What if the trucking company is bankrupt or doesn't have enough insurance?

The federal insurance floor

Under 49 CFR 387.9, interstate for-hire motor carriers hauling general freight must carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage. Certain hazardous materials and passenger carriers have higher minimums. That's a floor, not a ceiling. Many carriers buy more, and some don't buy a dollar more than the law requires.

You can check what a carrier has on file through FMCSA's Licensing & Insurance public search. It won't show every policy, but it can confirm whether filed coverage was active.

Local haulers that never cross state lines may fall under state rules instead, and those minimums can be different. Our policy-limits page goes further into how these layers work.

If the carrier files bankruptcy

When a company files bankruptcy, an automatic stay generally pauses lawsuits and collection against it. That can freeze your case for a while and feels like a door slamming.

It often isn't. The liability insurance is a separate contract, and in many situations the injured person can get permission from the bankruptcy court, or use other procedures, to pursue the claim up to the insurance limits. How that plays out depends on the type of bankruptcy, the policy and the court, so this is squarely a question for a lawyer who has handled one.

Other pockets that may pay

When one company's coverage isn't enough, the lawyer's job is to find everyone else who shares the blame and every policy that might respond.

• Excess or umbrella policies stacked above the primary policy
• A separate owner of the tractor or trailer, such as a leasing company, where your state allows it
• A shipper, broker or maintenance shop whose mistake helped cause the crash
• Your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage on your auto policy, which varies a lot by state and policy
• Your own medical payments or PIP coverage, depending on your state

Don't settle before the whole picture is clear

If the carrier's insurer offers its policy limit, that can look like good news. But accepting it can affect your rights against other parties or your own UIM carrier if you do it the wrong way. Many UIM policies have notice or consent rules before you settle with the at-fault driver's insurer.

Before signing a release, have someone make sure every policy and every possible defendant has been checked.

Signs the carrier may be in trouble

Small carriers come and go fast. Warning signs that coverage or the company itself may be shaky: the FMCSA record shows authority revoked or inactive, the insurance filing was cancelled around the crash date, the company's phone is disconnected, or nobody from the carrier ever calls back.

None of those automatically end your claim. A policy that was in force on the day of the crash may still respond even if the company later shuts down. But they're a reason to move quickly, save everything, and let a lawyer start tracing the insurance and the other parties before memories fade and records disappear.

If you're a driver who was leased on to a carrier that went under, your situation has its own twists. Our library covers owner-operator and driver injury questions separately.