Which Trucking and Delivery Companies Are Sued Most Over Crashes in Federal Court
Original analysis of 54,045 records from the Federal Judicial Center, FY2016–FY2025 (Oct. 1, 2015 – Sept. 30, 2025). Published October 19, 2026.
We counted every new federal motor-vehicle personal-injury lawsuit (nature of suit 350) filed in FY2016–FY2025 and ranked the trucking, parcel and truck-leasing companies named as first defendant.
What the federal docket shows
FedEx companies were the first-named defendant in 276 new federal motor-vehicle injury lawsuits filed in fiscal years 2016 through 2025, 1.7× as many as Swift Transportation (164), the next company among the 55 trucking, delivery and truck-leasing companies we tracked. Together those companies account for 5.0% of the 51,863 motor-vehicle injury suits filed in federal district courts in that period; fleet size is not taken into account.
- 276Suits naming a FedEx company first, FY2016–FY2025
- 1.7×FedEx companies combined vs. next company (Swift)
- 25Suits naming Amazon first, FY2025 (2nd among tracked)
FedEx leads the decade
FedEx entities were named first in 276 suits, ahead of Swift Transportation (164), Werner Enterprises (154) and J.B. Hunt (145).
FedEx filings more than doubled
Suits naming a FedEx company first rose from 19 in FY2016 to 45 in FY2025, a factor of 2.4×.
Amazon arrived after 2020
Amazon companies were the first defendant in 6 suits in FY2016–FY2020 and in 87 in FY2021–FY2025; in FY2025 only FedEx (45) had more than Amazon (25).
Most cases come from state court
71% of the suits against the tracked companies reached federal court by removal from state court, compared with 55% of all federal motor-vehicle injury suits.
Settlement is the usual ending
Of 2,415 closed suits against the tracked companies, 52% were coded as dismissed after settlement and 1.7% ended in a trial verdict.
Which Trucking Companies Are Sued Most Over Crashes
Ranked by new federal motor-vehicle injury suits in which the company is the first-named defendant, FY2016–FY2025.
FedEx (276), Swift Transportation (164), Werner Enterprises (154), J.B. Hunt (145) and Schneider National (106) lead the list.
FedEx combines every defendant name beginning with FedEx or Federal Express: names beginning with FedEx Ground (98 suits), Federal Express (91) and FedEx Freight (43) and smaller units such as FedEx Custom Critical. Other companies are grouped the same way by the brand name in the defendant field. Corporate parents are not merged: Swift Transportation and Knight Transportation appear separately, as filed; entries naming the parent Knight-Swift count for Knight, the brand at the start of the field.
The ranking measures how often a company appears first on the caption, not how often it was at fault. Larger fleets drive more miles, and this count does not adjust for fleet size or miles driven.
New federal crash suits by first-named defendant, FY2016–FY2025
- FedEx27645 in FY2025
- Swift Transportation16411 in FY2025
- Werner Enterprises15411 in FY2025
- J.B. Hunt14516 in FY2025
- Schneider National10611 in FY2025
- Western Express9519 in FY2025
- Ryder9412 in FY2025
- Amazon9325 in FY2025
- UPS8811 in FY2025
- C.R. England847 in FY2025
- Landstar8411 in FY2025
- Penske7615 in FY2025
- U.S. Xpress746 in FY2025
- New Prime (Prime Inc.)6811 in FY2025
- Crete Carrier669 in FY2025
All 55 companies
- CRST617 in FY2025
- Knight Transportation534 in FY2025
- Old Dominion Freight Line466 in FY2025
- Yellow / YRC450 in FY2025
- XPO414 in FY2025
- Stevens Transport385 in FY2025
- Marten Transport352 in FY2025
- P.A.M. Transport354 in FY2025
- USA Truck351 in FY2025
- KLLM Transport283 in FY2025
- TransAm Trucking280 in FY2025
- ABF Freight272 in FY2025
- Melton Truck Lines262 in FY2025
- Heartland Express251 in FY2025
- Quality Carriers243 in FY2025
- Annett Holdings235 in FY2025
- Celadon230 in FY2025
- Evans Delivery235 in FY2025
- Averitt Express226 in FY2025
- Saia223 in FY2025
- Contract Freighters212 in FY2025
- Covenant Transport202 in FY2025
- Paschall Truck Lines182 in FY2025
- Estes Express Lines173 in FY2025
- Greenwood Motor Lines171 in FY2025
- MVT Services162 in FY2025
- A. Duie Pyle152 in FY2025
- Central Transport151 in FY2025
- Roehl Transport151 in FY2025
- Mercer Transportation140 in FY2025
- UPS Ground Freight140 in FY2025
- Hirschbach Motor Lines130 in FY2025
- Dart Transit121 in FY2025
- Southeastern Freight Lines124 in FY2025
- Panther111 in FY2025
- Cardinal Logistics101 in FY2025
- HL Motor Group101 in FY2025
- AAA Cooper91 in FY2025
- PGT Trucking71 in FY2025
- DHL40 in FY2025
Which Delivery Companies Were Sued Most in Fiscal 2025
In the most recent complete fiscal year, October 2024 through September 2025, parcel companies led the count.
FedEx (45), Amazon (25) and Western Express (19) were named first most often in FY2025.
FedEx was the first-named defendant in 45 federal crash suits filed in FY2025, 1.8× the number for Amazon. J.B. Hunt (16) and Penske (15) followed Western Express. UPS companies were named first in 11 suits.
All new federal motor-vehicle injury suits rose from 3,902 in FY2016 to 6,688 in FY2025. Suits against the tracked companies grew more slowly, so their share fell from 5.7% to 4.6%.
First-named defendant in new federal crash suits, FY2025
| Company | FY2025 | FY16–25 |
|---|---|---|
| FedEx | 45 | 276 |
| Amazon | 25 | 93 |
| Western Express | 19 | 95 |
| J.B. Hunt | 16 | 145 |
| Penske | 15 | 76 |
| Ryder | 12 | 94 |
| Swift Transportation | 11 | 164 |
| Werner Enterprises | 11 | 154 |
| Schneider National | 11 | 106 |
| UPS | 11 | 88 |
All companies
| Company | FY2025 | FY16–25 |
|---|---|---|
| Landstar | 11 | 84 |
| New Prime (Prime Inc.) | 11 | 68 |
| Crete Carrier | 9 | 66 |
| C.R. England | 7 | 84 |
| CRST | 7 | 61 |
| U.S. Xpress | 6 | 74 |
| Old Dominion Freight Line | 6 | 46 |
| Averitt Express | 6 | 22 |
| Stevens Transport | 5 | 38 |
| Annett Holdings | 5 | 23 |
| Evans Delivery | 5 | 23 |
| Knight Transportation | 4 | 53 |
| XPO | 4 | 41 |
| P.A.M. Transport | 4 | 35 |
| Southeastern Freight Lines | 4 | 12 |
| KLLM Transport | 3 | 28 |
| Quality Carriers | 3 | 24 |
| Saia | 3 | 22 |
| Estes Express Lines | 3 | 17 |
| Marten Transport | 2 | 35 |
| ABF Freight | 2 | 27 |
| Melton Truck Lines | 2 | 26 |
| Contract Freighters | 2 | 21 |
| Covenant Transport | 2 | 20 |
| Paschall Truck Lines | 2 | 18 |
| MVT Services | 2 | 16 |
| A. Duie Pyle | 2 | 15 |
| USA Truck | 1 | 35 |
| Heartland Express | 1 | 25 |
| Greenwood Motor Lines | 1 | 17 |
| Central Transport | 1 | 15 |
| Roehl Transport | 1 | 15 |
| Dart Transit | 1 | 12 |
| Panther | 1 | 11 |
| Cardinal Logistics | 1 | 10 |
| HL Motor Group | 1 | 10 |
| AAA Cooper | 1 | 9 |
| PGT Trucking | 1 | 7 |
| Yellow / YRC | 0 | 45 |
| TransAm Trucking | 0 | 28 |
| Celadon | 0 | 23 |
| Mercer Transportation | 0 | 14 |
| UPS Ground Freight | 0 | 14 |
| Hirschbach Motor Lines | 0 | 13 |
| DHL | 0 | 4 |
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30; FY2025 ended September 30, 2025.
Are Crash Lawsuits Against Trucking Companies Rising
New federal suits per fiscal year that name one of the tracked companies first.
Suits against the tracked companies rose from 221 in FY2016 to 309 in FY2025, while all federal motor-vehicle injury suits rose 71%.
The yearly file also lists the five companies with the most suits over the decade. Filing counts reflect where plaintiffs sue and whether defendants remove cases; they are not a measure of crash frequency.
Suits naming a tracked company first, by fiscal year
- 2016221of 3,902 total · FedEx 19
- 2017229of 4,238 total · FedEx 26
- 2018270of 4,640 total · FedEx 18
- 2019240of 4,869 total · FedEx 18
- 2020247of 5,249 total · FedEx 20
- 2021275of 5,371 total · FedEx 31
- 2022263of 5,187 total · FedEx 31
- 2023255of 5,581 total · FedEx 34
- 2024288of 6,138 total · FedEx 34
- 2025309of 6,688 total · FedEx 45
How Truck Crash Lawsuits End in Federal Court
Share of suits removed from state court and share of closed suits coded as settled, by company.
52% of closed suits against the tracked companies were dismissed after settlement; for FedEx the share was 48%.
The settled share counts only the court code for dismissal after settlement. Voluntary dismissals often follow private settlements as well, so the true settlement share is likely higher. Settlement amounts are not reported in this data.
Removal and settlement share by company, FY2016–FY2025
| Company | Suits | Removed | Settled |
|---|---|---|---|
| FedEx | 276 | 68% | 48% |
| Swift Transportation | 164 | 72% | 51% |
| Werner Enterprises | 154 | 70% | 52% |
| J.B. Hunt | 145 | 75% | 45% |
| Schneider National | 106 | 73% | 53% |
| Western Express | 95 | 64% | 55% |
| Ryder | 94 | 67% | 45% |
| Amazon | 93 | 65% | 34% |
| UPS | 88 | 67% | 50% |
| C.R. England | 84 | 77% | 59% |
| Landstar | 84 | 80% | 51% |
| Penske | 76 | 68% | 44% |
| U.S. Xpress | 74 | 64% | 61% |
| New Prime (Prime Inc.) | 68 | 71% | 60% |
| Crete Carrier | 66 | 83% | 48% |
All companies
| Company | Suits | Removed | Settled |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRST | 61 | 62% | 64% |
| Knight Transportation | 53 | 74% | 47% |
| Old Dominion Freight Line | 46 | 65% | 49% |
| Yellow / YRC | 45 | 78% | 55% |
| XPO | 41 | 61% | 64% |
| Stevens Transport | 38 | 76% | 56% |
| Marten Transport | 35 | 86% | 58% |
| P.A.M. Transport | 35 | 63% | 48% |
| USA Truck | 35 | 69% | 74% |
| KLLM Transport | 28 | 82% | 46% |
| TransAm Trucking | 28 | 71% | 64% |
| ABF Freight | 27 | 78% | 62% |
| Melton Truck Lines | 26 | 85% | 64% |
| Heartland Express | 25 | 68% | 56% |
| Quality Carriers | 24 | 79% | 59% |
| Annett Holdings | 23 | 78% | 62% |
| Celadon | 23 | 48% | 52% |
| Evans Delivery | 23 | 74% | 85% |
| Averitt Express | 22 | 77% | 36% |
| Saia | 22 | 50% | 68% |
| Contract Freighters | 21 | 81% | 55% |
| Covenant Transport | 20 | 80% | 55% |
| Paschall Truck Lines | 18 | 72% | 81% |
| Estes Express Lines | 17 | 94% | 47% |
| Greenwood Motor Lines | 17 | 65% | 47% |
| MVT Services | 16 | 56% | 50% |
| A. Duie Pyle | 15 | 80% | 20% |
| Central Transport | 15 | 60% | 53% |
| Roehl Transport | 15 | 80% | 67% |
| Mercer Transportation | 14 | 79% | 64% |
| UPS Ground Freight | 14 | 79% | 50% |
| Hirschbach Motor Lines | 13 | 46% | 45% |
| Dart Transit | 12 | 75% | 55% |
| Southeastern Freight Lines | 12 | 75% | 64% |
| Panther | 11 | 73% | 44% |
| Cardinal Logistics | 10 | 50% | 78% |
| HL Motor Group | 10 | 90% | 67% |
| AAA Cooper | 9 | 56% | 63% |
| PGT Trucking | 7 | 86% | 43% |
| DHL | 4 | 50% | 67% |
How Our Count Matches Official Court Statistics
Our recount of motor-vehicle injury filings compared with Table C-2 of the federal judiciary's statistics.
Our FY2025 count of 6,920 filings is 0.10% below the published figure.
Table C-2 counts all cases commenced in a fiscal year. For this check we count every filing record the same way; the company ranking then keeps only original filings and removals and drops repeat records of the same case.
Our count vs. Table C-2
| Measure | Ours | Published | Diff. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motor Vehicle (personal injury) cases commenced, FY2025 (12 months ending Sept. 30, 2025) | 6,920 | 6,927 | −0.10% |
| Motor Vehicle (personal injury) cases commenced, FY2024 (12 months ending Sept. 30, 2024) | 6,399 | 6,394 | 0.08% |
| Motor Vehicle (personal injury) cases commenced under diversity of citizenship, FY2025 | 5,484 | 5,491 | −0.13% |
| Motor Vehicle (personal injury) cases commenced with the U.S. as defendant, FY2025 | 993 | 992 | 0.10% |
Download the Data and Cite This Study
Every table as a CSV file and in one Excel workbook, a short PDF summary and every chart as an image, free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0).
- Calibration against U.S. Courts Table C-2Our count of motor-vehicle injury cases commenced compared with the figures published in Table C-2 of the Judicial Business statistics. · 4 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- Defendant name variants assigned to each companyEvery first-defendant name as recorded by the courts (30 characters, truncated) that was assigned to a company, with its lawsuit count. · 271 rows · CSV, 10 KB
- Federal motor-vehicle crash lawsuits by trucking and delivery companyNew federal motor-vehicle injury lawsuits (original filings and removals) FY2016–FY2025 in which the listed company is the first-named defendant, with FY2025 count, removal share and settled share. · 55 rows · CSV, 4 KB
- Federal motor-vehicle crash lawsuits by fiscal yearAll new federal motor-vehicle injury lawsuits per fiscal year next to those naming one of the listed companies first, including the five most-named companies. · 10 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- All tables in one Excel workbookOne sheet per table plus an About sheet with sources, method and citation · Excel (.xlsx), 22 KB
- Summary to print or forward (3 pages)Short answer, key figures, main chart, findings, method and citation · PDF, 213 KB
Charts for your story
New federal crash suits by first-named defendant, FY2016–FY2025
Embed this chart
First-named defendant in new federal crash suits, FY2025
Embed this chart
Suits naming a tracked company first, by fiscal year
Embed this chart
Removal and settlement share by company, FY2016–FY2025
Embed this chart
How to cite
Goldberg, L. (2026). Trucking and Delivery Company Crash Lawsuits — First-Named Defendants in Federal Motor-Vehicle Injury Suits (FY2016–FY2025) [Data set]. Settlement Insight. https://settlementinsight.com/research/trucking-delivery-companies-crash-lawsuits
BibTeX
@dataset{goldberg_2026_trucking_delivery_companies_crash_lawsuits,
author = {Goldberg, Leonard},
title = {Trucking and Delivery Company Crash Lawsuits --- First-Named Defendants in Federal Motor-Vehicle Injury Suits (FY2016--FY2025)},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Settlement Insight},
url = {https://settlementinsight.com/research/trucking-delivery-companies-crash-lawsuits}
}How We Measured
Checked against published figures
- Motor Vehicle (personal injury) cases commenced, FY2025 (12 months ending Sept. 30, 2025): published 6,927, our count 6,920 (0.10% apart).Table C-2. U.S. District Courts - Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit, During the 12-Month Periods Ending September 30, 2024 and 2025
- Motor Vehicle (personal injury) cases commenced, FY2024 (12 months ending Sept. 30, 2024): published 6,394, our count 6,399 (0.08% apart).Table C-2. U.S. District Courts - Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit, During the 12-Month Periods Ending September 30, 2024 and 2025
- Motor Vehicle (personal injury) cases commenced under diversity of citizenship, FY2025: published 5,491, our count 5,484 (0.13% apart).Table C-2. U.S. District Courts - Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit, During the 12-Month Periods Ending September 30, 2024 and 2025
- Motor Vehicle (personal injury) cases commenced with the U.S. as defendant, FY2025: published 992, our count 993 (0.10% apart).Table C-2. U.S. District Courts - Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit, During the 12-Month Periods Ending September 30, 2024 and 2025
Full method and limits of the data
A lawsuit is a record with origin code 1 (original proceeding) or 2 (removed from state court); the filing date (field filedate, not the tape year) decides the fiscal year. All other origin codes (remanded, reinstated or reopened, transferred, multidistrict and the later reopening codes) describe a case that is already counted and are left out. 33 repeated records with the same district, office and docket number were counted once, keeping the record with the earliest filing date. That leaves 51,863 lawsuits.
Companies are matched by the first-named defendant, the only defendant the IDB records. The field is upper-cased, a trailing "et al" is removed and every character other than a letter or digit becomes a space; a company is assigned when the field begins with one of the following whole words (first match wins): FedEx: FEDEX, FED EX or FEDERAL EXPRESS · UPS Ground Freight: UPS FREIGHT or UPS GROUND FREIGHT · UPS: UNITED PARCEL SERVICE or SERVICES, or a field that is exactly UPS or UPS INC · Amazon: AMAZON (any Amazon entity) · DHL · Evans Delivery · Swift Transportation: SWIFT TRANSPORTATION or SWIFT LEASING · Knight Transportation: KNIGHT TRANSPORTATION, KNIGHT REFRIGERATED or KNIGHT SWIFT · Werner Enterprises: WERNER ENTERPRISE or ENTERPRISES · Schneider National · J.B. Hunt: J B HUNT or JB HUNT · Western Express · C.R. England: C R ENGLAND or CR ENGLAND · New Prime · Crete Carrier · U.S. Xpress: U S XPRESS or US XPRESS · Landstar · KLLM · TransAm Trucking · Melton Truck Lines: MELTON TRUCK LINE or LINES · Stevens Transport · CRST · Celadon · P.A.M. Transport: any field beginning P A M TRANSPORT or PAM TRANSPORT (including Transportation) · Annett Holding or Holdings · Quality Carrier or Carriers · Marten Transport · Hirschbach · Heartland Express · Dart Transit · Covenant Transport: any field beginning COVENANT TRANSPORT (including Transportation) · Roehl Transport · Paschall Truck · Mercer Transportation · Greenwood Motor · MVT Services · HL Motor · Cardinal Logistics · Contract Freighters · PGT Trucking · Panther II · USA Truck (not USA Trucking) · Old Dominion Freight · Yellow/YRC: YRC, YELLOW CORPORATION or YELLOW FREIGHT · Saia · ABF Freight · XPO · Estes Express · Averitt · A. Duie Pyle: A DUIE PYLE or DUIE PYLE · Southeastern Freight · Central Transport · AAA Cooper · Penske: PENSKE TRUCK, PENSKE LOGISTICS, PENSKE LEASING or PENSKE CO · Ryder: RYDER followed by another word. That makes 55 companies; the company CSV lists all of them and the CSV of name variants lists every defendant entry assigned. Misspellings (for example Swift Transporation), bare names without a company word (Hunt, Knight, Ryder, Schneider, Werner) and other firms sharing a brand word (Werner Transportation, Penske Automotive Group, UPS Machinery Services, USA Trucking) are not assigned. We reviewed all frequent defendant names in the period: no trucking, parcel or truck-leasing company outside the list has more suits than the 25th-ranked company (28), so the top 25 is complete, while smaller carriers further down are not all listed. Rideshare companies, bus lines, transit agencies, rental-car firms, insurers and retailers with private fleets are not part of the list; Amazon is included as a delivery company.
To check the data, we recounted all NOS 350 filing records for FY2024 and FY2025 and compared them with Table C-2 of the judiciary's Judicial Business statistics. Our FY2025 count (6,920) is 0.10% below and our FY2024 count (6,399) 0.08% above the published figures.
What this data cannot tell you
- Only the first-named defendant is recorded. A suit that names a carrier second, after its driver or an insurer, is not counted for that carrier, so every count is a lower bound.
- The defendant field holds about 30 characters and is often truncated; spelling varies. Contractors that deliver for FedEx Ground or Amazon under their own names are not counted for FedEx or Amazon; most of them are not on the list at all.
- Counts are not adjusted for fleet size, miles driven or crashes. A higher count does not mean a company is less safe, and a lawsuit is an allegation, not a finding of fault.
- The data covers federal district courts only. Crash suits filed and kept in state courts are not included, so the counts describe federal litigation, not all litigation against a company.
- Records for FY2025 come from the release after the fiscal year closed; according to the FJC, records are not updated after the end of the fiscal year, so later changes to a case's coding may be missing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which trucking company is sued the most over accidents?
In federal court, FedEx companies were the first-named defendant in 276 new motor-vehicle injury suits in FY2016–FY2025, more than any other trucking, delivery or truck-leasing company we tracked. Swift Transportation followed with 164.
How many FedEx truck accident lawsuits are filed each year?
In federal district courts, suits naming a FedEx company first rose from 19 in FY2016 to 45 in FY2025. Suits filed and kept in state courts are not included.
How many Amazon truck accident lawsuits are there?
Amazon companies were the first-named defendant in 93 federal motor-vehicle injury suits in FY2016–FY2025, including 25 in FY2025. Suits against delivery contractors that operate under their own names are not counted.
How many UPS truck accident lawsuits are filed in federal court?
UPS companies (UPS Ground Freight is counted separately) were the first-named defendant in 88 federal motor-vehicle injury suits in FY2016–FY2025 and in 11 in FY2025.
Do FedEx accident lawsuits usually settle?
Of the closed federal suits naming a FedEx company first, 48% were coded as dismissed after settlement. The share is a lower bound, because voluntary dismissals often follow private settlements; amounts are not reported.
Why are truck accident lawsuits in federal court?
In FY2025, 79% of all federal motor-vehicle injury filings rested on diversity of citizenship, meaning the parties are from different states. 71% of the suits against the tracked companies were removed from state court.
Sources
- Integrated Database (IDB): civil cases — Federal Judicial Center
- Table C-2. U.S. District Courts - Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit (September 30, 2025) — Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
- The Integrated Database: A Research Guide — Federal Judicial Center
Independent analysis. Settlement Insight is not a law firm and not affiliated with any agency named here. Analysis by Leonard Goldberg, Editor. How we work: methodology, our data.
More Research and Data
Other studies from our database of public legal records — each with free CSV downloads.
Related research
- Trucking Accident LawsuitsHow truck crash claims work and who can be held liable.
- FedEx LawsuitsCurrent lawsuits and settlements involving FedEx.
- Federal Lawsuit OutcomesHow federal civil cases end, by case type and state.
- Truck Accident Settlement CalculatorEstimate the range for a truck accident claim.
Latest studies
- Federal OSHA Inspections, FY2026Federal OSHA opened at least 21,506 inspections in FY2026 (partial count)
- Benefit card complaints by companyComerica drew 30.4% of CFPB benefit card complaints, July 2014–2025
- SEC lawsuits by yearThe SEC filed 81 new federal court lawsuits from October 2025 through June 2026
- Civil Forfeiture Default Judgments41.2% of U.S. forfeiture and penalty suits closed FY2021–FY2025 ended in default