$1.9 Million Settlement in Charleston Truck Wreck After Phone Download Showed Driver Was Online Gambling

Steinberg Law Firm truck accident attorney Wilson Jackson recovered $1.9 million for three clients injured in a commercial truck wreck on King Street in Charleston, South Carolina. The driver was speeding and on his cell phone. What the phone download showed was worse than just a glance at a text message, and the trucking company had already been warned about this employee using his phone while driving.

What the Evidence Showed

The truck’s dash camera recorded the driver using his cell phone in the seconds before impact and helped establish that he was speeding on King Street. Wilson did not stop with the video. He had the driver’s phone downloaded and analyzed, and the data showed he was online gambling at the time of the wreck.

Comparing that data against the driver’s work and driving logs showed the phone use was not a one-time lapse. In the months before the collision, the driver had exchanged more than 20 text messages with his own manager while he was driving.

The dash camera system also showed the trucking company’s liability and disregard for safety. In the weeks before the crash, it sent the driver’s manager multiple notifications that the driver was using his phone behind the wheel. The evidence developed in the case showed the company did nothing about them. No discipline. No remedial training.

A motor carrier that knows its driver is breaking the law and puts him back on the road anyway has made a choice. That choice is what this case was about.

Wilson Jackson Served as Lead Litigator Amongst Three Injury Law Firms

Three injury law firms were involved for the four people injured in the wreck. Wilson took the depositions, argued the case at court hearings, and handled settlement negotiations with the trucking company. His three clients recovered $1.5 million, $400,000 and $90,000. The work done in the case also helped the attorneys representing a fourth passenger injured in the same collision.

Before he represented injured people, Wilson defended trucking companies and their insurance carriers as part of a legal team serving as national and regional counsel for large motor carriers. He knows how those files get built, and he knows what gets left out of them. He has completed a 160-hour truck driver training program, holds a Commercial Driver’s License, and completed the Certified Director of Safety course through the North American Transportation Management Institute.

He has been selected to The National Trial Lawyers Trucking Trial Lawyers Association Top 10 and Top 40 Under 40 from 2023 through 2025, named to Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America for 2025, and recognized as a South Carolina Rising Star in Transportation and Maritime Law. He is licensed in South Carolina and North Carolina.

Why Crash Evidence Has to Be Preserved Quickly

The evidence that decides a trucking case is often the evidence that disappears first. Phone data changes. Dash camera footage gets overwritten. Electronic logging records fall under retention schedules. Internal safety alerts and messages between drivers and managers go the same way if nobody demands them in time.

Learning that the driver was on his phone mattered. Matching his phone records against his driving logs, and then finding the alerts his manager had already received, is what turned a distracted driving case into a case about a company that knew and did nothing.

Injured in a Truck Accident in South Carolina?

Steinberg Law Firm represents people injured in commercial truck wrecks in Charleston and throughout South Carolina. The firm has served injured South Carolinians for nearly a century and has recovered more than $1 billion for its clients. If you or a member of your family has been seriously hurt in a collision with a commercial truck, call us and tell us what happened.

Call 843-720-2800 for a free consultation. There is no upfront fee.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Settlement amounts are gross amounts before attorneys’ fees, costs and expenses are deducted.