EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — With El Paso sitting along the Texas-New Mexico-Mexico border, commercial trucks from across the country and beyond travel through the region every day. That raises an important question for drivers: What happens if you’re involved in a crash with a trucking company that’s based outside of Texas—or even outside the United States?
According to El Paso attorney Daniela Labinoti, being hit by an out-of-state trucking company typically does not prevent someone from filing a lawsuit.
“Actually, this is probably like 99.9% of all my cases. They are rarely involved Texas or, you know, truck drivers. Most of them involve California truck drivers or out-of-state truck drivers. So that’s not a problem if you get hit by a truck driver from another state. It’s not an issue at all because as long as they operate a vehicle in the state of Texas, in El Paso, they avail themselves to the jurisdiction of El Paso court or Las Cruces.”
However, Labinoti said cases involving Mexican or other foreign trucking companies can be much more complicated.
“What’s a problem are the Mexican or foreign trucking companies, which unfortunately for us in El Paso is a lot of them.”
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She said her firm currently represents several clients who were injured in crashes involving Mexican trucking companies. While victims can still pursue legal action, serving those companies with a lawsuit can be a lengthy and expensive process.
“So I have numerous cases right now that most of my clients were injured and victims of truck drivers are from Mexico and they’re working for Mexican trucking companies and yes, we can sue them, but you know what? It’s very hard to serve them because they get this protection… under the Hague Convention.”
Labinoti said the Hague Convention governs how legal documents are served internationally, adding that the process can significantly delay a case.
“It can take up to 18 months to serve a trucking company through the Hague Convention and it’s super expensive, and I think is absolutely unfair to our citizens.”
Because of those challenges, she recommends hiring an attorney familiar with international trucking litigation.
“You need to hire attorneys who specialize in this kind of accident, who deal with trucking companies from Mexico, who understand the Hague Convention and how it works… It’s an arduous process.”
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