Truck / 18-Wheeler Accident Statistics in San Jose
1,800+
Annual Large Truck Crashes (Santa Clara Co.)
22
Fatal Truck Crashes (2024)
180,000+
E-Commerce Truck Deliveries (Daily)
$2.4M+
Avg Serious Truck Injury Settlement
Courts in San Jose, California
Santa Clara County Superior Court
191 N First St, San Jose, CA 95113
U.S. District Court — Northern District of California (San Jose Division)
280 S 1st St, San Jose, CA 95113
Hospitals & Trauma Centers in San Jose
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center — Level I Trauma Center
751 S Bascom Ave, San Jose, CA 95128
Stanford Health Care — Level I Trauma
300 Pasteur Dr, Stanford, CA 94305
Liability Considerations in San Jose
Silicon Valley's Last-Mile Delivery Truck Problem
San Jose and the broader Silicon Valley region are among the nation's highest-density e-commerce delivery markets. Amazon, FedEx, UPS, DHL, and an array of DSP contractors generate hundreds of thousands of daily delivery truck movements. The pressure of delivery time windows and package volume quotas creates a systemic driver behavior problem — rushing between stops, failing to check mirrors before pulling back into traffic, and running traffic control devices in dense residential neighborhoods.
California's AB5 law substantially affects delivery truck contractor classification in San Jose. DSP contractors operating Amazon-branded vans under Amazon's operational control have been successfully argued to be employees for purposes of vicarious liability in California courts, making Amazon's commercial insurance available in addition to the DSP's policy. This dual-insurance layer significantly increases available recovery for seriously injured truck accident victims.
Your Legal Team
Jennifer Kowalski
Partner
Los Angeles, CA
Jennifer Kowalski is one of California's premier truck accident attorneys, focusing on catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases involving commercial carriers on California's dense freeway network. Over 18 years, she has developed deep expertise in the electronic evidence that defines modern truck litigation — ELD records, GPS tracking data, EDR analysis, and dashcam footage — and has pioneered spoliation strategies that have resulted in adverse inference sanctions against multiple major carriers. Jennifer has recovered over $180 million for truck accident victims and is a frequent lecturer on commercial vehicle litigation at the Consumer Attorneys of California annual conference.
Education
- J.D., USC Gould School of Law (2008)
- B.A., Economics, UCLA (2005)