Truck Accident Laws in Arkansas (2026): Deadlines & Liability

A commercial truck crash is not just a bigger car wreck. The vehicle is governed by a layer of federal safety rules, the company behind the driver is usually part of the case, and the insurance involved is far larger than a typical car policy. This guide explains the Arkansas rules that control a truck-injury or wrongful-death claim, from the filing deadline to how fault is shared, and then the uniform federal trucking rules that apply no matter which state the crash happened in. It is general information, not legal advice.

This page is part of our Truck Accident Laws by State series. Deadlines are strict and the facts of every crash differ, so treat the figures below as a starting point and confirm the current law before relying on it.

The Arkansas deadline to sue (statute of limitations)

In Arkansas, the clock is the first thing to protect. A personal-injury lawsuit arising from a truck crash must generally be filed within three years of the date of the collision under Arkansas Code 16-56-105, the state's three-year limitations statute for tort actions. If a loved one died, a wrongful-death action must be brought within three years of the date of death under Arkansas Code 16-62-102, and that statute also names who may sue: the personal representative of the estate, or, if there is none, the heirs at law.

A few situations change the math. Arkansas applies a discovery rule when an injury could not reasonably have been known right away, and the deadline is generally tolled for an injured minor until age 18. Claims against a government entity carry their own shorter notice rules. Because these exceptions are narrow and fact-specific, the safe assumption is that the three-year clock is running from the day of the crash.

How Arkansas splits fault: modified comparative negligence

Arkansas follows modified comparative fault with a 50% bar, set out in Arkansas Code 16-64-122. A jury assigns a percentage of fault to each party. If your fault is less than the combined fault of the parties you are suing, you recover your damages reduced by your own percentage. If your fault is equal to or greater than theirs, the statute bars recovery entirely. In plain terms, a plaintiff who is 49% at fault still recovers 51% of the damages, but a plaintiff who is 50% or more at fault recovers nothing.

This matters in truck cases because the defense will often try to shift blame onto the injured driver to push them over the 50% line. Evidence that the truck driver or carrier broke a federal safety rule, discussed below, is frequently what keeps the injured person's share of fault low.

No-fault and insurance in Arkansas

Arkansas is not a no-fault state. It uses a traditional at-fault, or tort, system, which means the driver who caused the crash and that driver's insurer (and the trucking company) are responsible for the harm. Arkansas does require insurers to offer personal-injury protection, but a driver can reject it in writing, so PIP is an optional add-on rather than a mandatory no-fault layer. Because there is no no-fault threshold to clear, an Arkansas truck-injury victim brings a standard liability claim.

Arkansas's minimum auto-liability limits are 25/50/25: $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, and $25,000 for property damage. Those numbers are tiny next to the harm a loaded tractor-trailer can cause, which is why the federal trucking insurance minimum below is so important.

Damage caps in Arkansas

Arkansas is unusually protective of an injured person's right to full damages. The Arkansas Constitution bars the legislature from capping the recovery for personal injury or death (Ark. Const. art. 5, sec. 32), and the Arkansas Supreme Court relied on that protection to strike down the statutory cap on punitive damages in Bayer CropScience LP v. Schafer (2011). As a result, compensatory damages for a truck-crash injury or wrongful death are generally not capped in Arkansas. Claims against governmental defendants are an exception with their own limits.

Federal trucking rules: the FMCSA layer

Interstate commercial trucks are regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and its rules in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations apply on every interstate route, Arkansas included. The rules that matter most after a crash are:

• Hours of service (49 CFR Part 395): a property-carrying driver may drive at most 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty, may not drive beyond the 14th hour after coming on duty, must take a 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving, and is capped at 60 hours in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days. Fatigue-rule violations are a leading cause of serious truck crashes.
• Electronic logging devices (ELDs): most drivers must record their duty status with an ELD, which makes the hours-of-service data far harder to falsify and a key piece of evidence.
• Driver qualification and CDL (49 CFR Part 391): the carrier must confirm the driver is qualified, medically fit, and properly licensed.
• Drug and alcohol testing (49 CFR Part 382): pre-employment, random, and post-accident testing is required.
• Inspection and maintenance (49 CFR Part 396): the carrier must systematically inspect, repair, and maintain its vehicles and keep records.

A documented violation of any of these rules can be powerful evidence of negligence, which is why the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations are central to a truck case.

Who can be held liable after a truck crash

A truck case routinely has more than one defendant, and several of them are companies. Potential defendants include the driver; the motor carrier, which is usually responsible for its driver's on-the-job conduct and can also be sued directly for negligent hiring, training, supervision, or maintenance; a freight broker or shipper; the company that loaded or secured the cargo if a load shift caused the crash; and a manufacturer if a defective brake, tire, or other part failed. Sorting out which entities are responsible, and lining them up against the 50% comparative-fault bar, is one of the main reasons truck cases are more complex than car cases.

Federal minimum insurance: $750,000 and up

Federal law requires far more coverage from interstate trucking companies than states require from ordinary drivers. Under 49 CFR 387.9, a for-hire carrier of general freight in interstate commerce must maintain at least $750,000 in public-liability coverage, and carriers hauling hazardous materials must carry up to $5,000,000. That is the financial reality behind why truck-crash claims are valued and defended so differently from the 25/50/25 minimum that applies to a typical Arkansas car.

Preserving the evidence before it disappears

Much of the best evidence in a truck case lives inside the truck and the carrier's files, and a lot of it can be overwritten or routinely discarded. ELD and logbook data, the engine control module (the truck's onboard "black box," which can record speed, braking, and throttle), dashcam footage, dispatch records, and maintenance files can all be lost within weeks. Because of that, a written preservation or spoliation letter sent to the carrier early, demanding that it keep this data, can make a decisive difference. The police crash report, photographs, and your medical records should be preserved on your side as well.

How injury cases are typically handled

Most personal-injury and wrongful-death lawyers in Arkansas work on a contingency fee, meaning the fee is a percentage of any recovery and there is usually no upfront charge, and most offer a free initial consultation. No lawyer can promise a particular result or dollar amount, because the outcome turns on liability, the available insurance, the comparative-fault split, and the specific harm proven. The practical takeaways are simple: the three-year clock is running, the evidence inside the truck is perishable, and the sooner the facts are pinned down, the better the record will be.