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Licatesi Law Group, LLP

Brooklyn truck crashes · Kings County

Brooklyn Truck Accident Lawyers

A collision with a commercial truck is not a bigger car accident. The proof sits with the carrier, and the first deadline depends on who was operating the truck.

Our Brooklyn office is on Kings Highway. Over 40 years of experience; free consultation.

(516) 227-2662
Cars, box trucks and a tractor-trailer on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in its brick-walled trench, seen from the Sackett Street overpass.

What a Brooklyn truck case actually turns on

A collision with a tractor-trailer, box truck, or delivery van is not simply a larger car accident. The vehicle is usually owned by a company, driven by an employee on the clock, insured under a commercial policy, and operated under federal safety rules that do not apply to ordinary drivers. That changes who can be held responsible and what has to be proven.

It also changes where the proof sits. The driver's duty records, the carrier's hiring and maintenance history, data recorded by the truck itself, and video from nearby businesses are all held by someone other than you. Asking for them early, in writing, is a large part of the work.

DEADLINES AND COVERAGE

Three years to sue a private party
A personal-injury lawsuit against a private driver, owner or carrier is generally due within three years. A wrongful death claim generally has two years from the death.
Shorter, different clocks for public vehicles
An injury claim against the City needs a notice of claim within 90 days of the incident; if the crash caused a death, that notice runs 90 days from the appointment of the estate's representative. A claim against the State goes to the Court of Claims: filed and served, or a notice of intention served, within 90 days of accrual.
No-fault first, then the lawsuit
For eligible claimants, New York no-fault benefits cover early medical treatment and some lost earnings regardless of who caused the crash. Where the no-fault law applies, recovering for pain and suffering also requires a serious injury under the current definition, which no longer includes the 90/180 category for suits commenced on or after May 26, 2026.

Kings County cases are filed in Supreme Court, Kings County, at 360 Adams Street in Downtown Brooklyn.

FROM OUR BROOKLYN CASE FILES

Two Brooklyn red lights. Two truck collisions. Two recoveries for NYC probation officers.

$300,000recovery

Driver stopped at a red light

An NYC probation officer was stopped at a red light in Brooklyn when an 18-wheeler rear-ended his vehicle. He suffered multiple injuries.

$380,000recovery

Passenger in a work vehicle

An NYC probation officer was a passenger in a work vehicle rear-ended by a truck at a red light in Brooklyn. She suffered multiple injuries, including surgery.

See more verdicts and settlements

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case depends on its own facts.

How Brooklyn truck collisions happen

Brooklyn runs heavy commercial traffic through streets that were laid out long before 53-foot trailers existed. The same conditions turn up again and again: expressway congestion, industrial and port routes, and turning movements on narrow blocks shared with people walking and cycling.

Queens-bound and Staten Island-bound traffic on the stacked Brooklyn-Queens Expressway beneath the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.
Expressway crashes
The BQE and the Gowanus Expressway pair tight curves and short merges with stop-and-go traffic, which produces rear-end and loss-of-control crashes at highway weights.
Industrial and port routes
Sunset Park, Red Hook, East Williamsburg, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard mix container and delivery traffic with loading docks, backing maneuvers, and pedestrians on the same block.
Turns on narrow streets
Long trailers on residential Brooklyn blocks swing wide, cross into opposing lanes around double-parked vehicles, and clip cars, cyclists, and parked traffic mid-turn.
Blind spots and underrides
A truck driver cannot see everything alongside the cab. On corridors like Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue, that produces right-turn strikes on cyclists and cars pushed beneath a trailer.
Federal safety rule violations
Interstate carriers are bound by federal rules on driver qualification, hours behind the wheel, vehicle inspection and repair, and how cargo is secured. Cases often begin with a documented breach of one of them.
Road and load conditions
Pavement defects, shifting construction lanes, low clearances, and cargo that was loaded badly all change how a heavy vehicle behaves before the driver ever reacts.

Where Brooklyn trucks are allowed to go

New York City requires trucks, as its traffic rules define them, to use designated routes. A truck making a delivery in the borough must use local truck routes and may leave them only to reach its stop by the most direct way; a truck just passing through must stay on through routes. Leaving the route for a shortcut is not allowed, and trucks are barred from the City's parkways (NYC DOT Truck Smart Guide).

The network changed on October 4, 2026, and NYC DOT says a new map will follow. Changes in Brooklyn include (NYC DOT change list):

Added to the truck-route network

  • Second Avenue, 29th Street to 58th Street, with 29th Street between 2nd and 3rd avenues
  • Bushwick Avenue, Metropolitan Avenue to Grand Street
  • Alabama and Van Sinderen avenues, up to Atlantic Avenue in East New York
  • Rockaway Parkway, Linden Boulevard to East New York Avenue
  • Surf Avenue, West 17th Street to West 8th Street

Removed from the network

  • Myrtle Avenue, Jay Street to Duffield Street
  • Greenpoint Avenue, West Street to Franklin Street
  • Jamaica Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue, near East New York Avenue and Fulton Street
  • Avenue U, Flatbush Avenue to East 55th Street
  • Fountain Avenue, Seaview Avenue to the Spring Creek landfill

A truck off its route does not prove fault by itself, but where the truck was allowed to be, on the date of the crash, is an issue to investigate in a New York City truck crash.

What compensation covers

Damages in a New York truck case fall into two groups: the losses that can be added up from records, and the ones that cannot. Where New York's no-fault law applies, as it does for most car occupants and pedestrians, the second group requires a serious injury.

Economic losses

Medical care
Emergency treatment, surgery, hospital stays, rehabilitation, assistive equipment, and the cost of care you will still need later.
Lost earnings
Income you did not receive while you were unable to work, documented through pay records and tax returns; no-fault covers part of it first.
Loss of earning capacity
Future income lost when an injury keeps you from returning to the work you did before.
Property damage
Repair or replacement of your vehicle and of property destroyed in the crash.

Non-economic losses

Pain and suffering
There is no general cap, but in suits under the no-fault law commenced on or after May 26, 2026, specified at-fault claimants who are not barred are limited to $100,000, except in death actions.
Emotional harm
Psychological injury flowing from the crash and from the recovery that follows it.
Loss of enjoyment of life
Activities, routines, and relationships you can no longer take part in as you did before.
Disfigurement and scarring
Significant disfigurement is one of the serious-injury categories in Insurance Law 5102(d).

What actually helps a truck case

Most of the proof in a truck case is created in the days right after the crash, and most of it is held by someone else. A short practical list is more useful than a flowchart.

If you are not sure what applies to your crash, call 516-227-2662 and ask.

In the days after the crash

  • Get medical care and keep following up. The treatment record is the record of your injury.
  • Make sure the crash is reported and a police report is generated.
  • Photograph the vehicles, the roadway, and the truck's markings, including the company name and any USDOT number.
  • Collect names and phone numbers for witnesses before they leave the scene.
  • If no-fault applies, give the applicable insurer written notice, ordinarily within 30 days.
  • Do not give a recorded statement to the trucking company's insurer, and do not sign a release, before you get advice.

What a lawyer goes after

  • A written demand to the carrier to preserve the truck, its recorded data, and the driver's records.
  • The driver qualification file, duty-status records, and the carrier's inspection and repair history.
  • Video from nearby businesses, buildings, and vehicles, which owners routinely overwrite on their own schedule and so has to be requested quickly.
  • The police report, along with any photographs or measurements taken at the scene.
  • Your complete medical records and proof of what the injury cost you in earnings.

How long the carrier must keep its records

Driver logs (records of duty status) and supporting documents
At least 6 months from receipt
49 CFR 395.8(k)
Inspection, repair and maintenance records
1 year where the truck is housed or maintained, and 6 months after it leaves the carrier
49 CFR 396.3(c)
Driver qualification file
While the driver is employed, plus 3 years; some items may be removed 3 years after they were made
49 CFR 391.51
Accident register
3 years after each accident
49 CFR 390.15(b)

These periods are minimums, not permission to destroy evidence once a claim is expected. Each rule applies only to the carriers and drivers within its own scope; the federal definition of a commercial motor vehicle starts at 10,001 pounds for interstate carriers (49 CFR 390.5). Post-crash test results, where a test was required, are requested too.

New York's Department of Transportation adopts many of the same rules for trucks that operate only within the state, with listed exceptions (17 NYCRR 820.1, 820.6). Dashcam video and telematics have no federal keep period here, which is why we ask for them in writing early. Text current as of the eCFR update of October 7, 2026.

Why Brooklyn clients bring truck cases to Licatesi Law Group

Brooklyn ground knowledge
We know the corridors these cases come from, from the BQE and the Gowanus to Atlantic Avenue and the industrial blocks below it.
A Brooklyn office
Our office at 3857 Kings Highway serves Brooklyn; see the Brooklyn office, or start by phone.
Commercial-vehicle experience
Truck claims run on federal safety rules, corporate records, and multiple potentially responsible companies. We handle them as that kind of case, not as a bigger car case.
No fee unless we recover
We take these cases on contingency. You owe no attorney's fee unless we recover for you.

Hurt in a Brooklyn truck crash?

Business video and the carrier's records are the first things to protect. Call us so the preservation letter goes out and you know which deadline applies.

(516) 227-2662

Deadlines

Deadlines that depend on who is responsible

The first clock depends on who you are claiming against and whether the crash caused a death. If you were in a car, also see our Brooklyn auto accident page; for a fatal crash, our Brooklyn wrongful death page. Owner liability for a permissive driver comes from VTL 388.

If you were injured

These are the first deadlines for an ordinary negligence claim for a non-fatal personal injury. Property-damage and other claims can run on different clocks.

The other driver or vehicle owner (a private party)
No notice of claim. A personal-injury lawsuit generally must be started within three years (CPLR 214(5)).
The City of New York itself (for example, a City-owned vehicle)
A notice of claim with the Comptroller within 90 days of the incident; a lawsuit within one year and 90 days (NYC Comptroller, GML 50-e).
The State of New York itself
A negligence claim against the State goes to the Court of Claims: it must be filed and served on the Attorney General within 90 days after it accrues, or a notice of intention served within those 90 days and the claim then filed and served within two years (Court of Claims Act § 10(3)). A State worker or vehicle being involved does not by itself make the State liable.

If the crash caused a death

A wrongful death claim has its own clocks, which often start from the death or from the appointment of the estate's representative.

Against a private driver or owner
The estate's representative generally has two years after the death; if a criminal action is started against the same defendant for the same event, at least one year after that criminal action ends (EPTL 5-4.1).
Against the City, a county, town or village
Where a notice of claim is required, it is due within 90 days after the estate's representative is appointed (GML 50-e), and the lawsuit within two years after the death (GML 50-i).
Against the State
The claim must be filed and served within 90 days after the executor or administrator is appointed, or a notice of intention served in that time; in any event within two years after the death (Court of Claims Act § 10(2)).
Against a transit or bridge authority
Death claims follow separate notice and time-limit provisions, not the injury rules above. Identify the exact operator first.

2026 changes apply by commencement date. They cover personal-injury actions under New York's no-fault law (Insurance Law article 51) commenced on or after May 26, 2026; what matters is when the lawsuit is commenced, not the accident date (DFS Circular Letter No. 3 (2026)). For those actions:

  • the former 90/180 serious-injury category no longer applies;
  • a claimant whose culpable conduct is greater than that of the defendant, or of the defendants combined, is barred from recovery; otherwise, including at an even 50/50 split, damages are reduced by the claimant's share (CPLR 1411);
  • except in an action for death, non-economic damages are limited to $100,000 for an injured person who is at fault, is not barred under CPLR 1411, and was operating an uninsured vehicle they were responsible for insuring (unless the lapse in coverage was less than 30 days), was operating while impaired and was convicted of that offense, or was operating in the commission of, or immediate flight from, a felony and was convicted of it (Insurance Law 5104(d)).

Questions

Frequently Asked Questions About Brooklyn Truck Accidents

For benefits in depth, read our no-fault and PIP guide.

Don't face Brooklyn trucking companies alone

Tell us where the crash happened and what you know about the truck. We will identify the carrier and owner, send preservation demands and explain the deadline that applies. Free consultation; no fee unless there is a recovery.

(516) 227-2662

What to bring

  • Photos of the truck, its company name and USDOT number
  • Police report number
  • Your auto insurance card, if you were in a car
  • Medical records so far

Related

Other truck accident guides

Photo credits: Brooklyn-Queens Expressway from the Sackett Street overpass by Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped and resized.