Pre-Trip Inspection FAQs

The DVIR the driver was required to complete is a document — and documents can be analyzed. A DVIR showing “no defects” on a truck that was later found to have serious mechanical problems is either evidence of a falsified inspection or an inspection so superficial it failed to meet the federal standard. Both support your negligence claim. Expert witnesses can testify about what a proper inspection of that vehicle would have revealed.

In many cases, you won’t know for certain until an attorney has obtained and reviewed the post-crash inspection report, the truck’s maintenance records, the DVIR for the trip in question, and the ELD data. If the truck had mechanical issues that contributed to the crash — brake failure, a blowout, lighting failures — a failure in the inspection and maintenance process is a natural place to look. Our attorneys can investigate and advise you on the strength of this theory in your specific case.

A preservation (or litigation hold) letter is a formal legal demand sent to the motor carrier, its insurer, and relevant third parties requiring them to retain all evidence related to the crash — including the tractor-trailer itself, driver logs, maintenance records, electronic data, communications, and dashcam footage. Once on notice, a carrier that destroys or fails to preserve this evidence may face spoliation sanctions, which can include an instruction to the jury that it may presume the destroyed evidence was harmful to the carrier’s case. We send these letters on day one.