With the explosion of the ecommerce market in Indiana and Illinois, as well as the rest of the country, there is an increasing danger of deadly accidents involving delivery drivers tasked with bringing all those online-ordered goods to their buyers. More and more people shop via websites than ever before. The competition to deliver purchases to those shoppers as fast as possible is intense. Same-day delivery is commonplace today. For more, read our previous article, Hurt in Crash with Delivery Drivers for Amazon, FedEx, Wal-Mart, Target, UPS?
Everyone on the roadways of Illinois and Indiana needs to recognize the rising risk they face of a delivery driver motor vehicle accident. For these accident victims, there are state laws in place to provide justice to all the victims; however, complications arise when it comes time to determine exactly who has legal liability for their harm.
Buyers may not realize that their goods are rarely delivered by the company that sells them their smartphone, floor lamp, backpack, or dehumidifier. These sellers, in more and more situations, are attempting to shield themselves from legal responsibility for accidents involving their product deliveries by handing off deliveries to subsidiary companies, courier contractors, or gig workers.
This distribution handoff will complicate any claims for damages asserted by those who have been injured in a delivery driver motor vehicle accident.
Crash Claim Liability Consideration: Delivery Driver Vehicles
Some of these delivery vehicles carry the logo or insignia of the seller company. We all see these delivery vans driving all around Chicagoland and Indianapolis, for instance. You have likely crossed paths with a Ford Transit, Mercedes Sprinter, or Ram ProMaster delivering parcels sometime today, right?
One concern is this type of light van is notorious for being involved in serious accidents, with 300 people dying each month in these light van collisions according to Insurance Institute of Highway Safety research. Insurers are calling for these types of vans to have crash avoidance technology installed as a part of their standard equipment. Read, “Insurance group calls for Amazon, FedEx and others to use more safety tech in delivery vans,” written by Peter Valdes-Dapena and published by CNN on April 30, 2024.
- For more on crash avoidance technology, read: Crash Avoidance Systems: Automating Complexities of Driving to Reduce Accident Deaths.
However, more and more often goods bought on the web from Amazon, Target, or Wal-Mart as well as other online sellers who use FedEx or UPS to deliver their product to the buyer are being delivered in motor vehicles owned by a gig driver or by various types of vans, SUVs, or trucks owned by companies or contractors that are independent from the seller or the courier company. They have no logo or designation.
Accordingly, today’s delivery driver accidents may involve almost any make and model of motor vehicle driving on our roads, as long as it is big enough to haul the products and has met the various standards set up by the hiring company. There is no standardization in vehicles to be used, and no uniformity in confirming the reliability, recall status, repair, or maintenance of these delivery vehicles.
For example, passenger vehicles used by UPS’s Roadie can range in size from those so small that only small parcels that can fit on the front seat, to large trucks or SUVs with lots of storage capacity. Whatever the driver drives as their personal car can be used in a delivery driver gig.
Crash Claim Liability Consideration: Insurance Coverage for the Accident
There is also a growing number of scenarios involving what insurance policies will cover injuries that are suffered in an accident involving a delivery driver here in Illinois or Indiana. Who owns as well as who operates the delivery vehicle are just two important legal considerations here.
The gig drivers are required to provide information about their own personal passenger vehicle insurance policies as a condition to being hired. UPS’s Roadie explains:
A driver must have a current auto insurance policy that meets or exceeds the minimum requirements in the state where the driver’s vehicle is registered and that covers the driver’s completion of Gigs on the platform. A driver must have such auto insurance prior to offering on Gigs. A driver will not be allowed to deliver Gigs and will be removed from the platform if the driver does not have adequate auto insurance coverage. A driver must carry proof of all required auto insurance coverage at all times while performing Gigs and must provide the same to Roadie and/or other authorities and officials upon request. While only your insurance carrier can tell you what coverage is required in your state, many drivers carry commercial insurance to protect themselves against liability in the event of an accident. Drivers must also provide Roadie with the necessary contacts with their insurance carrier in the event of a motor vehicle accident or other claim related to a Gig.
In other situations, the delivery vehicle will be owned by a small company set up specifically to deliver ecommerce packages in a local area. It will have a company policy to cover accidents. For instance, Amazon Hub Delivery “partners” with small businesses throughout the nation to deliver its goods to online buyers. Amazon drops off the packages and the responsibility for actual delivery becomes that of the contracting business. Of some import, these businesses need not be in the transportation industry in order to be accepted into the Amazon Hub Delivery program.
Read, “Amazon will use small businesses to help deliver packages in the US,” written by Craig Hale and published by TechRadar on June 27, 2023 and “How Amazon local delivery partners can cash in on an extra $27,000 in annual income,” written by Cheryl Winokur Munk and published by CNBC on July 19, 2023.
And, there will be bigger, independent companies that are making deliveries for these big companies, too, using a vehicle marked with the company logo. However, most of these courier service companies will be set up as independent legal entities from Target, Wal-Mart, Fed-Ex, etc., with their own insurance policy coverages that will vary between each contractor. Read, e.g., “Become an Independent FedEx Delivery Contractor,” written by The Transwest Team and published by Transwest Trucks on February 23, 2023.
The insurance policies that will cover a Delivery Driver Accident in Illinois and Indiana will vary depending upon the delivery vehicle itself and how the driver is employed as a courier for the seller. Gig coverages will likely be very different from the delivery contractor companies.
Crash Claim Liability Consideration: Corporation Legal Shields
Ribboning through the above discussion is the reality that goods may leave a warehouse or store after being sold online by Target, Wal-Mart, or Amazon, with both the buyer and many members of the public assuming that the big company is overseeing safety concerns in delivery as well as other things. This is not true.
Lots of legal time has been invested in finding ways to create separate legal entities between that initial sale and the ultimate delivery to the buyer that work to shield the big corporations from liability in the event of a serious or deadly accident.
This is true both for the gig drivers as well as the various courier companies or small businesses that are contracting to act as delivery services for the big conglomerates.
For anyone who is hurt in a delivery driver accident, it is very important to understand these spider law-webs exist and to have the support of experienced advocates to help them deal with these machinations.
Consider this: overcoming Amazon’s defense that it was not responsible for a delivery van accident because of its independent corporate entity has happened, and will happen again. See, for example, the $44.6 Million Jury Verdict against Amazon last year arising out of a Virginia delivery driver accident involving one of Amazon’s “delivery service partners.” Read, “Dorchester County jury hands $44.6M verdict against Amazon after man hit by delivery van,” written by Ian Kayanja and published by WCIV Charleston on December 12, 2023.
Seeking Justice After Catastrophic or Fatal Delivery Driver Accidents in Illinois and Indiana
The risk of being involved in a serious motor vehicle accident is unacceptably high in our part of the country, no matter the type of vehicle involved. However, one of the more complicated aftermaths of these tragedies is when a delivery driver on the job is involved in the crash.
Of course, the reasons for these delivery driver accidents can be any number of things, from (1) driver mistakes (often the result of driver fatigue); (2) shifting cargo loads in the vehicle during transit (especially in sudden braking); (3) failures of the vehicle itself due to bad repair, shoddy maintenance, or even (4) defective products or design flaws.
For more, read: Ridesharing and Traffic Fatalities: Driver Fatigue and Drowsy Driving as a Public Safety Risk; Defective Parts in Fatal Car Crashes: Fight to Make Auto Makers Keep Records of Safety Defects; and Unrepaired Recalls in 25% of the Cars on Our Roads Today: Legal Duty of Manufacturer versus Owner of the Vehicle in a Fatal Car Crash.
However, for all involved in the crash, a key part of the investigation will be to determine all the parties who have legal responsibility for the resulting damages, and their various insurance coverages. This may include:
- The delivery driver
- The employer of the delivery driver
- The owner of the delivery vehicle
- The company responsible for packaging the products
- The company who owned and sold the product
- The company who manufactured the delivery vehicle or its component parts
- The company who designed the delivery vehicle or its component parts
- The company who repaired the delivery vehicle or its component parts
- Owners of premises involved in the accident (such as private parking lots with insufficient lighting, overgrown landscaping that blocks views, etc.)
- The shipper responsible for shipping deadlines, directions, performance expectations.
Those involved in the delivery driver accident as victims as well as their loved ones and family members may have legal claims for damages against several different individuals or entities under state law.
Also read:
- Catastrophic Injuries in an Accident: Damages for the Loss of a Normal Life
- Pain Awareness: Claims to Cover an Accident Victim’s Pain Damages
- Damages Available After a Pedestrian Accident in Chicago
- Accident Injuries and Warning Labels: How Many Have Legal Liability for the Victim’s Harm?
- Local Amazon Warehouses Under Federal Investigation for Both Worker Dangers and Fraudulent Conduct
Delivery driving accidents are a growing danger here in the Crossroads of America. Please be careful out there!
