If you’ve been hurt in a crash with a semi-truck, delivery truck, or other commercial vehicle in or near Hermiston, Hess Injury Law is the local firm to call. Our Hermiston office is at 1025 N. 1st Street, and we handle truck accident cases throughout Umatilla and Morrow County.
Personal injury and wrongful death cases involving vehicle accidents are all our firm does. We’ve recovered millions for clients hurt by negligent commercial drivers and the trucking companies that employ them. The consultation is free, and you don’t pay anything unless we recover compensation for you.
Contact our office or call to talk to a Hermiston truck accident attorney today.
Truck Accidents in and Around Hermiston
Hermiston sits at one of the busiest commercial freight crossroads in the Pacific Northwest. Three major routes converge near the city:
- I-84 runs east-west, connecting Portland to Boise. Cabbage Hill — the steep grade between Pendleton and the Blue Mountains — is roughly 30 minutes east of Hermiston and is one of the most dangerous stretches of interstate in Oregon for commercial trucks.
- I-82 runs north from the I-84 / I-82 interchange just north of town, crossing the Columbia River into Washington.
- Highway 395 runs north-south through Hermiston itself, connecting to Tri-Cities to the north and Pendleton to the south.
That much commercial traffic in a town of fewer than 20,000 means truck crashes are a regular occurrence — and the consequences are usually severe. A loaded semi-truck weighs up to 80,000 pounds. A passenger car weighs around 4,000 pounds. The injuries to the smaller vehicle are routinely catastrophic.
Recent Local Truck Crashes
A few recent crashes that show what this corridor produces:
- April 21, 2026 — A Pendleton driver was killed at milepost 207 on I-84 after striking the rear of a Freightliner tractor-trailer. The driver lost control on wet pavement, left the roadway, and was ejected during a rollover.
- April 10–11, 2025 — A truck and trailer rolled over on Cabbage Hill at milepost 222, blocking both westbound lanes of I-84 between La Grande and eight miles east of Pendleton. The interstate was closed for hours.
- June 2024 — A fatal rear-end crash on the Cabbage Hill descent killed a driver from Irrigon when a pickup struck a slow-moving semi-truck.
- September 2023 — A fatal crash involving two commercial trucks on eastbound I-84 closed the highway for six hours. A semi-truck driver from Renton, Washington struck the rear of a Peterbilt operated by a 20-year-old Hermiston driver and died at the scene.
These are not isolated incidents. The combination of grade, weather, and heavy commercial traffic makes the corridor around Hermiston a place where serious truck crashes happen regularly.
Local Hazards That Drive Truck Crashes
A few hazards specific to this region that out-of-state insurance adjusters often don’t understand:
- Cabbage Hill (also called Emigrant Hill). The 6% grade dropping 2,000 feet over six miles between Pendleton and the Blue Mountains is the steepest interstate grade in Oregon. ODOT publishes a specific safety advisory for commercial truckers descending it because of the high crash rate.
- Blowing dust on I-82 and I-84. Agricultural fields drying out and wind picking up can drop visibility to near-zero in seconds. Pile-ups in dust conditions are documented hazards on these routes.
- Wildfire smoke. The Cold Springs, Hatch Grade, and other recent fires have closed area highways and contributed to crashes when smoke combines with already-difficult conditions.
- Crosswinds along the Columbia corridor. Particularly dangerous for high-profile commercial vehicles on I-82 near the Umatilla Bridge.
- Wet pavement on the Highway 395 corridor. A factor in the April 2026 fatal crash north of Pendleton.
- Wildlife on rural highway sections — deer, elk, and free-range livestock at dawn and dusk.
When a Hermiston-area truck crash case turns on what conditions were like on the road, knowing the corridor firsthand matters. We do.
Why Hess Injury Law for Your Hermiston Truck Accident Case
When you’re choosing a lawyer for a serious truck accident case, three things matter most: who’s actually going to handle your case, how much experience they have with cases like yours, and whether they know the area well enough to represent you effectively.
What we offer Hermiston clients:
- Local office. Our Hermiston office is at 1025 N. 1st Street. We’re not a Portland or Seattle firm advertising to Hermiston — we’re here.
- 60+ years of combined experience. Personal injury and wrongful death cases involving vehicle accidents are all our firm does.
- Direct attorney attention. When you call, you talk to an attorney handling your case — not a call center.
- Hablamos Español. We can communicate fluently with Spanish-speaking clients and family members throughout the case.
- Track record of recovery. We’ve secured substantial settlements and verdicts for vehicle accident victims throughout Umatilla County and Eastern Oregon. Meet our team.
- Resources to investigate. We work with accident reconstructionists, medical experts, and trucking industry specialists to build strong cases.
- No fee unless we win. You pay nothing out of pocket. We work on contingency.
Cases involving commercial trucks in Umatilla County are filed in the 6th Judicial District, with the Hermiston Court at 915 SE Columbia Drive serving as one of three district courthouses (along with Pendleton and Heppner). We know the local courts, the local insurance defense bar, and how cases move through this district.
How a Truck Accident Case Is Different From a Car Accident Case
Insurance adjusters at trucking companies are not the same as the adjuster who handles a fender-bender claim. They have specialized training, larger budgets, and more experience fighting back. A truck accident case is structurally different from a car accident case in several important ways.
Multiple Liable Parties
In a typical car accident, you sue the at-fault driver. In a truck accident, you may be able to sue:
- The truck driver — for negligence behind the wheel
- The trucking company (motor carrier) — for negligent hiring, inadequate training, pressuring drivers to violate safety rules, failing to maintain equipment, or failing to enforce safety policies
- The truck owner — when the truck is leased rather than owned by the operating company
- The maintenance contractor — when a mechanical failure caused or contributed to the crash
- The cargo loader — when improperly loaded cargo (overweight, unbalanced, unsecured) contributed
- The truck or component manufacturer — when a defective part caused the crash
- The shipper — in some circumstances, when an unrealistic delivery schedule contributed to the driver violating safety rules
Identifying every responsible party is one of the most important early steps. Each additional defendant means additional insurance coverage. We’ve covered this in detail in Can You Sue a Trucking Company and What If the Trucking Company Denies Responsibility for the Accident.
FMCSA Regulations Apply
Commercial trucks operating in interstate commerce are governed by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations. These rules don’t apply to passenger vehicles, and violations of them can be the basis for liability. The most common violations we see:
- Hours of service violations — Federal law limits truck drivers to 11 hours of driving in a 14-hour workday, with mandatory 10-hour off-duty breaks. Drivers cannot drive after being on duty for 60 hours in 7 consecutive days.
- Electronic logging device (ELD) requirements — Federal regulations require commercial trucks to use ELDs that automatically record drive time and rest periods. ELD data is the most important single piece of evidence in many truck accident cases.
- Vehicle inspection and maintenance requirements — Trucks must be inspected daily and maintained on regular schedules.
- Driver qualification requirements — Trucking companies must maintain detailed files on every driver — license history, medical certifications, drug testing, prior accidents.
- Drug and alcohol testing protocols — Pre-employment, random, post-accident, and reasonable suspicion testing requirements.
Larger Insurance Coverage
Federal law requires interstate commercial trucks to carry a minimum of $750,000 in liability coverage. Most carry more — often $1 million to $5 million or higher. The available recovery on a serious truck case is usually substantially larger than on a car accident case.
Evidence That Disappears Quickly
Truck accident cases have evidence sources that don’t exist in regular car accidents — and a lot of it gets destroyed in the normal course of business if no one preserves it.
The single most important reason to involve an attorney early is to send preservation letters that legally require the trucking company to retain:
- ELD data — drive time, rest periods, hours-of-service compliance
- ECM (engine control module) data — speed, braking, throttle position before the crash
- Driver qualification files — license history, prior accidents, training records
- Maintenance records
- Hours-of-service logbooks
- Cargo loading records
- Dashcam footage — many trucks have it, and recordings get overwritten within days
- Cell phone records — to prove distraction
- Drug and alcohol testing records
Without preservation letters, this evidence can be gone before you even think to ask for it.
Common Truck Accident Injuries
The injuries that bring people to our Hermiston office after a commercial truck crash:
- Traumatic brain injuries — concussions, contusions, and severe TBI
- Spinal cord injuries — vertebral fractures, herniated discs, and partial or complete paralysis
- Multiple complex fractures — often requiring surgery and hardware
- Internal organ injuries and internal bleeding — life-threatening if not identified quickly
- Crush injuries and amputations — in severe collisions
- Burns — from fuel leaks, fires, or hazardous cargo
- Wrongful death — when the crash takes a family member
Symptoms of TBIs and internal injuries often don’t fully appear for hours or days. We tell every client to get medical evaluation immediately even when injuries seem minor. The closest emergency department to Hermiston is Good Shepherd Medical Center on Highland Avenue. For more serious trauma, patients are often transferred to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland.
We’ve covered the injury side in more depth in our most common truck accident injuries guide.
What Compensation You Can Recover
Depending on the specifics of your case, recoverable losses in a Hermiston truck accident claim may include:
Economic damages:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Lost wages and reduced future earning capacity
- Vehicle damage and other property loss
- Out-of-pocket costs related to the injury
Non-economic damages:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress after the crash
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium for spouses
Wrongful death damages when a family member is killed — including loss of financial support, loss of companionship, and the deceased’s pre-death pain and suffering. Our guides on who can sue for wrongful death in Oregon and who gets the money in a wrongful death lawsuit walk through how these claims work.
Two factors come up in almost every Hermiston truck case worth understanding:
Insurance coverage. Even though commercial trucks carry larger policies than passenger vehicles, serious truck cases can exceed available coverage. Investigating every potential source — including your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage — is critical.
Insurance adjuster tactics. Trucking company insurers know exactly how to minimize claims. Our guide on how to scare an insurance adjuster walks through the playbook and how to push back. The first offer is almost never the best one, and once you sign a release, the case is closed.
For settlement valuations, see our breakdown of actual settlement amounts in truck accident cases and how much is my personal injury case worth.
What If You Were Hurt at Work in a Truck Accident
A driver who’s hurt in a truck accident while on the job — delivery driver, sales rep, agricultural worker, or any other employee in a vehicle for work — typically has both a workers’ compensation claim through their employer AND a third-party personal injury claim against the at-fault driver and trucking company. The two claims coexist, and pursuing the third-party claim doesn’t cost you your workers’ comp benefits. We cover this in detail in our guide on getting a settlement after being hurt at work.
How Medical Bills Get Paid During Your Case
Medical bills after a Hermiston truck crash are typically handled in this order: your own PIP coverage first, your health insurance next, the at-fault driver’s settlement at the end. We’ve covered this in detail in our guide on how medical bills get paid after a car accident, as well as the medical liens that come out of any settlement.
What to Do After a Truck Accident in Hermiston
The steps that protect your case in the days and weeks after a commercial truck crash:
- Get medical evaluation immediately — Good Shepherd Medical Center, urgent care, or your primary care provider. Don’t wait for symptoms to develop.
- Get the police report number — Oregon State Police, Hermiston Police, or the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office, depending on where the crash happened.
- Document the scene — photos of both vehicles, the road, debris, skid marks, and weather conditions. Get contact info for witnesses.
- Note the truck’s identifying information — company name from the door, US DOT number, license plate, trailer number, driver’s name, and CDL information.
- Don’t give a recorded statement to the trucking company’s insurance adjuster without legal advice.
- Don’t sign anything the trucking company or insurer puts in front of you, particularly anything titled “release,” “waiver,” or “settlement.”
- Save everything — vehicle damage, clothing, any items from the crash.
- Contact a truck accident attorney as soon as possible — the evidence preservation window is shorter than people realize.
For more on choosing the right attorney for a serious truck case, see our guide on how to choose the right truck accident lawyer for your case.
Talk to a Hermiston Truck Accident Lawyer Today
If you’ve been hurt in a commercial truck crash in or near Hermiston — on I-84, I-82, Highway 395, Highway 730, or any local road — our team is ready to help. Whether the crash happened at the I-84 / I-82 interchange, on Cabbage Hill, on the Highway 395 corridor through town, or on any other road in Umatilla or Morrow County, we represent injured people throughout this region.
The consultation is free, and you don’t pay anything unless we recover compensation for you.
Visit our Hermiston office at 1025 N. 1st Street, call (509) 385-0781, or contact us online.
Hablamos Español.
We also represent truck accident victims in Pendleton, Walla Walla, Umatilla, and throughout Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington.
(509) 525-4744 