The Truck That Hit You on Garden City Highway Is Gone — But Your Options Are Not
The morning of January 28, 2026, started like most mornings in Midland. The oilfield was already running. By 8:25 a.m., the roustabout trucks, water haulers, and crew transports were moving through the south side of town, running the corridors that connect Midland to the Permian Basin’s web of well sites and staging areas. You were at or near the intersection of Garden City Highway and South Fairgrounds Road — a stretch of road that sees heavy oilfield service traffic every single day. A roustabout truck — a commercial oilfield service vehicle bearing a company logo — collided with your pickup. And then it was gone, heading south on South Fairgrounds Road, leaving you on the side of one of Midland’s busiest oilfield arteries.
More than two months have passed. The Midland Police Department Traffic Division is asking the public for help identifying the company logo on that truck. The at-fault commercial vehicle and its operating entity remain unidentified. If you were in that pickup — or someone you love was — you are reading this because you have questions, and the answers matter more now than they did on January 28. We are Attorney911, The Manginello Law Firm. This page is written for you, by the senior trial attorney of a firm that handles Texas commercial-vehicle, hit-and-run, and catastrophic-injury cases. Everything that follows is specific to what happened on Garden City Highway and what Texas law lets you do about it. We are not your lawyers unless and until you call us and we agree to represent you — but the information here is yours, free, and it is the truth about where you stand.
What Happened on January 28, 2026 — and Why the Details Matter
Here is what the public record tells us: on January 28, 2026, at approximately 8:25 a.m., a roustabout truck crashed into a pickup at the intersection of Garden City Highway (US 87) and South Fairgrounds Road in Midland, Texas. After the impact, the roustabout truck left the scene, traveling southbound on South Fairgrounds Road. The Midland Police Department Traffic Division is actively seeking public assistance to identify the company logo displayed on the side of the truck and to locate the driver.
Every one of those details matters to your case. The time — 8:25 a.m. — places the crash squarely in the oilfield dispatch window, when roustabout crews are heading to well sites throughout the Permian Basin. That timing supports a strong inference that the driver was on the clock, acting in the course and scope of employment, which is the foundation for holding the company liable under respondeat superior. The location — Garden City Highway at South Fairgrounds Road — sits in an industrial-commercial zone on Midland’s south side that sees heavy oilfield service traffic. The southbound flight path on South Fairgrounds Road leads toward active oilfield staging areas and rural county roads — meaning the truck was likely heading toward a work site or staging area, which may help narrow the field of companies that operate in that direction from the intersection. And the vehicle type — a roustabout truck bearing a company logo — tells us this was not a private vehicle. This was a commercial truck, owned and operated by a business, and that business carries insurance, has legal duties, and has exposure that is categorically different from an ordinary car-on-car collision.
If you recognize the company logo on the truck, or if you have any information that could help identify the driver, contact the Midland Police Department Traffic Division directly at (432) 685-7122. That is the criminal investigation — and it matters. But the civil case — the one that compensates you for your injuries, your medical bills, your lost wages, and your damaged truck — is a separate fight, and it has its own deadline.
What a Roustabout Truck Is — and Why That Changes Everything
A roustabout truck is a medium-to-heavy-duty commercial truck used in oilfield service operations throughout the Permian Basin. It transports equipment, tools, and personnel to well sites. It is not a personal vehicle. It is a piece of a business operation, and that fact changes the legal landscape of your case in three critical ways.
First, the company that owns or operates that truck is a commercial defendant — not an individual driver with a personal auto policy. Commercial defendants in the Permian Basin range from large, publicly traded oilfield service contractors with substantial commercial auto and excess liability coverage to small independent operators with minimal insurance. Identifying the specific company through its logo is the single most important investigative milestone in this case. That identification converts an unidentified-tortfeasor claim — where the only recovery avenue may be your own uninsured motorist coverage — into a commercial vehicle case with a deep-pocket defendant, layered insurance, and full tort damages.
Second, the driver was almost certainly an employee or contractor acting within the course and scope of employment at 8:25 a.m. on a workday in the oilfield. That means the company is vicariously liable for the driver’s negligence under the doctrine of respondeat superior — the employer stands behind the employee’s conduct on the job. The company may also face direct liability for its own choices: negligent hiring, negligent training, negligent supervision, negligent retention, and negligent entrustment of a commercial vehicle to a driver who would flee an accident scene.
Third, if the roustabout truck qualifies as a commercial motor vehicle engaged in interstate commerce, federal regulations under 49 CFR Parts 390–399 govern driver qualifications, hours of service, vehicle maintenance, and post-accident procedures. Even if the truck operates only within Texas, state commercial vehicle regulations and the general duty of reasonable care apply. The federal post-accident drug and alcohol testing requirements are particularly relevant here:
49 CFR 382.303 requires post-accident controlled-substance and alcohol testing when a crash involves a fatality, or a citation plus injury requiring medical treatment away from the scene, or a citation plus disabling damage requiring tow-away. For alcohol, the testing window closes after 8 hours; for controlled substances, after 32 hours. If the test is not administered within those windows, the employer must document in writing why it was not done.
The driver who hit you evaded that testing requirement by fleeing the scene. If the company failed to ensure testing was done — or if the company never identified the driver because the driver abandoned the truck and disappeared — that failure is itself a regulatory violation and a powerful piece of evidence in your civil case. If you were involved in a crash with a commercial oilfield service vehicle in the Permian Basin, the same rules and the same investigative approach apply — and our page on Texas oilfield commercial truck accident cases walks through the full scope of what we look for.
Texas Law on Hit-and-Run: What Fleeing the Scene Proves
When a driver hits you and leaves, Texas law treats that act as both a crime and powerful evidence of civil fault. Here is what the law says and what it means for your case.
The duty to stop is a statute, not a courtesy. Texas Transportation Code Chapter 550 imposes a statutory duty on every driver involved in an accident to stop, render aid, and exchange information. Fleeing the scene is not a judgment call or a mistake — it is a criminal violation of that statute. In a civil personal-injury case, violating a statute designed to protect the class of people the law is meant to safeguard (you, the person struck) establishes what Texas courts call negligence per se. The hit-and-run is not just evidence of bad character — it is, in itself, a legal violation that supports an inference of fault for the underlying collision.
Texas Transportation Code Chapter 550 imposes the statutory duty to stop, render aid, and exchange information following any accident involving injury or property damage.
Fleeing the scene supports gross negligence and punitive damages. Under Chapter 41 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, punitive damages are available when a defendant acts with “gross negligence” — meaning an act or omission involving an extreme degree of risk, aware of the risk, and proceeding with conscious indifference to the safety of others. Leaving the scene after striking another vehicle — potentially leaving injured people on the roadside — is textbook conscious indifference. A jury in Midland County can be asked to punish that conduct with punitive damages, subject to the statutory caps that Chapter 41 imposes. Those caps are tied to the economic and non-economic damages in the case, and the exact calculation depends on the damages structure of your specific claim.
The hit-and-run also defeats most comparative-fault arguments. Texas follows a modified comparative negligence rule with a 51% bar — meaning your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, and if you are 51% or more at fault, you are barred from recovery entirely. But when the at-fault driver flees the scene, it is extraordinarily difficult for the defense to assign meaningful fault to the victim. The act of running is, in itself, a powerful jury argument: an innocent driver stays. A driver who knows he was at fault runs. The hit-and-run strongly militates against any significant comparative-fault allocation to the pickup’s occupants.
How Uninsured Motorist Coverage Protects You While the Truck Is Unidentified
Here is the question that keeps people up at night after a hit-and-run: What if they never find the truck? Do I have any way to recover?
The answer is yes — through your own auto insurance policy. Texas uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage applies to hit-and-run accidents where two conditions are met: (1) there was physical contact between the at-fault vehicle and the victim’s vehicle, and (2) a police report was filed. In your case, both conditions are satisfied. The roustabout truck crashed into your pickup — that is physical contact. And the Midland Police Department is investigating the hit-and-run — which means a police report exists or is being generated.
Your UM carrier is contractually obligated to pay benefits up to your policy limits for injuries caused by an unidentified hit-and-run driver who had no insurance — or whose insurance cannot be pursued because the driver cannot be identified. This is a first-party claim: you are filing against your own insurance company, not against the at-fault driver. The UM carrier steps into the shoes of the tortfeasor and pays what the at-fault driver would have owed, up to your policy limits.
Here is what most people do not understand about UM claims: your own insurance company is not your friend in this process. The UM adjuster works for the company that collects your premiums, and the company’s financial interest is to pay you as little as possible. The UM adjuster may request a recorded statement, ask you to describe your injuries, demand an examination by a doctor the insurer selects, or argue that your injuries are pre-existing or exaggerated. Every one of those moves is designed to reduce the payout. You should not give a recorded statement, accept a settlement offer, or agree to an insurer-selected medical examination before speaking with an attorney who understands how UM carriers value claims from the inside.
We pursue UM/UIM coverage in parallel with the investigation to identify the roustabout truck’s company. If the company is identified, the UM claim may convert to an underinsured motorist claim (if the company’s coverage is insufficient to fully compensate you) or may be resolved through the commercial carrier’s policy. Either way, UM/UIM is your safety net — the money that is available right now, while the investigation runs. For a deeper look at how UM coverage works in Texas hit-and-run cases, our page on Texas vulnerable road user and hit-and-run accidents covers the full framework.
Who Is Responsible — and Where the Money Actually Is
When a roustabout truck flees the scene, the liability map has multiple layers. Here is who can be held accountable and where the money sits.
The unidentified driver faces direct negligence liability for causing the collision and statutory liability for fleeing the scene. Once identified, the driver is the primary tortfeasor. But the driver is almost certainly not the deep pocket — the driver is an individual with limited personal assets and whatever personal auto coverage exists (which may be minimal or may be voided if the vehicle was being used commercially).
The unidentified oilfield service company is where the real exposure lives. If the driver was acting within the course and scope of employment — and at 8:25 a.m. on a workday in the Permian Basin, that inference is strong — the company is vicariously liable under respondeat superior for all of the driver’s negligence. The company also faces direct, independent liability for its own corporate choices: negligent hiring (did it screen the driver properly?), negligent training (did it train the driver on accident procedures?), negligent supervision (was anyone monitoring this driver’s performance?), negligent retention (did it know about prior problems and keep the driver on?), and negligent entrustment (did it give a commercial vehicle to someone it should not have?).
The company that owns or leases the roustabout truck may be a separate entity from the operating company. In the Permian Basin, some oilfield service companies lease their trucks from separate equipment-holding entities. If the owner and operator are different companies, both may be defendants, and the independent-contractor-versus-employee analysis becomes a central fight.
Your own UM/UIM carrier is the immediate recovery source, as explained above. The UM carrier is a defendant in a contractual breach claim if it fails to pay benefits that are owed under your policy.
The coverage ladder depends on which company is identified. Large oilfield service contractors typically carry commercial auto liability policies with substantial limits, often layered with excess and umbrella coverage above the primary policy. Small independent operators may carry only the minimum required coverage. If the roustabout truck qualifies as a commercial motor vehicle engaged in interstate commerce, the federal minimum financial responsibility requirement is $750,000 for non-hazardous property carriers under 49 CFR 387.9 — and that is the floor, not the ceiling. The real coverage tower on a specific defendant is something we confirm through discovery and insurance filings, not something we guess at. For the full picture on how commercial trucking coverage works, our Houston truck accident page covers the structure in detail — the same layered-tower analysis applies to oilfield service trucks in Midland.
The single largest value driver in this case is identifying the company from its logo. That milestone converts an unidentified-tortfeasor claim — where recovery is limited to UM/UIM policy limits — into a commercial vehicle case with a named defendant, a discoverable insurance tower, and full tort damages including punitive exposure for the hit-and-run. Every investigative step we describe below serves that goal.
The Evidence Clock: What Is Dying Right Now and What We Must Freeze
More than two months have passed since January 28, 2026. In a hit-and-run case, evidence does not sit still — it dies on a schedule, and that schedule is unforgiving. Here is what exists, who holds it, and how fast it can legally disappear.
Police report and MPD Traffic Division investigation file. The official police report establishes the record of the hit-and-run, the crash location, the time, vehicle descriptions, and any witness statements. By now — over 60 days after the crash — the report should be substantially complete. We request it immediately from the Midland Police Department. The police file may also contain witness statements, officer observations, and any evidence the police have already secured.
Surveillance footage from businesses near Garden City Highway and South Fairgrounds Road. This is the evidence that matters most — and it is the evidence that is most likely already gone. Most commercial CCTV systems overwrite on a rolling loop of 7 to 30 days. After more than 60 days, the footage of a roustabout truck bearing a company logo, traveling southbound on South Fairgrounds Road at 8:25 a.m. on January 28, has almost certainly been recorded over — unless the Midland Police Department already secured it during their investigation. If the police did not canvas the area for surveillance cameras in the first days after the crash, that evidence is probably lost. This is the cruelest reality of a delayed investigation: the single piece of proof that could identify the company may have erased itself before anyone thought to preserve it.
The victim’s pickup truck. Your damaged vehicle is physical evidence. The damage pattern, paint transfer, impact analysis, and any material transferred from the roustabout truck to your pickup can establish the speed, angle, and point of impact — and paint or material transfer may help identify the roustabout truck’s make, model, or even its specific fleet. Do not repair the truck. Do not let the insurance company dispose of it. Do not authorize any repairs until a forensic examination has been completed. The truck is evidence, and evidence that is destroyed cannot be recreated.
Dashcam footage. If your pickup was equipped with a dashcam, the footage may show the collision itself — and, critically, may show the roustabout truck including the company logo and potentially a license plate. Preserve the dashcam footage immediately. Do not overwrite the memory card. Do not let the device cycle. Pull the footage and back it up to multiple locations.
Once the company is identified — the commercial vehicle evidence. The moment the oilfield service company is identified, a spoliation preservation letter must go out the same day. That letter demands the company preserve:
- The roustabout truck itself, undamaged and unrepaired
- Electronic logging device (ELD) data, GPS/telematics records, and route history for January 28, 2026
- The driver’s record of duty status (logs showing hours of service)
- The driver’s qualification file (employment application, motor vehicle record, road test certificate, medical examiner’s certificate, annual reviews)
- Any post-accident drug and alcohol test results — or the written explanation of why no test was done
- Driver vehicle inspection reports (DVIRs) and maintenance records for the truck
- Any in-cab camera footage
- The company’s employment records for the driver, including hiring, screening, and training records
Here is what the federal retention rules say about how fast that evidence can legally die. The driver’s hours-of-service logs and supporting documents — the records that prove how long the driver had been on the road — only have to be kept for six months under 49 CFR 395.8(k). After six months, the carrier can legally destroy them. The driver vehicle inspection reports — daily safety checks that might show the truck had defective brakes or bad tires — only have to be kept for three months under 49 CFR 396.11. The driver qualification file must be retained for the duration of employment plus three years under 49 CFR 391.51. Post-accident drug and alcohol testing records must be kept for one to five years depending on the record type under 49 CFR 382.401.
Every one of those clocks is already running. The longer it takes to identify the company, the more evidence the law allows to disappear. This is why the preservation letter goes out the day the company is identified — not the week after, not the month after. The day.
For a full walkthrough of how commercial truck crash evidence is preserved and what happens when a defendant lets required records die after notice, our definitive guide to commercial truck accidents covers the spoliation framework in detail.
The Insurance Adjuster Playbook — and How to Counter Every Move
Whether you are dealing with your own UM carrier or, once the company is identified, the commercial auto carrier for the oilfield service company, the insurance adjuster’s playbook is designed to pay you less than your case is worth. Here are the plays that will be run against you — and the counter to each.
Play 1: The friendly “just checking in” recorded statement. Within days of the crash — or as soon as you file a UM claim — an adjuster will call. The tone is warm, concerned, conversational. The adjuster will ask you to “just tell us what happened” and will ask to record it. This is not a friendly check-in. It is an evidence-gathering interview engineered to lock you into a narrative before you know the full extent of your injuries. If you say “I’m feeling okay” on day three, and the MRI shows a herniated disc on day twenty-one, the adjuster will play that recording at mediation to argue your injury is exaggerated or unrelated.
Counter: Do not give a recorded statement. You are not required to. Say: “I am not prepared to give a recorded statement at this time. I will contact you when I am ready.” Then call a lawyer. The adjuster works for the insurance company. No one from the insurance company is on your side.
Play 2: The fast settlement check. A check may arrive quickly — sometimes within weeks of the crash — with a release document attached. The release, if signed, settles your entire claim for that amount. The check is designed to arrive before the medical results do: before the MRI, before the specialist appointment, before the full extent of your injuries is known. A “mild” traumatic brain injury can present with a perfectly normal CT scan in the emergency room and still produce debilitating cognitive symptoms weeks later. A soft-tissue injury can turn out to be a herniated disc requiring surgery. Signing a release before the medical picture is complete is the most common way injury victims lose the value of their case.
Counter: Do not sign anything. Do not deposit a check that comes with a release. Do not accept any settlement offer before your medical treatment is complete and your damages are fully evaluated. The first offer is almost always a fraction of what the case is worth.
Play 3: The “pre-existing condition” argument. The adjuster will request your medical records — going back years — and will look for any prior treatment for the same body part. If you ever saw a chiropractor for neck pain in 2022, the adjuster will argue that your current cervical injury from the January 28 crash is just a flare-up of the old condition, not a new injury caused by the roustabout truck.
Counter: The law takes you as it finds you. The eggshell-plaintiff doctrine — recognized across U.S. jurisdictions — means the defendant is responsible for the full extent of the harm caused to you, even if a pre-existing condition made you more susceptible to injury than a healthier person would have been. A pre-existing condition that was asymptomatic before the crash and symptomatic after is an aggravation caused by the crash, and the defendant pays for the aggravation. The medical records establish the before-and-after, and the treating physician’s testimony connects the crash to the current condition.
Play 4: The independent medical examination with the insurer’s doctor. The UM carrier or the commercial carrier may demand that you be examined by a doctor of their choosing — what the industry calls an “independent” medical examination that is neither independent nor impartial. The insurer-selected doctor is paid by the insurance company, sees you for a fraction of the time your treating physician spends, and produces a report that almost always minimizes or denies your injuries.
Counter: You may be contractually required to submit to an IME under your UM policy. But you should never attend one without first consulting an attorney, understanding your rights, and ensuring that the examination is properly scoped. The IME report is not the final word — your treating physician’s records and testimony carry far more weight with a jury than a doctor who saw you once for twenty minutes on the insurer’s dime.
Play 5: Surveillance and social-media mining. The insurance company may conduct surveillance — filming you in public, at the grocery store, walking your dog — and will mine your social media accounts for any photograph or post that can be used to argue you are not as injured as you claim. A photograph of you at a family barbecue smiling does not mean you are not in pain. But it can be presented to a jury that way.
Counter: Assume you are being watched from the day you file a claim. Set your social media accounts to private. Do not post about the crash, your injuries, your activities, or your case. Do not discuss the case with anyone other than your lawyer and your doctors. Do not sign any social media post that could be taken out of context. If surveillance footage is later produced, your actual medical records and your treating physician’s testimony will establish what you can and cannot do — and the gap between a snapshot and reality is where the surveillance argument falls apart.
What Your Case Is Worth
We will not pretend to know the exact value of your case without knowing the full extent of your injuries, your medical treatment, your lost wages, and the identity and insurance coverage of the oilfield service company. What we can give you is an honest framework — the range, the drivers, and the honest limits.
The low end — approximately $25,000. This is the floor: property damage to the pickup and minor soft-tissue injuries (whiplash, cervical or lumbar strain) that resolve within weeks to months, recovered through UM/UIM coverage only, with the roustabout truck’s company never identified. In this scenario, your UM policy limits are the ceiling, and the case is a first-party contract claim against your own insurer.
The high end — $5,000,000 or more. This is the ceiling: catastrophic injuries — traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, multiple fractures, or injuries requiring surgery and long-term care — with an identified commercial defendant carrying substantial commercial auto and excess liability coverage, plus punitive damages for the hit-and-run gross negligence, tried in a Midland County venue where juries understand oilfield operations and hold companies accountable. In this scenario, the case is a full commercial vehicle tort with a deep-pocket defendant, layered insurance, and a jury of your neighbors deciding what a Permian Basin oilfield company’s conscious indifference is worth.
The single largest value driver is identifying the company. Everything else — the injury severity, the medical treatment, the lost wages — flows from the facts of the crash and your body. But the company identification is the variable that determines whether this is a UM claim with limited recovery or a commercial vehicle case with millions in coverage and punitive exposure. That is why the investigation to identify the company from its logo is not just a police matter — it is the single most important step in maximizing the value of your civil case.
Texas does not impose a cap on economic or non-economic damages in ordinary motor vehicle negligence cases. Your medical bills, lost wages, earning-capacity impairment, pain and suffering, mental anguish, physical impairment, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life are all recoverable without a statutory ceiling. Punitive damages are available under Chapter 41 but are subject to statutory caps tied to the economic and non-economic damages in the case. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes — but the framework above is an honest map of where your case sits and what drives it up or down.
How a Case Like This Is Actually Built
Here is the proof story — the chronological walk from the day you call to the day a number is built and a demand is made. This is how we handle these cases. It is not a promise about your case specifically; it is the process that gives your case its best chance.
Week one: freeze everything. The day you call, the preservation machinery starts. If the company has been identified, a spoliation preservation letter goes out the same day — demanding the truck, the ELD data, the telematics, the driver qualification file, the post-accident drug test results, the maintenance records, and any in-cab camera footage. If the company has not been identified, we coordinate with the Midland Police Department Traffic Division, canvas businesses near the Garden City Highway and South Fairgrounds Road intersection for any surviving surveillance footage, and engage a licensed private investigator familiar with Permian Basin oilfield service companies to match the logo description against known operators. Your damaged pickup truck is preserved for forensic examination — paint transfer, impact analysis, material comparison. Your medical treatment is documented from the first appointment forward.
Weeks two through eight: identification and records. If the company is identified, we pull its FMCSA SAFER Company Snapshot — the public record of its operating authority, insurance filings, crash history, and inspection violations. We pull its SMS/CSA BASIC percentiles — the government’s safety scorecard on unsafe driving, hours-of-service compliance, vehicle maintenance, and driver fitness. We request the police report and the full investigation file. We gather your complete medical records, billing records, employment and wage records, and any documentation of out-of-pocket costs. We build the before-and-after picture: who you were before January 28 and who you are now.
Months two through six: discovery and depositions. If suit is filed in Midland County to lock in venue and begin discovery, the trucking company’s records come out through formal demands. The safety director sits for a deposition and explains the company’s choices under oath. The driver is deposed about his hours, his route, his training, and why he left the scene. The company’s hiring and training records are examined for gaps. The ELD data is compared against the driver’s logs — and the fuel receipts, toll records, and GPS pings that the driver cannot fake are compared against both. Where the numbers do not match, the case gets stronger.
The number. Once medical treatment is complete and damages are fully quantified, a life-care planner and a forensic economist build the future-cost stream — the medical care, rehabilitation, equipment, and lost earning capacity that stretch across the years ahead. That number, plus the past medical bills, past lost wages, pain and suffering, and the punitive-damages exposure from the hit-and-run, is the demand. Under the Stowers doctrine — a well-established Texas insurance law principle — when a demand is within the policy limits and there is a reasonable probability of an excess verdict, the insurer must accept it or face liability for the full judgment even above the policy limits. That is the leverage that a well-built case creates.
The First 72 Hours — What to Do Right Now
If you were in the pickup on January 28, more than 72 hours have already passed. But the steps below are still urgent — some are time-sensitive even now, and every one of them protects your case.
1. Get medical treatment — and document it. If you have not been seen by a doctor since the crash, do it now. Adrenaline masks pain at the scene. A headache that started “a few days later” can be a traumatic brain injury. A stiff neck that “isn’t that bad” can be a herniated disc. The gap between the crash and your first medical visit is something the insurance adjuster will use against you — the longer the gap, the harder it is to prove the injury came from the crash. Go to your doctor, an urgent care clinic, or the emergency department. Describe every symptom. Follow every recommendation. Keep every appointment. The medical record is the spine of your case.
2. Preserve your damaged pickup truck. Do not repair it. Do not let the insurance company total it and send it to a salvage yard. Do not sign anything that allows the insurer to dispose of it. Your truck is evidence — the damage pattern, paint transfer, and impact analysis can prove the speed and angle of the roustabout truck and may help identify the vehicle. A forensic examination by a qualified expert can extract information that is not visible to the naked eye. Once the truck is repaired or scrapped, that evidence is gone forever.
3. Request the police report. Contact the Midland Police Department Traffic Division and request a copy of the crash report. The report is the official record of the hit-and-run, and it is a prerequisite for your UM claim. If you have information about the company logo, provide it to the police at (432) 685-7122 — but do not attempt to investigate the company yourself. Let the police handle the criminal investigation and let your lawyer handle the civil investigation.
4. Do not speak to any insurance adjuster. This includes your own UM adjuster. You are not required to give a recorded statement. You are not required to accept a settlement offer. You are not required to attend an insurer-selected medical examination without understanding your rights. Every conversation with an adjuster is an evidence-gathering exercise for the insurance company. Say: “I am not prepared to discuss this right now. I will contact you when I am ready.” Then call a lawyer.
5. Do not post on social media. Set your accounts to private. Do not post about the crash, your injuries, your activities, your case, or anything else that could be taken out of context. The insurance company is watching.
6. Document everything. Keep a journal of your symptoms, your pain levels, your medical appointments, your missed work, and the ways the crash has affected your daily life. Save every medical bill, every pharmacy receipt, every pay stub that shows lost wages, every towing receipt, and every piece of correspondence from any insurance company. These records are the evidence that builds your damages.
7. Call a lawyer. The consultation is free. We work on contingency — we do not get paid unless we win your case. The day you call is the day the preservation machinery starts, the investigation begins, and the clock starts working for you instead of against you.
Why This Firm
We are Attorney911 — The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC. We are a trial firm that takes Texas cases, and we have been doing this work since 2001. Two people anchor this practice, and you should know who they are.
Ralph Manginello is our Managing Partner — 27+ years of Texas trial practice, admitted November 6, 1998, Texas Bar #24007597, also admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Ralph was a journalist before he was a lawyer, which means he asks questions for a living and does not accept the first answer. He takes cases to trial. He does not settle for less than the case is worth unless you tell him to. Ralph is a member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and the Houston Bar Association, and he leads the firm’s active $10 million hazing lawsuit against Pi Kappa Phi and the University of Houston — a case that is live, in litigation right now, in Harris County. Read more about Ralph here.
Lupe Peña is our Associate Attorney — Texas Bar #24084332, admitted 2012, also admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Lupe spent years inside a national insurance-defense firm — the rooms where adjusters and their software decide how to deny, delay, and devalue people exactly like you. He knows how claims are valued, how reserves are set, how IME doctors are selected, how surveillance is deployed, and how delay tactics work — because he used those tools from the other side of the table. Now he uses that knowledge for injured clients. Lupe is a third-generation Texan with family roots to the King Ranch, born and raised in Sugar Land, and he is fluent in Spanish — he conducts full client consultations in Spanish without an interpreter. Read more about Lupe here.
We work on contingency. The fee is 33.33% before trial and 40% if the case goes to trial. We do not get paid unless we win your case. The consultation is free. We have live staff 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — not an answering service. When you call 1-888-ATTY-911 at 2 a.m. from a kitchen table covered in medical bills, a human being answers, and that human being works for this firm.
Hablamos Español. Lupe conducts full consultations in Spanish. If your family communicates in Spanish, you will not be handed to an interpreter or a junior staff member. You will speak directly to an attorney who can represent you in the language you think in.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I still recover if the roustabout truck’s company is never identified?
Yes. Texas uninsured motorist coverage applies to hit-and-run accidents where physical contact occurred between the vehicles and a police report was filed. In your case, both conditions are met — the roustabout truck crashed into your pickup, and the Midland Police Department is investigating. Your UM carrier is contractually obligated to pay benefits up to your policy limits. The amount depends on your policy and the extent of your injuries. If the company is later identified, the case can expand into a full commercial vehicle claim against the company and its insurance.
How long do I have to file a claim?
Texas applies a two-year statute of limitations for personal injury and wrongful death claims, running from the date of the incident. For a crash on January 28, 2026, the deadline to file suit is approximately January 28, 2028. But the evidence deadline is much shorter — surveillance footage is likely already gone, and the roustabout truck company’s federal log-retention clocks (six months for hours-of-service logs, three months for vehicle inspection reports) are already running. The deadline to sue is two years. The deadline to save the proof is measured in days and weeks, not years.
What if I was partly at fault for the crash?
Texas follows a modified comparative negligence rule with a 51% bar. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, and if you are 51% or more at fault, you are barred entirely. But the hit-and-run is extraordinarily powerful evidence against any comparative-fault argument. A driver who flees the scene is a driver who knows he was at fault — and juries understand that. The act of running effectively eliminates most comparative-fault defenses.
Will the hit-and-run driver go to jail?
That is up to the Midland Police Department and the Midland County District Attorney’s office. The criminal case is separate from your civil case. Your civil case is about compensation — your medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, property damage, and potentially punitive damages. The criminal case is about punishment by the state. The two can proceed in parallel, and information developed in the criminal investigation can support your civil case, but your lawyer’s focus is on your financial recovery, not the criminal prosecution.
Do I have to accept the insurance company’s first settlement offer?
No — and you should not. The first offer is almost always a fraction of what the case is worth. Insurance adjusters are trained to settle claims quickly and cheaply, before the full extent of injuries is known and before an attorney can evaluate the case. Do not sign any release, do not deposit any settlement check, and do not accept any offer before speaking with a lawyer who can evaluate the full value of your claim.
What if the oilfield service company has minimal insurance?
Some small independent operators in the Permian Basin carry only the minimum required coverage — which may be insufficient to fully compensate you for serious injuries. That is why we pursue every available avenue: the company’s commercial auto policy, any excess or umbrella coverage, the company’s direct corporate liability (negligent hiring, training, supervision — which may not be capped by the auto policy limits), and your own UM/UIM coverage as a backstop. We also investigate whether the truck was leased from a separate entity that may carry its own coverage. Finding every source of recovery is part of the work.
Can I get punitive damages for the hit-and-run?
Yes, potentially. Under Chapter 41 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, punitive damages are available upon a showing of gross negligence — conscious indifference to the safety of others. Fleeing the scene after striking another vehicle is strong evidence of conscious indifference. Punitive damages are subject to statutory caps tied to the economic and non-economic damages in your case, but the caps do not eliminate the punitive exposure — they limit it. A Midland County jury can be asked to punish the company for its driver’s decision to leave you on the roadside.
What should I do with my damaged pickup truck?
Do not repair it. Do not let the insurance company dispose of it. Do not sign anything that allows the insurer to scrap or sell it. Your truck is evidence. The damage pattern, paint transfer, and impact analysis can prove the speed and angle of the collision and may help identify the roustabout truck’s make and model. A forensic examination by a qualified expert can extract information that is not visible to the naked eye. Once the truck is repaired or scrapped, that evidence is gone forever. Preserve it until a forensic examination has been completed.
How much does it cost to hire a lawyer for a hit-and-run case?
Nothing up front. We work on contingency — 33.33% before trial, 40% if the case goes to trial. We do not get paid unless we win your case. The consultation is free. You will not receive a bill from us unless and until we recover money for you. If we do not recover anything, you owe us nothing for our time.
Can I sue the oilfield company even if the driver is never found?
If the company is identified, yes — you can sue the company directly for negligent hiring, training, supervision, and retention, and for vicarious liability under respondeat superior if the driver was acting in the course and scope of employment. The driver’s individual identity is not always necessary if the company can be identified through its logo and the truck can be traced to the company’s fleet. The company is the deep pocket; the driver is the agent. Suing the company does not always require finding the driver first — though finding the driver strengthens every theory of liability.
Call Now — the Clock Is Already Running
You were on Garden City Highway on January 28, 2026. A roustabout truck hit you and left. More than two months have passed. The surveillance footage that could have identified the company is probably gone. The police are asking for help. The insurance adjuster may already be calling. And the two-year clock to file suit is ticking down from the day of the crash.
The single most important step you can take right now is to talk to a lawyer who knows how to handle oilfield truck hit-and-run cases in the Permian Basin — not tomorrow, not next week, now. The consultation is free. We do not get paid unless we win your case. We have live staff 24 hours a day. Hablamos Español.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911. Or call our direct line at (713) 528-9070. The day you call is the day the investigation starts, the evidence gets frozen, and the fight for what your case is actually worth begins.
Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. This page is legal information, not legal advice. Contacting the firm is free and confidential. We are not your lawyers unless and until we agree to represent you in writing.