Send a spoliation letter immediately - the same day if you can - and if an MTA, NYC agency, or other public authority truck was involved, file a Notice of Claim within 90 days. Yes, you can demand that a trucking company preserve evidence, but you have to act fast because dashcam footage, onboard data, and dispatch records can disappear or be overwritten in days.

For a Manhattan crash, the preservation demand should specifically tell the carrier to keep the truck, the ELD/logbook data, dashcam video, GPS pings, Qualcomm or dispatch messages, maintenance files, driver qualification file, post-crash drug and alcohol test results, cell phone records, and ECM/black-box data. Under FMCSA rules, a lot of hours-of-service and supporting records are only kept for about 6 months, and some video systems overwrite much sooner.

Do not send the letter only to the broker. The broker, motor carrier, truck owner, trailer owner, and driver can all be different companies. The one you most need to pin down is the motor carrier listed on the truck's USDOT number, because that is usually the company controlling logs, dispatch, and insurance.

If the wreck happened on an MTA route, with a city truck, or near an agency site in Manhattan, that 90-day Notice of Claim deadline matters just as much as the evidence letter.

For insurance, many interstate trucking companies carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage, but some loads require $1 million or $5 million. That matters if you are pregnant and the ER, OB monitoring, fetal testing, or follow-up care is being questioned. In New York, no-fault covers basic medical bills first, but a serious injury claim can open the door to pain-and-suffering damages if the injuries meet the threshold.