Commercial Vehicle Accident Lawyer Orlando
Hit by an Uber, Lyft, delivery driver, work truck, or company vehicle? The company behind that driver has a legal team protecting their bottom line. You need someone in your corner who knows exactly how they operate.
No fee unless we win. Ever.
Why Commercial Vehicle Accidents Are Not Like Other Car Crashes
When you are rear-ended by a neighbor's Honda, you deal with one driver and one insurance policy. When you are hit by a rideshare vehicle, a delivery van, a company car, or a work truck, the picture changes dramatically — and so does your potential for full compensation.
Commercial vehicles operate under Florida law and, in many cases, federal regulations as well. The companies behind these vehicles are required to carry substantially higher insurance coverage than ordinary drivers. A personal vehicle might carry the Florida minimum — as little as $10,000 in bodily injury coverage per person. A commercial fleet vehicle can be required to carry $1 million or more.
Florida also follows the doctrine of respondeat superior — which means an employer can be held legally responsible for the negligent actions of an employee acting within the scope of their job. That means when an Amazon delivery driver runs a red light at lunchtime, Amazon itself may be on the hook.
But companies don't hand over million-dollar settlements voluntarily. They have experienced claims adjusters, in-house legal teams, and outside law firms working on Day One to limit what they pay you. The only way to level that playing field is to have an experienced commercial vehicle accident attorney in Orlando who knows how those defense teams think — because at Frick Law, our lead attorney spent years on their side.
Founder, Frick Law
Former Insurance Defense Attorney
Now Fighting for You
If a Vehicle Was Being Used for Business, We Handle It
Orlando roads are full of rideshare vehicles, delivery vans, company cars, and work trucks — all moving fast to meet quotas and deadlines. When one of them causes an accident, Frick Law is ready.
Rideshare Accident Lawyer Orlando
Uber, Lyft, and other TNC drivers operate under shifting insurance tiers. We know exactly which policy applies at the moment of your crash.
Delivery Driver Accident Lawyer
Delivery drivers are under intense time pressure. Their crashes often involve corporate negligence — and corporate insurance limits.
Company Vehicle Accident Lawyer
When an employee is behind the wheel of a company-owned vehicle, the employer is typically liable for the full extent of your injuries.
Work Truck Accident Lawyer
Work trucks and commercial trucks cause catastrophic injuries. Federal Hours-of-Service regulations, maintenance logs, and black box data all play a role in these cases.
Common Causes of Commercial Vehicle Accidents in Orlando
Orlando's tourism economy, sprawling highway system, and 24/7 delivery culture create a perfect environment for commercial vehicle crashes. Understanding why these accidents happen matters — because cause drives liability.
Pressure to Meet Quotas and Deadlines
Delivery platforms and logistics companies compensate drivers based on speed and completion rates. This systemic pressure leads to speeding, running lights, and skipping required rest breaks. When a driver is rushing to hit their number, they are taking risks with your safety.
GPS and App Distraction
Rideshare and delivery drivers spend their working hours managing navigation apps, accepting trip requests, and communicating with dispatchers — all on a phone, all while driving. App distraction is one of the most common factors in rideshare and delivery crashes.
Driver Fatigue
Many commercial drivers work multiple platforms — driving for Uber, delivering for DoorDash, and making Amazon runs — all in the same day. Federal Hours-of-Service rules govern large truck operators, but many delivery drivers are not subject to those same limits.
Inadequate Driver Screening and Training
Companies with high driver turnover often shortcut the vetting process. Background checks are incomplete, training is minimal, and supervision is nonexistent. When a company puts an unqualified driver on the road, the company shares responsibility for what happens.
Poor Vehicle Maintenance
Fleet operators are required to maintain their vehicles in safe working condition. Brake failures, tire blowouts, and malfunctioning equipment are not accidents — they are the result of choices that companies made, or failed to make, about maintenance.
Improper Loading and Cargo Shifts
Unsecured cargo can shift or fly off delivery trucks, strike other vehicles, or cause a loss of vehicle control. Cargo loading falls on the company — not just the driver.
Injuries Common in Commercial Vehicle Accidents
The size, weight, and speed of commercial vehicles mean that crashes often result in injuries far more severe than typical fender-benders. Here is what we see regularly at Frick Law:
- Herniated and bulging discs — among the most litigated injuries in Florida auto accident cases. An MRI can reveal disc damage that X-rays will never show.
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI) — from concussion to severe TBI, even a crash at moderate speed can cause lasting cognitive damage.
- Spinal cord injury — partial or complete paralysis can follow high-energy collisions with large vehicles.
- Broken bones and fractures — wrists, arms, ribs, hips, and legs are commonly injured when a body is jolted inside a vehicle.
- Shoulder and rotator cuff tears — bracing for impact or airbag deployment frequently causes shoulder injuries requiring surgery.
- Soft tissue injuries — whiplash, muscle tears, and ligament sprains can cause chronic pain and limited mobility.
- Internal injuries — organ damage from seatbelt force or blunt trauma may not be immediately apparent at the scene.
- Psychological injuries — PTSD, anxiety, and depression following serious accidents are recognized and compensable damages in Florida.
Important: Many injuries — especially disc herniations and soft-tissue damage — don't show up on X-rays. Insurance adjusters will try to use a "normal X-ray" as evidence that you're not hurt. Don't accept that. Get an MRI. See a specialist. And call Frick Law.
Insurance Coverage and Liability in a Commercial Vehicle Accident
Here's What the Insurance Companies Don't Want You to Know
Insurance companies don't get their names on the tops of tall buildings and produce all those clever commercials because they are generous. They built those buildings — and those war chests — by paying out as little as possible on every claim. That's their business model.
When you're dealing with a commercial vehicle accident, you're not dealing with one person's policy. You may be dealing with the driver's personal PIP, the company's commercial liability policy, an umbrella policy on top of that, and potentially your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage as well. Every one of those policies has a team of people whose job is to pay you less.
Here's what that actually looks like in practice. Florida requires every motor vehicle owner to carry at least $10,000 in PIP coverage. That covers your immediate medical bills regardless of fault. But against a commercial operator — an Uber driver, a FedEx contractor, a company fleet vehicle — the bodily injury liability limits can be $100,000, $300,000, or over $1 million per occurrence. The gap between what your injuries are worth and what insurance will voluntarily offer is where your attorney earns your case.
How Rideshare Insurance Tiers Actually Work
Rideshare insurance operates in three distinct periods, and which period applies at the moment of your crash determines which policy covers you:
- Period 1 — App On, No Ride Accepted: The driver's personal policy typically applies, but Uber and Lyft provide contingent liability coverage (typically $50,000/$100,000 bodily injury) if the personal policy does not cover the loss.
- Period 2 — Ride Accepted, En Route to Pickup: Uber and Lyft's full $1,000,000 commercial liability policy applies.
- Period 3 — Passenger in Vehicle: The $1,000,000 commercial policy remains active through delivery of the passenger.
Knowing which period was active requires data from the platform's server logs — evidence that disappears quickly. Frick Law sends preservation demands immediately to ensure that data is captured before it's gone.
Florida's PIP — Know Your 14-Day Rule
Florida's no-fault PIP law requires that you seek medical treatment within 14 days of your accident to qualify for benefits. Miss that window and you lose access to up to $10,000 in coverage you have already paid for with your premiums. If an "emergency medical condition" is documented, you can access the full $10,000. Without that documentation, benefits may be capped at $2,500.
Talk to a lawyer before you give a statement to any insurance company — including your own.
Compensation Victims of Commercial Vehicle Accidents May Recover
Florida law allows injured victims to pursue compensation for every way this accident has impacted their lives — not just the medical bills sitting on your kitchen table right now.
Past Medical Bills
Every dollar of emergency care, imaging studies, specialist visits, physical therapy, and prescription costs since the date of the crash.
Future Medical Bills
Ongoing treatment, future surgeries, pain management, and long-term care your doctors determine you will need as a result of your injuries.
Lost Wages
Income you have already lost because you couldn't work — whether you are salaried, hourly, self-employed, or paid under the table.
Loss of Earning Capacity
If your injuries permanently limit what you can do for work, you may be entitled to compensation for the lifetime difference in what you could have earned.
Pain and Suffering
Florida law compensates for the physical pain and emotional suffering your injuries have caused — past and future. This requires proving a permanent injury under Florida's threshold, which is exactly where an experienced attorney makes the difference.
Loss of Enjoyment of Life
If this accident has taken away activities you used to love — coaching your kid's team, running, traveling, working in your garden — that loss has real legal value.
Two numbers matter in every commercial vehicle case: the legal value of your injuries, and the insurance coverage available. Our job is to close the gap between them by identifying every applicable policy, adding all responsible parties, and building the strongest possible medical and damages case. Personal injury settlements are generally not taxable as income — so the number you see is the number you keep.
Why Hiring the Right Attorney Changes Everything
The Defense Attorney Evaluates Your Attorney, Too
Here's something most people don't know: when the insurance company assigns a defense attorney to your case, that attorney files an evaluation report. That report doesn't just cover your injuries — it covers you, your credibility, and your attorney.
A defense attorney who recognizes that the plaintiff's lawyer focuses on bankruptcy and family law — not personal injury — will report that to the insurance adjuster. The message to the carrier is clear: this plaintiff's attorney doesn't know how to try a case. Make a low offer and wait them out.
You wouldn't hire a brain surgeon to deliver your baby. Don't hire a general practice attorney to fight a commercial carrier's legal team. The insurance company is counting on you to make that mistake.
When Frick Law is your attorney, that calculation changes. Josh Frick spent years as an insurance defense attorney — deposing medical professionals, attending statewide hearings, and learning exactly how carriers assess cases, approve offers, and decide when to fight. Insurers began improving their offers against his firm when they saw its commitment to going to trial. That reputation is not an accident.
Your Attorney Is the Coach. You Are the Quarterback.
Think of your personal injury case as a football season — one you intend to win. The attorney is the head coach on the sideline: reading the defense's moves, designing the plays, managing the clock, and making strategic calls at every critical moment. You are the quarterback: the one who owns the facts, lives the pain, and — when it matters most — makes the final call.
In the opening weeks after the crash, the coach needs to be all-in. That means notifying insurers, sending preservation letters, hunting every applicable insurance policy, and building the legal game plan. Your job is to give your attorney a complete, honest history — the crash, your health before it, and exactly how your life has changed since.
Through treatment, the file builds. Records arrive. Diagnostic findings shape the damages picture. And when settlement discussions begin, it's truly shared work: the attorney crafts the demand and negotiates; you set the number you can live with and the line you won't cross. No one signs for you. It's your case.
Clarity, action, and steady planning keep the chains moving — toward the compensation you deserve.
What to Do (and What Not to Do) After a Commercial Vehicle Accident
What happens in the hours and days after your crash can dramatically affect the value of your case. Here's what matters most.
DO
- Call 911 immediately. A police report creates an official record of the crash.
- Photograph everything — both vehicles, all damage, the road, skid marks, traffic signals, and any visible injuries.
- Gather the driver's information, the company name on the vehicle, and any app or dispatch information you can see.
- Report any injuries to officers and paramedics at the scene — even if you think you might be okay. Many serious injuries don't announce themselves for hours or days.
- Get medical treatment within 14 days to protect your PIP benefits under Florida law.
- Mention every injured body part to every medical provider you treat with. Your medical records are your case.
- Call Frick Law before talking to any insurance company.
DO NOT
- Give a recorded statement to any insurance adjuster before speaking with an attorney — including your own company. Insurance companies are not on your side, no matter how friendly the call sounds.
- Say you're fine when someone asks. If you're not 100% certain you are uninjured, say so. A statement that you're "okay" at the scene will be used against your claim.
- Agree to "handle it privately" without involving police or insurance.
- Post anything about the accident, your injuries, or your activities on social media. Defense attorneys and adjusters review social media, and even an innocent photo at a backyard party can be used to undermine your claim.
- Skip medical appointments. Gaps in treatment are a gift to the defense — they will argue you must not have been seriously hurt if you stopped going to your doctor.
- Sign any release or settlement offer before speaking with Frick Law. You can't un-sign a release.
Case Results & Client Testimonials
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Each case is evaluated on its own facts and merits.
Commercial Vehicle Accident FAQ — Orlando, Florida
Liability can fall on the driver, the company that owns or operates the vehicle, a staffing agency, or even the vehicle manufacturer depending on the cause of the crash. Florida's respondeat superior doctrine holds employers legally responsible for the negligent acts of employees acting within the scope of their employment. Commercial carriers are also required to carry substantially higher minimum insurance limits than private drivers — which means more available compensation for your injuries.
Companies like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Amazon often classify their drivers as independent contractors specifically to limit their liability. However, Florida courts examine the degree of control the company actually exercises over the driver's work — routes, standards, platform requirements — not just the label on a contract. Many victims have successfully pursued claims directly against these corporations. An experienced commercial vehicle accident attorney in Orlando can identify every available avenue of recovery.
Commercial vehicles typically carry far higher policy limits than personal vehicles — sometimes $1 million or more per occurrence. Applicable coverage can include the driver's personal PIP, the company's commercial liability policy, umbrella coverage, your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, and cargo or fleet-specific policies. A thorough policy investigation — what we call "policy hunting" — is one of the first moves Frick Law makes in every commercial accident case.
Generally, you have 2 years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit in Florida. Wrongful death claims must also be filed within 2 years of the date of death. These deadlines have limited exceptions, and claims involving government vehicles may have much shorter notice requirements. Do not wait. Evidence disappears, witnesses move on, and black box data gets overwritten. Contact Frick Law now to protect your rights.
Do not give a recorded statement to any insurance company — especially the other driver's carrier — before speaking with an attorney. Insurance adjusters are trained to gather information that limits the amount the company pays out. It doesn't matter how friendly the call sounds or how routine they claim it is. Talk to Frick Law first. You can comply with your own insurance company's PIP requirements with your attorney present — and your attorney will make sure it stays on track.
Yes — and this is one of the most important things to understand. Modern vehicles are engineered specifically to absorb impact and protect sheet metal at low speeds. That engineering protects the car's bumper, not your spine. Research on low-speed rear impacts shows that neck symptoms, disc herniations, and soft-tissue injuries can occur well below the threshold where you'd expect obvious bodywork damage. Insurance adjusters know this — and they use clean bumper photos strategically to dismiss real injuries. Don't let them. The medical evidence — your MRI, your specialist's findings, your treatment record — tells the true story, not the photos.
Every case is different, and no honest attorney will quote you a number before reviewing your facts. Case value is built from medical bills, future treatment costs, lost wages, loss of earning capacity, the severity and permanency of your injuries, and the pain and suffering you have endured. Commercial vehicle cases often involve higher available coverage than typical car accident claims. Call Frick Law for a free case evaluation — we will give you an honest assessment.
Most personal injury cases — including commercial vehicle cases — settle before trial. However, having an attorney with real trial experience is critical. Insurance defense evaluations specifically assess whether your attorney has the knowledge, skill, and willingness to take a case to a jury. When the answer is yes, offers improve. At Frick Law, Josh Frick is a trial attorney — and insurers know it. That track record changes what carriers put on the table.
Car Accident Lawyers in Your Orlando-Area Community
Commercial vehicle accidents happen throughout Central Florida. Frick Law serves injury victims across the Orlando metro area, including: