Serious Advocacy for Montgomery County Families Hit by Commercial Trucks
McGowan & Cecil, LLC represents people injured by tractor-trailers, box trucks, and other commercial vehicles throughout Montgomery County, from the I-270 corridor through Rockville, Bethesda, Silver Spring, and Gaithersburg. A truck accident claim is not a larger version of a car accident claim. It involves federal safety rules, a motor carrier with its own investigators, and layers of commercial insurance bought to limit what you recover. Our Maryland truck accident lawyers have spent more than 120 combined years holding those companies to account, on a contingency fee with no attorney fee unless we recover for you.
Why Injured Montgomery County Clients Trust McGowan & Cecil, LLC
A commercial-truck crash can leave you facing catastrophic injuries, mounting medical bills, lost income, and an insurer working to minimize your claim. McGowan & Cecil provides direct, human support and experienced advocacy for injured people and families across Montgomery County. Our firm offers:
- Founded in 2001 by Michael McGowan and J. Robb Cecil, with more than 120 years of combined trial and claims experience
- More than 200 five-star Google reviews and a record of million-dollar-plus recoveries in individual cases
- Real attorneys and real paralegals handle your file, with at least one attorney and one paralegal assigned to every case
- Platinum Concierge Service, with prompt returned calls and clear communication throughout your case
- A free, no-obligation consultation and contingency-fee representation with no attorney fee unless we recover compensation for you
- Se Habla Español, because no one should have to fight an insurer in a second language
Michael McGowan spent more than a decade doing work for insurance companies before devoting his practice to representing seriously injured people. That perspective helps our team anticipate how insurers assess claims and prepare a case for the compensation you need. No prior result guarantees a similar outcome in your case, but we dedicate our resources, skills, and experience to every case we accept.
What Federal Rules Require of Truck Drivers and Carriers
Most interstate trucking is governed by federal safety regulations, and violations of those rules can be the backbone of a case. Drivers of property-carrying commercial motor vehicles covered by the federal hours-of-service rules generally:
- May not drive without first taking 10 consecutive hours off duty
- May not drive after a 14 consecutive-hour on-duty window has run
- May drive no more than 11 hours inside that window
- Must take a 30-minute interruption of driving once 8 cumulative driving hours have passed
Weekly limits cap a driver at 60 hours on duty in 7 days, or 70 hours on duty in 8 days if the carrier runs every day, and either period may restart with 34 or more consecutive hours off duty. These federal hours-of-service limits include exceptions for short-haul work, sleeper berth splits, and adverse conditions, which is why the logs need a reader who knows them.
Electronic logs, dispatch records, maintenance files, and driver qualification files answer whether those rules were followed. They also disappear on ordinary retention schedules, so we send preservation demands early.
Why a Truck Claim Carries More Value and More Resistance
Commercial trucking carries insurance that ordinary drivers do not. A for-hire carrier operating a vehicle in interstate commerce with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more, hauling nonhazardous property, must maintain at least $750,000 in public liability coverage before it may operate. Some situations require higher coverage amounts.
Proof of that coverage is public information the carrier must produce for review on reasonable request. Separately, a carrier’s inspection, crash, and out-of-service history appears in the federal company safety record database. More coverage means a more determined defense, not an easier claim.
It also means more potential defendants than a two car collision, and identifying them early matters:
- The driver, for fatigue, speed, distraction, impairment, or other negligence
- The motor carrier, for hiring, training, supervision, scheduling, and maintenance decisions
- A separate maintenance contractor whose repairs failed
- The shipper or loading company when cargo shifted or was never secured
- A parts manufacturer when brakes, tires, or coupling hardware failed
Each defendant may carry its own insurance coverage, and each will point at the others. Sorting that out is the work.
The Maryland Rules That Decide Your Montgomery County Case
Three rules shape almost every truck case filed in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County in Rockville. First, Maryland is a contributory negligence state. Under long settled Maryland law, an injured person whose own negligence proximately contributed to the injury can be barred from recovering anything, however slight that contribution. Defense teams build toward that from the first recorded statement they ask you to give.
Second, a civil action at law in Maryland must generally be filed within three years from the date it accrues, unless another provision of the Code sets a different period. Claims involving a government vehicle can be governed by different, and much shorter, deadlines under other provisions of the Code, so those crashes need review immediately.
Third, Maryland caps noneconomic damages, such as pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement, and loss of consortium. The cap is fixed by the date the cause of action arose and increases each October 1. For a cause of action arising between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026, the limit is $965,000. What it does not touch matters just as much. It does not limit economic damages such as medical care, life care costs, or lost earning capacity, which in a catastrophic injury case are usually the largest numbers in the file.
A fatal crash brings a wrongful death claim, which follows its own rules.
Speak With a Montgomery County Truck Accident Lawyer Today
If a commercial truck injured you or someone in your family, the carrier’s investigators are already working. Put McGowan & Cecil, LLC on your side today. Contact our Laurel office for a free consultation. There is no attorney fee unless we recover for you. We handle injury claims throughout Montgomery County, from Rockville and Bethesda to Silver Spring and Gaithersburg.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file a truck accident claim in Maryland?
Maryland law generally requires a civil action at law to be filed within three years from the date the claim accrues, unless another provision of the Code sets a different period. Claims involving a government-owned vehicle can be governed by different deadlines under other provisions of the Code, and a missed deadline usually ends the case.
What if the trucking company says the crash was partly my fault?
Take it seriously, because Maryland applies contributory negligence. If a jury finds that your own negligence proximately contributed to your injuries, you can be barred from recovering at all, even where the truck driver was far more at fault. That is why we move quickly to secure the electronic logs, onboard data, scene video, and independent witnesses.
Who besides the truck driver can be held responsible?
Responsibility may reach the motor carrier for its hiring, training, scheduling, or maintenance practices, a maintenance contractor, the company that loaded the cargo, or the manufacturer of a failed component. Each may carry separate insurance, which affects what is available to compensate you.