Goods, parcels, and packages are being delivered to homes throughout Illinois and Indiana at all times of the day and night these days, as e-commerce becomes more and more popular with consumers. And no company is more involved in this growing trend of avoiding stores by opting for screen-shopping than Amazon, although many other companies are making tremendous profits from the online marketplace (e.g., FedEx, UPS, Walmart, Target, etc.).
And with this increase in convenience comes a parallel risk for serious or fatal accidents involving delivery trucks, delivery vans, or delivery vehicles that are tasked with bringing the parcel from the warehouse or distribution center to the purchaser. Delivery vehicle accidents are a growing concern for safety organizations and advocates for accident victims and their loved ones.
For details, read our earlier discussions in Hurt in Crash with Delivery Drivers for Amazon, FedEx, Wal-Mart, Target, UPS? and Who Has Liability for Accidents With Delivery Drivers for Amazon, FedEx, Wal-Mart, Target?
The Focus upon Last Mile Delivery
Since a great many of the delivery vehicles roaming along the roadways of Illinois and Indiana are transporting packages on a deadline, there is the safety consideration involving “last mile delivery.” This phrase is an industrial term involving the supply chain.
Within the transportation industry, each step of the trip from the product on the warehouse or store shelf to the customer’s front door is carefully mapped. Mile by mile and cross-referenced by the promised delivery time made by the seller to the customer.
There is the “first mile,” where the good is moving from the manufacturer to the initial transport (think plane). Next, there will be the “middle mile,” where there is loading, unloading, or storage tasks as the item moves to its final distribution point. Finally, there is the “last mile.” Here, the good is moved from the warehouse or fulfillment center to the customer.
Last mile delivery is particularly important to Amazon. Amazon considers efficient route planning as crucial to its success. Customers, for instance, are invited to monitor their goods being delivered to their homes by the delivery tracks by GPS on a local map via an online order screen.
This last leg of the good’s trip from manufacturer or storage facility to the consumer is particularly pressured not only in time but in scheduling. Traffic patterns must be considered, as well as peak traffic times. What if there is a crash on the interstate? Drivers can get delayed in their schedules by having to unload heavy things that need doilies, or having to go up and down a series of staircases. Each delivery will have its unique challenges. And the volume of last mile deliveries each day is rising rapidly.
- For more read, “Last Mile Delivery Explained: Trends, Challenges, Costs & More,” written by Rick Bell and published by MerchantsFleet.
To help deal with the complexities of the “last mile delivery” pressures, Amazon and other companies (think Walmart, Target, UPS, and FedEx) are implementing various strategies to maximize their profits and minimize their risks in getting their parcels to their destinations within their promised delivery times. This includes not only having their own fleet vehicles with their own employee-drivers, but “outsourcing” these tasks to other companies or individuals who may or may not be operating with a company logo.
As a result, when there is a severe or deadly accident involving any kind of delivery vehicle, be it semi-truck, box truck, van, or smaller vehicle, there will be a legal and factual complexity in determining all who have legal liability for the resulting damages to the accident victims.
Victims Must Investigate Both Facts and Law to Identify Defendants After an Accident
Here in Illinois or Indiana, state law will determine all the parties that may be liable under the law for the harm caused in an accident involving a delivery truck or van. Negligence law, as well as premises liability law, product liability statutes, workers’ compensation, and wrongful death laws may apply. Each case is different.
Factual investigations will be undertaken by accident reconstruction experts, who may find that a failure in a component part (like a brake failure) contributed to the tragedy. Maybe the accident scene analysis, video data, and witness accounts confirm that a driver not involved in the crash was the actual cause of the collision. For more, read Accident Reconstruction Experts and Injury Claims.
Legal analysis must be done, too. Companies must be researched for their legal standing and interrelationship with the seller. Is this a gig driver? Is this an independent contracting company that provides its fleet to Amazon or Wal-Mart? Legal research must be done here. Are there arguments to be made that the mother company retained such control over the last mile delivery that an agency relationship exists? Some scholars point to this possibility. Read, Keith Cunningham-Parmeter, When Amazon Drivers Kill: Accidents, Agency Law, and the Contractor Economy, 65 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 581 (2024).
Also read: Why a Lawyer who is a Trial Attorney Is Important for Accident Victims in Personal Injury Cases.
Possible Defendants After an Accident Involving Delivery Trucks, Vans, or Vehicles
After a tedious and time-consuming investigation and analysis by reconstructionists and injury attorneys, the delivery accident victim may find that their situation has several potential defendants. More than one defendant may have breached legal duties that have caused the harm suffered by the victims, and the law will hold each of these parties accountable for recompense.
Those liable after a delivery truck, delivery van, or delivery vehicle accident may include:
- Driver of the delivery vehicle
- Employer of the driver of the delivery vehicle
- Owner of the delivery vehicle
- Company responsible for repair or maintenance of the delivery vehicle
- Manufacturer of the delivery vehicle
- Manufacturer or designer of defective or failed part on the delivery vehicle
- Shipper of the good who labelled, handled, packaged, or loaded the good
- Other drivers on the road whose negligence contributed to the crash
- Premises owners or lessors whose negligence contributed to the crash (such as bad lighting or blocked views caused by overgrown landscaping).
Victims of delivery vehicle accidents in Illinois or Indiana are provided avenues for justice where these responsible parties must compensate them for things like medical expenses, lost wages, lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, and more.
Claimants include:
- Delivery drivers hurt in the delivery accident
- Other drivers hurt in the accident
- Passengers in all vehicles involved in the delivery vehicle crash
- Pedestrians hurt in the delivery truck accident.
For more, read:
- Amazon Delivery Vehicle Accidents in Illinois: Chicagoland Amazon Truck Crashes
- Amazon Warehouse Workers: Risk of Severe Bodily Injury or Death on the Job as OSHA Investigations Continue
- Chicago Amazon Work Accidents: Warehouse and Delivery Dangers.
As e-commerce continues to grow in popularity in our part of the country, the risk of a serious or fatal accident involving a delivery vehicle rises. The sellers work hard to try and avoid legal liability for last mile delivery. Please be careful out there!
