Oakland hosts one of the top container ports on the West Coast, and I-880 and I-580 carry the drayage truck traffic connecting the Port of Oakland to inland distribution centers across Northern California. Multi-party liability cases involving port operators, freight brokers, and carriers are a routine feature of Oakland truck accident litigation. Below are five highly rated law firms in Oakland that handle truck accident and personal injury cases.
1. GJEL Accident Attorneys
About the Firm: With over 40 years serving injured clients in Oakland and across California, GJEL Accident Attorneys has recovered over $950 million in truck, serious, and catastrophic injury cases statewide. The firm boasts a reported 99% success rate and specializes in complex cases involving Oakland’s port and freeway corridors, where commercial truck crashes frequently involve federal violations and multi-vehicle damage. They analyze carrier policies, black-box data, and maintenance records to pursue corporate liability.
Services:
- Commercial truck and port corridor accidents
- Tractor-trailer and 18-wheeler crashes
- Wrongful death
- Catastrophic and spinal cord injury claims
- Federal FMCSA violation investigations
Address: Oakland, CA (contact for office address)
Phone: (510) 858-1600
Website: https://www.gjel.com/oakland
2. Bracamontes & Vlasak, P.C. (BV Law)
About the Firm: Bracamontes & Vlasak is an Oakland truck accident law firm that handles trucking accidents and commercial vehicle accidents throughout the Bay Area, Northern California, and statewide. The firm acts swiftly to preserve critical evidence and works with accident reconstructionists, automotive engineers, and industry experts. They are trial-ready and prepared to take cases all the way through verdict if necessary.
Services:
- 18-wheelers, freight trucks, and delivery vans
- Utility trucks and construction vehicle accidents
- Evidence preservation and accident reconstruction
- Wrongful death
- Full damages litigation including future medical care and lost earnings
Address: Oakland, CA (also San Francisco)
Phone: (415) 835-6777
Website: https://bvlawsf.com/motor-vehicle-accidents/truck-accidents/
3. Venardi Zurada, LLP
About the Firm: Venardi Zurada is a seasoned Oakland truck accident law firm with specialized knowledge of the federal and state laws governing large commercial trucks. The firm has the resources to retain leading expert witnesses and conduct full accident reconstructions. They represent clients on a contingency fee basis and move quickly after accidents to ensure evidence isn’t lost or destroyed by trucking companies.
Services:
- Tractor-trailer and large truck accidents
- Multi-party trucking liability cases
- Federal and state trucking regulation violations
- Wrongful death
- Catastrophic injury cases
Address: Oakland, CA (contact for office address)
Phone: (833) 893-6763
Website: https://www.vzlawfirm.com/oakland-truck-accident-lawyer/
4. The Barnes Firm
About the Firm: As one of America’s largest personal injury law firms, The Barnes Firm has been helping Oakland and California residents for decades. Their attorneys have been recognized by Best Lawyers in America, Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review, Super Lawyers, and the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. The firm is available 24/7 with offices in Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego, New York City, Long Island, Buffalo, and Rochester.
Services:
- Truck and commercial vehicle accidents
- Catastrophic injury claims
- Wrongful death
- Insurance claim negotiations
- Statewide and national representation
Address: Oakland, CA (multiple national offices)
Phone: (800) 800-0000
Website: https://www.thebarnesfirm.com/oakland-personal-injury-lawyers/
5. Hassell Law Group
About the Firm: The Hassell Law Group has nearly 25 years of experience fighting aggressively for truck accident victims throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including Oakland. The firm holds an undefeated record at trial and has secured results including a $12.5+ million confidential result for a woman seriously injured in a head-on collision with a commercial truck driver. They work on a contingency fee basis with no fees unless they win.
Services:
- Commercial truck and tractor-trailer accidents
- Semi-truck and 18-wheeler crashes
- Wrongful death and catastrophic injury
- Bay Area trucking litigation
- Multi-million-dollar case handling
Address: San Francisco, CA (serving all Bay Area including Oakland)
Phone: (415) 334-4111
Website: https://hasselllawgroup.com/san-francisco/truck-accident-lawyers/
Frequently Asked Questions About Truck Accidents in Oakland, CA
The Port of Oakland is one of the top container ports in the US, and I-880 and I-580 carry enormous drayage truck volume. How does California’s dangerous conditions on these corridors interact with the carrier’s duty of care?
California law imposes a duty of ordinary care on all drivers, but commercial carrier regulations impose a heightened standard through FMCSA rules and California DMV commercial vehicle requirements. On I-880 and I-580, where drayage trucks frequently operate in stop-and-go conditions near the port interchange, following distance violations and lane change failures are the most common causes of rear-end and sideswipe collisions. California Vehicle Code §21703 requires maintaining a reasonable following distance, and violations of that provision create a negligence per se theory. Oakland’s high density of commercial trucks on these corridors also means more commercial dashcam footage is typically available as evidence than in lower-volume areas, which is one of the strongest tools for establishing what the truck driver actually did in the seconds before impact.
Oakland’s port drayage industry has been at the center of AB5 litigation. What is the current practical status of AB5 as it applies to truck accident liability here?
California’s AB5 remains in effect for California-based carriers and drivers. Federal courts have issued injunctions affecting AB5’s application to certain interstate trucking operations under FMCSA preemption arguments, but those injunctions have been contested and the legal landscape is not fully resolved. For Oakland truck accident cases, the practical approach is to assert both employee and independent contractor theories in the alternative during the pleading stage, let discovery establish the actual working relationship, and resolve the AB5 classification question through expert testimony if it becomes dispositive. The key practical fact is that most port drayage drivers who operate out of the Port of Oakland perform work that is central to the carrier’s core business function, which makes satisfying AB5’s ABC test difficult for carriers trying to maintain independent contractor status.
What is California’s statute of limitations for a truck accident case in Alameda County, and does living across the Bay Bridge in San Francisco affect where I can file?
California gives you two years from the date of injury under Code of Civil Procedure §335.1. The location of the accident, not your residence, determines venue. If the accident happened in Oakland or on I-880 within Alameda County, Alameda County Superior Court is the natural venue. If you live in San Francisco, you can file there only if the defendant carrier has sufficient contacts with San Francisco County, which requires a separate venue analysis. Filing in Alameda County where the accident occurred is the straightforward choice and avoids any venue challenges the defendant might raise. Evidence preservation timelines are identical regardless of venue: ELD data, port terminal entry records, and Oakland traffic camera footage all have retention windows that are shorter than the two-year limitations period.
The Port of Oakland is the fourth-busiest container port in the United States and operates under the same CARB Advanced Clean Fleets drayage truck requirements as the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, with all drayage trucks serving the port required to meet CARB engine standards and eventually transition to zero-emission vehicles under the 2035 mandate. Oakland’s unique legal environment for port truck accidents includes the fact that many drayage carriers serving the port operate under collective bargaining agreements following the ILWU’s influence over port operations, which can affect how driver employment classifications are litigated under California’s ABC test. The I-880 Nimitz Freeway corridor, which runs between Oakland’s port and the warehouse districts of Hayward and Fremont, has a documented history of high-speed commercial truck accidents and is the site of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake collapse that demonstrated the corridor’s vulnerability to structural events. I-880 Caltrans bridge structure inspections are public records, and in any Oakland truck accident involving an I-880 overpass or elevated segment, those inspection records should be reviewed early to determine whether deferred maintenance findings overlap with the accident location. California’s six-month government claims deadline under the Government Claims Act applies to any Caltrans maintenance theory, running from the date of the injury regardless of when the plaintiff retains counsel.