and millions recovered for clients, our attorneys have the skills, resources, and legal knowledge to stand up to powerful trucking companies and pursue compensation on your behalf.

The Severe Reality of Truck Accidents

Truck accidents are among the deadliest crashes on American roads. In 2023, 5,472 people died in crashes involving large trucks. What makes those numbers especially devastating is that 82.4% of victims were not truck occupants. They were drivers and passengers in other vehicles, pedestrians, or cyclists.

When a passenger vehicle collides with a loaded tractor-trailer weighing up to 80,000 pounds, the physics are unforgiving. Beyond fatalities, 153,452 people were injured in large truck crashes in 2023. That is an average of 420 people every day.

Lackawanna County sits at the convergence of I-81, I-84, I-380, and I-476. The regional warehousing and distribution corridor through Dunmore, Dickson City, Jessup, and Olyphant keeps heavy commercial truck traffic moving through Scranton year-round. These crashes aren’t abstractions. They happen here, on roads our clients drive every day.

Types of Trucks Involved in Serious Accidents

Our firm handles accident claims and lawsuits involving every kind of commercial truck, including: 

Common Causes of Truck Accidents in Scranton

Truck crashes in Lackawanna County rarely have a single cause. Driver error, carrier decisions, and regulatory violations frequently overlap, and understanding who bears responsibility requires examining all of them.

• Hours-of-service violations: Federal regulations under 49 C.F.R. Part 395 limit how long a commercial driver may be on the road. Electronic logging device (ELD) records and driver log audits often expose violations that left the driver impaired by fatigue at the time of the crash.
• Distracted driving: Federal rules under 49 C.F.R. sections 392.80 and 392.82 ban handheld device use by commercial drivers. A violation adds a regulatory finding on top of a common-law negligence claim.
• Speeding and failure to adjust for conditions: The grades on I-81, I-84, and I-380 and Pennsylvania winter weather demand careful speed management. A heavy truck that fails to adjust can lose control before the driver can respond.
• Improper cargo loading or securement: Cargo that isn’t properly secured under 49 C.F.R. Part 393 can shift in transit, causing rollovers, jackknife crashes, and spilled-load collisions.
• Equipment failure: Brake defects, tire blowouts, and steering failures caused by deferred maintenance or skipped inspections under Part 396 can make a truck uncontrollable.
• Negligent hiring or retention: Carriers that hire or keep unqualified drivers in violation of Part 391 driver qualification standards face direct liability separate from the driver’s own negligence.
• Impaired driving: Part 382 drug and alcohol testing requirements create a documentary record we can access through formal discovery when impairment is suspected.

Injuries Sustained in Commercial Truck Crashes

The size and weight of an 18-wheeler make the injuries it causes categorically different from those in most car accidents. Victims frequently face lengthy recoveries, permanent limitations, and economic losses that extend far into the future.

• Traumatic brain injuries: Ranging from concussion to severe TBI with permanent cognitive impairment.
• Spinal cord injuries and paralysis: Which may require lifetime care and produce economic losses reaching into the millions.
• Broken bones, crush injuries, and amputations: Common in high-force collisions between passenger vehicles and large trucks.
• Internal organ damage: Often not externally visible and life-threatening if not promptly diagnosed.
• Severe burns and permanent disfigurement: Particularly in crashes involving fuel ignition or hazardous material release.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder: Psychological injuries are compensable under Pennsylvania law and are a real consequence of catastrophic crashes.
• Wrongful death: Surviving family members can pursue claims under Pennsylvania’s wrongful death and survival statutes.

Proving Negligence in a Pennsylvania Truck Accident Case

To recover compensation, an injured victim must establish four elements: duty, breach, causation, and damages. Commercial truck drivers and their carriers owe a duty of care to all other road users under both Pennsylvania law and the applicable FMCSA regulations.

When a driver or carrier violates an FMCSA regulation, that violation may support a negligence per se claim, meaning the regulatory standard itself defines the required conduct. Exceeding hours-of-service limits or deferring a required maintenance inspection isn’t just evidence of negligence. It can support that claim.

Carriers routinely attempt to shift fault onto the victim. Pennsylvania’s modified comparative negligence rule under 42 Pa.C.S. section 7102 reduces a plaintiff’s recovery proportionally to their fault percentage and bars recovery entirely at 51% or greater fault. Countering that strategy early, before evidence disappears, is one of the most consequential things we can do for a truck accident client.