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If you were hit by a FedEx driver here in Dallas, there’s a good chance someone has already told you, or will tell you soon, that the driver was an independent contractor and not a FedEx employee. The implication being that FedEx isn’t responsible for what happened, and that you’re only dealing with the driver’s personal insurance.
We hear this a lot. And in our experience, it’s one of the most misleading things an injured person can be told after a delivery truck accident. A Farmers Branch, TX personal injury lawyer can investigate whether FedEx or another company may share liability for a delivery truck accident, identify all available insurance coverage, and pursue the full compensation you may be entitled to under Texas law.
The “Contractor” Label Is a Legal Defense, Not a Legal Fact
Companies like FedEx have spent years structuring their driver relationships to look like independent contractor arrangements on paper. The reasoning is straightforward: if the driver is a contractor rather than an employee, the company can argue it isn’t responsible when that driver causes an accident.
But Texas courts don’t just take a company’s word for how it classifies its workers. They look at the actual relationship between the company and the driver, and what that relationship really looks like in practice.
What Texas Law Actually Looks At
In Texas, the question of whether a company is liable for a driver’s actions comes down to one central issue: control. Specifically, how much control does the company exercise over how the driver does their job?
Texas courts apply what’s known as the right-to-control test. When a company dictates the details of the work, not just the outcome, the law treats that relationship much more like employment than contracting. The label on the paperwork matters far less than what’s actually happening on the ground.
When it comes to FedEx drivers, the level of control the company exercises is significant:
- FedEx sets the delivery routes and assigns packages
- FedEx dictates delivery timeframes and performance standards
- FedEx requires drivers to wear FedEx uniforms and drive clearly branded vehicles
- FedEx monitors driver performance and can terminate routes for policy violations
- FedEx trains drivers on its own delivery procedures and customer service standards
When a company controls that much of how the work gets done, calling the driver a contractor doesn’t automatically protect the company from liability for what that driver does on the road. Do not assume that the contractor label ends your options before speaking with a personal injury attorney who can evaluate what the actual relationship looked like.
Other Legal Theories That Can Put FedEx on the Hook
Beyond the right-to-control test, there are additional legal theories we can pursue against FedEx directly.
Negligent hiring and retention. FedEx has an obligation to ensure that the people delivering its packages are safe drivers. If a driver had a history of traffic violations or prior accidents that FedEx knew about, or should have known about, and FedEx put them on the road anyway, that may create a basis for liability separate from the contractor question entirely.
Negligent entrustment. If FedEx provided, or had control over, the vehicle the driver was operating at the time of the crash, the company may be liable for entrusting that vehicle to someone who caused an accident.
Apparent authority. When a driver is wearing FedEx gear, driving a FedEx truck, and making FedEx deliveries, the public has every reason to believe they are dealing with FedEx. Texas law recognizes that a company can be held responsible for the actions of someone it has allowed to act as its representative, even when the underlying paperwork says otherwise.
Why This Matters for Your Case
A delivery truck accident claim against a contractor-classified driver alone is a very different case than one that properly includes FedEx as a defendant. FedEx is a large corporation with substantial insurance coverage. The driver’s personal policy, on the other hand, may not come close to covering the full cost of a serious injury.
As personal injury attorneys, we move quickly on these cases because the evidence that establishes FedEx’s control over its drivers, route records, driver assignment logs, performance history, vehicle records, and internal communications, can disappear or become harder to obtain if too much time passes. If you have been hit by a FedEx driver, it is in your best interest to retain a personal injury attorney who can begin gathering that evidence before the company has a chance to get ahead of the claim.
Kelso Law was founded by Rhiannon Kelso, a Dallas-Fort Worth native with over a decade of experience handling personal injury cases and more than 25 trials in front of Texas juries. If you were hit by a FedEx driver in the Dallas area and have been told the driver was just a contractor, reach out to a Dallas truck accident lawyer. That answer deserves a closer look, and we’re happy to take one.
