A New Mexico truck accident lawyer builds the claim from the records the trucking company keeps about the truck and the driver.
You pay nothing unless we win. Zinda Law Group offers a free consultation about a truck accident at (800) 863-5312.
Article summary
Key things to know
- New Mexico generally allows three years to file an injury lawsuit.
- A claim against a public body generally starts with a written notice due in the first 90 days.
- Being partly to blame does not bar recovery in New Mexico, and the award shrinks by the percentage of fault.
- NMDOT recorded 3,388 crashes involving a heavy truck in New Mexico in 2024, the highest level in a decade.
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What a New Mexico truck accident attorney does
New Mexico truck accident lawyers handle claims against the trucker and trucking company behind a crash. The work starts with evidence. The law firm sends the carrier a written request to preserve evidence, including driver logs, the driver file and repair records.
A personal injury lawyer answers the insurance company and checks each offer against the medical bills and lost wages. If the insurer will not make a fair settlement offer, the client can file a truck accident lawsuit. Look for a law firm whose truck accident attorneys know the federal rules.
Other injury claims, which a New Mexico personal injury lawyer handles, can follow different deadlines.
What to do after an 18-wheeler accident
The first step after a commercial truck accident is medical care, even for an injury that seems minor. Accident victims who get care early have records of the injuries and the treatment, and those records support the claim for medical expenses and medical costs.
Photos of the accident scene, the investigating officer’s crash report and the names of other drivers and witnesses help rebuild the crash. The crash report number and any letters from the insurer belong in the file.
Federal rules also put a testing clock on the carrier. When they apply, a trucking company must test a surviving truck driver who performed safety-sensitive functions for alcohol and drugs as soon as practicable after a fatal crash. Attempts to test cease after 8 hours for alcohol and 32 hours for drugs.
New Mexico law that shapes a truck collision claim
Most New Mexico truck accident cases follow the general rules below.
| Rule | What the law says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Injury lawsuit deadline | Generally three years | NMSA 37-1-8 |
| Wrongful death lawsuit deadline | Three years, counted from the date of death | NMSA 41-2-2 |
| Vehicle and property damage | Four years | NMSA 37-1-4 |
| Claims against state and local entities | Written notice generally due within 90 days, or six months from the injury for a death claim, and a lawsuit within two years | NMSA 41-4-16, 41-4-15 |
| Shared fault | Recovery continues for a partly at-fault person, reduced by that person’s percentage of fault | Scott v. Rizzo |
| Several liability | A defendant generally answers only for its own fault share, with exceptions | NMSA 41-3A-1 |
These are general rules with exceptions.
Filing deadlines
Questions about how much time you have?
Federal and state regulations for trucks
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) writes the federal safety regulations for the trucking industry. New Mexico adopts the federal driving, equipment, hours of service and maintenance requirements for interstate and intrastate carriers. The national truck accident lawyer page has more on the federal regulations.
Which trucks the regulations cover
Federal safety regulations generally cover a truck hauling property in interstate commerce at a weight or weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more. New Mexico’s Motor Carrier Safety Act uses the same weight for a commercial truck operated interstate. For a truck operated only in intrastate commerce within New Mexico, it generally starts at 26,001 pounds.
Driving hours and electronic logs
Federal regulations generally limit a property-carrying truck driver to 11 driving hours within 14 consecutive hours after coming on duty following 10 consecutive hours off, subject to exceptions.
Drivers who must keep records of duty status generally must use an electronic logging device, subject to exceptions, and the carrier keeps the logs for at least six months. A lawyer checks those logs against the hours limits and looks for signs of driver fatigue.
Driver files and maintenance records
A motor carrier must keep a driver qualification file for each truck driver it employs and may not let an unqualified person drive. State law sets the minimum driver age at 21, with an exception at 18 for some drivers who operate only within New Mexico.
Carriers must also inspect, repair and maintain trucks under their control and keep truck maintenance records for each vehicle they control for 30 consecutive days.
Insurance on commercial trucks
Federal rules set a $750,000 liability minimum for a for-hire carrier that hauls general freight in interstate commerce in a truck rated at 10,001 pounds or more. New Mexico requires covered motor carriers to keep proof of financial responsibility on file, and its rule for property carriers points to the federal minimum coverage.
Our guide to insurance requirements for trucking companies explains the insurance coverage a carrier must show.
New Mexico truck crash statistics
The New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) recorded 3,388 crashes involving a heavy truck in 2024, the highest level in a decade. Heavy trucks were involved in 7.5 percent of crashes but 17.8 percent of fatalities, and 79 people died in those crashes.
NMDOT’s heavy truck category is a vehicle body style that typically has a gross vehicle weight rating over 10,000 pounds. It includes semis and other heavy commercial trucks, but also heavy equipment, light box trucks and delivery trucks. It is not a count of 18-wheelers and says nothing about fault.
Semi truck, 18-wheeler and big rig accidents
A truck crash is not an auto accident between two passenger vehicles. The size, the cargo and the company behind the truck change the claim. Tractor trailers are often called semis, big rigs or 18-wheelers.
A semi truck accident claim generally follows New Mexico law on personal injury claims, and trucking safety regulations may add duties and records. In a semi truck accident, the trailer, the cargo and the company that loaded it matter alongside the driver. Federal rules require cargo on a semi truck to be secured so it does not leak, spill, blow or fall off, and unsecured cargo can turn a lane change into an 18-wheeler accident.
After a semi truck accident, a lawyer asks early for the logs, the driver file and the inspection reports. In a commercial truck accident, federal regulations may apply, depending on the vehicle and how it is operated.
Commercial vehicles, delivery trucks and tow trucks
Tow trucks, delivery vans and semi trucks all appear in a commercial truck accident. After a commercial truck crash, a lawyer investigates the business behind the vehicle, including its own conduct and its driver’s conduct.
Commercial vehicle accidents involve large commercial vehicles run by a business. An Amazon delivery accident can involve a delivery van of that kind.
Injuries to New Mexico truck accident victims
A semi truck accident can leave accident victims with serious injuries. FMCSA says trucks often weigh 20 to 30 times more than a passenger vehicle, and a fully loaded tractor-trailer can weigh up to 80,000 pounds. That weight increases the risk of more severe crash damage, injuries and fatalities.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) counted 70 percent of the people killed in large truck crashes in the United States in 2024 as occupants of vehicles other than the large trucks.
Insurance companies and truck accident victims
A semi truck accident claim, like an auto accident claim, often involves the carrier’s insurance company, and its adjusters do not work for truck accident victims. An insurance company adjuster may ask for a recorded statement or offer a quick payment before treatment is finished. Our guide to dealing with an insurance adjuster covers those calls.
A personal injury attorney compares any offer with the medical bills and the care still ahead before valuing the personal injury claim.
Who can be held liable in New Mexico
In truck accident cases, the truck driver and the trucking company are the first two potentially liable parties. Speeding or distracted driving can show in the crash report and the driver’s logs. Federal rules bar a carrier from requiring or permitting a driver to drive while fatigue or illness makes driving unsafe. A carrier may be liable if its breach of that duty contributed to the crash and injuries.
New Mexico abolished joint and several liability as the general rule in comparative fault cases. With multiple liable parties, each defendant is generally liable only for its own share of fault, measured against everyone at fault. The statute keeps joint liability for some relationships, including one person’s vicarious liability for another.
Determining liability means checking who loaded the cargo, who repaired the truck and who made its parts, so the at-fault party and each other responsible company can be named.
A claim against a New Mexico state or local public body is subject to the Tort Claims Act, which grants immunity except where it is waived. One waiver covers a public employee’s negligent operation or maintenance of a motor vehicle within the scope of duty. The Act generally requires written notice within 90 days, though an exception for actual notice can apply and knowledge of the crash alone may not meet it. A tort lawsuit against a governmental entity generally must be filed within two years, with exceptions.
How shared fault works in New Mexico
New Mexico uses pure comparative negligence. A person who was partly at fault can still recover, and the award is reduced by that person’s share of fault. Our explainer on comparative negligence in New Mexico walks through the rule.
Trucking companies and their insurers may try to shift blame to the injured person. A lawyer answers that with the police report and the carrier’s records.
How to recover compensation after a truck crash
A claim asks the liable parties to pay for what the crash cost. Medical bills, lost income and property damage show the loss in dollars. In truck accident cases, a lawyer helps injured people seek compensation for each loss they can prove and recover compensation from the parties responsible.
In a negligence claim, New Mexico’s uniform civil jury instruction allows punitive damages only if the injured person recovers compensatory damages and the defendant acted maliciously, willfully, recklessly, wantonly, fraudulently or in bad faith. They punish and deter. Claims against a governmental entity follow the Tort Claims Act, which has separate damages limits and bars punitive damages.
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How truck accident cases move forward
The insurance claim and a lawsuit
A claim that does not settle needs a truck accident lawsuit filed before the state deadline runs. In a New Mexico truck accident case, an unresolved personal injury lawsuit may proceed to trial.
How long a trucking company keeps its records
Federal rules set how long a carrier keeps these driver records.
| Carrier record | Retention period | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Hours of service logs and supporting documents | Six months or more | 49 CFR 395.8(k) |
| Required driver inspection reports | Three months | 49 CFR 396.11 |
| Inspection, repair and maintenance records, for trucks controlled 30 consecutive days | One year, and six months after the truck leaves the carrier’s control | 49 CFR 396.3(c) |
| Driver qualification file | Generally while the driver is employed and for three years after | 49 CFR 391.51(c) |
When a truck crash is fatal
A fatal truck accident can give the family a claim of its own. A New Mexico wrongful death action is brought by the personal representative of the person who died, and the jury may award compensatory and exemplary damages it finds fair and just.
Under the general statute, the action must be brought within three years after the death. Against a public body, the Tort Claims Act applies, with notice due within six months after the injury that caused the death and a two-year lawsuit deadline. New Mexico wrongful death attorneys confirm who brings the claim and who shares the proceeds.
More New Mexico guides
Two guides explain how to get a crash report in Albuquerque and an accident report in Las Cruces.
One explainer shows how Las Cruces settlements are calculated, and another covers a driver in Santa Fe under the influence.
A blog post on a truck crash in Santa Fe answers victim questions, and another explains who pays for injuries caused by drunk drivers in Albuquerque. A third covers the effects of mild TBI.
Choosing the right truck accident lawyer
Choose a lawyer with truck accident case experience by asking each law firm and its New Mexico truck accident attorneys these questions before you sign.
- Who will handle my case day to day?
- Have you handled 18-wheeler truck accident cases in New Mexico?
- Which deadline applies to my claim?
- How are fees and case costs handled?
Truck accident lawyers across New Mexico
- Central and northern New Mexico. Albuquerque truck accidents, Santa Fe truck accidents
- Southern New Mexico. Las Cruces truck accidents
- Southeastern New Mexico. Roswell truck accidents, Carlsbad truck accidents
- Buses. Bus accidents
Talk to a truck accident law firm
Use the case evaluation page to ask our truck accident attorneys for a consultation about the crash, relevant records and possible deadlines. When a client hires our law firm, our legal team works to recover compensation while the client focuses on treatment.
Zinda Law Group is a personal injury law firm that represents injured people across New Mexico. When comparing firms, read what hiring a lawyer costs.
Our firm works on a contingency fee basis, so there is no out-of-pocket cost to secure the legal representation you need. That’s our No Win, No Fee Guarantee.
