Home / Truck Driver Fatigue & Hours-of-Service Violation Lawyer
Board Certified · NBTA · Since 2019
Driver Fatigue & Hours-of-Service Violations
Federal hours-of-service rules exist because a fatigued driver behind 80,000 pounds is a preventable catastrophe waiting for a place to happen. When carriers push schedules that can't be run legally, or look the other way while logs are falsified, the violation is not a paperwork problem — it is the cause of the crash.
Proving a fatigue case means mastering the electronic record: electronic logging device data, engine control module downloads, GPS pings, fuel receipts, toll records, dispatch messages and delivery timestamps — cross-examined against each other until the true hours emerge. That record can be overwritten quickly, which is why immediate preservation demands matter.
Joshua Leizerman, Esq. was among the first attorneys in the nation to earn Board Certification in Truck Accident Law from the National Board of Trial Advocacy and serves on the Board of Regents of the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he has devoted his entire legal career to truck crash litigation.
Fatigue cases are where deep trucking-industry knowledge pays off most: knowing what the data should look like, where carriers hide pressure on drivers and how to prove that a crash was the predictable result of a business decision.
Common questions
What are the hours-of-service rules?
Federal regulations limit how long commercial drivers may drive and work before mandatory rest. The details are technical, but the principle is simple: past certain limits, driving is illegal because it is dangerous.
How can anyone prove a driver was fatigued?
Through the electronic trail — ELD records, ECM data, GPS, fuel and toll records, dispatch communications — reconciled against each other. Falsified logs rarely survive that comparison.
What if the driver was an independent contractor?
Carriers often raise contractor status to dodge responsibility. There are established legal paths to hold motor carriers accountable regardless of how the driver was classified — the facts of control matter more than the label.
Free case review — 24/7
Joshua reviews every serious truck crash inquiry personally. No fee unless there is a recovery.