Texas Delivery Truck and Van Accident Lawyer: Amazon, FedEx, UPS, DHL and USPS Crashes, the 2021 Commercial Vehicle Law and the 51% Bar (Updated November 2026)

By the Beverly Law legal team. Updated November 2026.

What to do after a delivery truck or van crash in Texas

1. Get medical care right away.
2. Get the crash report (Houston, Dallas).
3. Photograph the vehicle, the company name, the USDOT number, the plate and any fleet number. Ask the driver who employs them.
4. Demand in writing that video be kept. Amazon says all Amazon-branded vehicles carry in-vehicle camera safety technology (Amazon). See do Amazon delivery vans have cameras.
5. Skip the recorded statement until you get advice (why).

Who employs the driver

The logo shows whose packages were on board. The claim follows the business legally responsible for the driver.

DHL and regional carriers raise the same questions. Look up the carrier by USDOT number (how), and see FedEx, UPS and Amazon van accidents.

The Texas control test and course and scope

In Painter v. Amerimex Drilling I, Ltd., 561 S.W.3d 125 (Tex. 2018), an employee crashed while driving coworkers from a drilling site to company housing after a shift. The Texas Supreme Court said an employer is generally insulated from liability for its independent contractors’ torts, and that a worker’s status turns on “whether the employer has the right to control the progress, details, and methods of operations of the work.” The act must also fall “within the scope of the employee’s general authority in furtherance of the employer’s business and for the accomplishment of the object for which the employee was hired.” The court held the employer was not entitled to summary judgment on vicarious liability and sent the case back to the trial court (Painter opinion).

So the contracts, route rules and vehicle requirements between the brand and the contractor matter. A rental or leasing company is not liable just because it owns the van, unless it was negligent or committed a crime (49 U.S.C. § 30106). See owner-operator or company driver: who pays.

Texas’s 2021 law on commercial vehicle crash cases

Chapter 72, subchapter B of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, added in 2021, applies to injury and death suits over collisions with a “commercial motor vehicle,” defined as a motor vehicle used for commercial purposes to transport property or passengers, “deliver or transport goods, or provide services.” The definition has no weight threshold, but a vehicle being used for personal, family or household purposes at the time is excluded. “Employee” includes any agent or person for whom an employer may be liable under respondeat superior (§ 72.051).

• Split trial. On a defendant’s timely motion, the court must split the trial: compensatory damages first, exemplary damages second (§ 72.052).
• Rule violations. In the first phase, evidence that a defendant broke a regulation or standard comes in only if it tends to prove the violation was a proximate cause of the injury and the rule is specific and applies to the defendant (§ 72.053).
• Employer stipulation. If the employer timely stipulates that the driver was its employee acting in the scope of employment, its liability for ordinary driving negligence rests only on respondeat superior, and claims like negligent entrustment generally stay out of the first phase. For regulated carriers you can still show things like an unlicensed or disqualified driver, and claims such as negligent maintenance and exemplary damages remain (§ 72.054).
• Photos and video. A properly authenticated photograph or video of a vehicle or object involved is presumed admissible, and no expert is required except to authenticate it (§ 72.055). Camera footage from the van can be strong evidence.

Insurance and why the size of the vehicle matters

Federal rules define a “commercial motor vehicle” by weight: a vehicle used in interstate commerce to carry property with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more qualifies (49 C.F.R. § 390.5). For-hire carriers of ordinary freight in that class must carry at least $750,000 in public liability coverage (49 C.F.R. § 387.9), but those federal insurance rules do not apply to vehicles rated under 10,001 pounds unless they carry certain hazardous materials (§ 387.3(c)).

A Flex driver in a personal car must have at least $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident and $25,000 in property damage coverage under Texas law (Transp. Code § 601.072), and Amazon says its Flex policy applies only during an active delivery block (Amazon Flex FAQ). Federal rules count a contractor driving a covered truck as an “employee” (§ 390.5) and cap property-carrying drivers at 11 hours of driving after 10 hours off (49 C.F.R. § 395.3).

Postal Service crashes in Texas

Claims arising out of Postal Service activities fall under the Federal Tort Claims Act (39 U.S.C. § 409(c)). You must first present the claim to the agency; a lawsuit can follow a written final denial, or six months of silence, which you may treat as a denial (28 U.S.C. § 2675(a)). The claim is due within two years, and suit within six months after a mailed final denial (§ 2401(b)). A claim counts as presented when the Postal Service receives a Standard Form 95 or other written notice with a demand for a sum certain (39 C.F.R. § 912.5; SF-95), and you generally cannot sue for more than that amount later (§ 2675(b)).

The defendant is the United States, not the postal driver (§ 2679(b)(1)). Texas negligence law, including its fault rules, decides liability because the federal statute applies “the law of the place where the act or omission occurred” (28 U.S.C. § 1346(b)(1)). A federal judge hears the case without a jury (§ 2402), and punitive damages and prejudgment interest are not available (§ 2674). The federal definition of agency excludes “any contractor with the United States” (§ 2671), and some mail moves on supplier-operated routes (USPS OIG), so a mail-hauling 18-wheeler may be a private company’s truck. In August 2026, a driver authorities believe was intoxicated slammed into the back of a U.S. Postal Service 18-wheeler on the West Sam Houston Tollway, overturning it (our report on the Houston crash). See USPS mail truck accidents.

Texas deadlines, the 51% bar and crash numbers

For a death claim, see the Texas wrongful death deadline, and for how fault is split, see comparative fault in California, Texas and Washington.

TxDOT’s body-style counts have no separate delivery category. Its 2025 data list 110 vans and 169 vehicles classed as “truck” (separate from pickups and tractor-trailers) in fatal crashes, and 580 vans and 655 such trucks in suspected serious injury crashes (TxDOT, vehicles in crashes by body style, 2025, data as of April 7, 2026). In Temple, a box truck and another vehicle collided at H.K. Dodgen Loop and Industrial Boulevard in September 2026, killing one person (our report). We also handle Austin truck accident cases. Texas cases are handled by the firm’s Texas-licensed attorneys, Joyce Ondich and John Efstathiou.

Related pages

• California delivery truck accident lawyer
• Washington delivery truck accident lawyer
• Texas truck accident lawyer
• Box truck and moving truck accidents and truck black box and dashcam evidence
• Texas car accident lawyer and Texas pedestrian accident lawyer
• Texas wrongful death lawyer

Common questions

Important: This page is general information, not legal or medical advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different; talk to a lawyer about yours. Texas cases are handled by the firm’s Texas-licensed attorneys, Joyce Ondich and John Efstathiou. Last reviewed: November 6, 2026.