North Carolina Amazon Delivery Truck Accident Lawyer

Have you been injured in an accident involving an Amazon delivery truck? If so, you may be entitled to compensation as part of a personal injury claim or lawsuit. The experienced truck accident lawyers at Riddle & Brantley are ready to help.

If you’re wondering, “Can I sue Amazon if I was hit by an Amazon delivery truck?”, the short answer is, probably not — and that’s because most Amazon delivery drivers aren’t actually Amazon employees, but independent contractors. Additionally, Amazon doesn’t actually own any delivery trucks. Instead, Amazon trucks are typically owned by a separate company that hires the independent contractors to drive them.

How to File a Claim for an Amazon Delivery Truck Accident

However, if you’ve been injured in an accident involving an Amazon delivery truck, you may be able to file a claim against one or more potentially liable parties.

Parties that may be liable for an Amazon delivery truck accident include:

• The delivery truck driver (an independent contractor)
• The private company that owns the truck or employs the driver
• The truck manufacturer
• The loading company
• The truck maintenance company
• Local, state, or federal governments (if the roadway was not properly maintained)

An Amazon delivery truck accident lawyer can help determine who is liable for injuries suffered in a crash involving an Amazon truck.

There is never any obligation and we don’t get paid unless you do. If we don’t recover compensation for you, you won’t pay any attorney fees.

Amazon Delivery Truck Drivers

Amazon’s delivery truck drivers are not like those working for other delivery services like UPS or FedEx. Instead of being directly employed by Amazon, these drivers are actually independent contractors, meaning they are sole proprietors who are hired by Amazon on a contract basis.

Amazon’s delivery truck drivers are required to maintain their own liability insurance. This liability insurance is often paid for by third party companies that employ the drivers.

Amazon recently issued a statement confirming that “We require that all delivery service partners maintain comprehensive insurance, including auto liability so if in the rare case an accident does occur, there is coverage for all involved.”

Amazon Delivery Trucks

Additionally, Amazon doesn’t actually own any of its delivery trucks. Instead, these trucks are owned by third party companies that hire the contract drivers.

These private companies are required by contract to “defend, indemnify and hold harmless Amazon” in the event of a delivery truck accident. The agreements between the third party companies and Amazon cover “all loss or damage to personal property or bodily harm including death.”

In some cases, delivery trucks that deliver packages for Amazon do not even bear any signage or markings identifying their association with the company.

Amazon Liability in Delivery Truck Accidents: A Blurry Line

Despite its claims that all Amazon delivery truck drivers are independent contractors, some plaintiffs have submitted evidence that Amazon’s relationship with its drivers is actually closer to an employer-employee relationship.

According to a report by the New York Times, “The retail giant directs the destinations, deadlines, and routes for its network of contract delivery drivers. But when they crash, Amazon is held harmless.”

Between June 2015 and September 2019, Amazon delivery trucks were involved in more than 60 accidents resulting in serious injury, according to a report by ProPublica. Among these were 10 accidents resulting in death.

“Even as Amazon argues that it bears no legal responsibility for the human toll, it maintains a tight grip on how the delivery drivers do their jobs,” according to the New York Times.

Drivers have even claimed that in some cases, Amazon closely coordinates deliveries using its own dispatchers, who communicate with drivers on their routes.

There is no upfront cost and you won’t pay any attorney fees unless we win your case and you receive financial compensation.

Injured in an Amazon Truck Accident?

If you’ve been hurt as a result of an accident involving an Amazon delivery truck or van, you deserve justice and you may be entitled to compensation.

The truck accident lawyers at Riddle & Brantley have been helping injured victims recover compensation since 1985. Our attorneys have more than 220+ years of combined legal experience and we are ready to help however we can.

“Riddle & Brantley found me all the available money from the insurance companies.”

­-B. Fields, Riddle & Brantley client

We’ve recovered millions of dollars in compensation for victims of truck accidents in (see disclaimer below), and we’d love to assist you in your Amazon truck accident claim if we can.

Recent wins include:

• $9,450,000 — We represented the surviving family of a family of four who were killed in a terrible tractor-trailer wreck. Organizing a comprehensive accident investigation, we proved liability in the case with an extensive amount of evidence, including traffic data recovered from Google Maps. Riddle & Brantley attorneys ultimately secured $9.45 million in total compensation for the surviving loved ones.
• $2,250,000 — Attorney Gene Riddle represented a family he knew personally after a young woman died in a truck accident when the other driver crossed the center line and hit her head-on. We partnered with attorney David Kirby of Kirby Edwards law firm in Raleigh to investigate the claim and settled with the insurance company for $2.25 million in total compensation.
• $1,900,000 — We fought for justice on behalf of a woman who was walking across a parking lot when she was struck by a cement truck and suffered serious injuries. We brought in an accident reconstructionist to help investigate and prove liability, and were ultimately able to recover $1.9 million in total compensation.

We have investigators on staff who can assist with investigating your Amazon truck accident and helping determine who is liable. In many cases, we also bring in outside experts including accident reconstructionists and federal trucking safety experts.

“This settlement changed me and my family’s lives.”

­-Linda B., Riddle & Brantley client

Please call 1-800-525-7111 today and let’s review your case.

Justice Counts.

*** Disclaimer: The results mentioned are intended to illustrate the type of cases handled by the firm. These results do not guarantee a similar outcome, and they should not be construed to constitute a promise or guarantee of a particular result in any particular case. Every case is different, and the outcome of any case depends upon a variety of factors unique to that case.