Table of Contents

WHO IS BEHIND THE WHEEL OF A DELIVERY VEHICLE

Four setups are common on San Diego streets:

• Amazon Delivery Service Partners (DSPs). Amazon-branded vans, driven by employees of a separate local company. Amazon says it launched the program in 2018 and that these businesses deliver more than 20 million packages a day worldwide.
• Amazon Flex. Drivers “use your own vehicle to deliver Amazon packages,” in Amazon’s words, during blocks they reserve in an app.
• FedEx Ground and UPS. FedEx Ground delivers through contractors. “At FedEx Ground, the ISPs employ drivers,” FreightWaves reported in 2021, referring to its independent service providers. UPS says its 2023 Teamsters contract covers more than 300,000 full- and part-time UPS employees in the U.S.
• App couriers. Food and grocery delivery drivers using their own cars, covered by California’s Proposition 22.

A fifth case is easy to overlook: a U.S. Postal Service truck, which is a federal vehicle with its own claim rules and deadlines.

DELIVERY VANS VS. BIG RIGS

Our San Diego truck accident page covers tractor-trailers and other heavy trucks, where federal trucking rules on driver hours and logbooks often decide the case.

Federal motor carrier rules generally reach vehicles in interstate commerce with a gross vehicle weight rating (the maximum loaded weight the manufacturer allows) of 10,001 pounds or more. Many delivery vans and most gig drivers’ cars sit below that line. Federal rules put the rating on a label marked “GVWR” on the door edge or door post next to the driver’s seat.

Under that line, the case usually turns on California road rules and one question. Who employs the driver?

EMPLOYEE OR CONTRACTOR: WHY IT DECIDES WHO PAYS

Respondeat superior (Latin for “let the master answer”) makes an employer pay for harm its employee causes while doing the job. It does not reach a true independent contractor. That is why the driver’s job status matters so much.

California’s AB 5 “ABC test” is the rule most people have heard of. But Labor Code section 2775 limits that test to the Labor Code, the Unemployment Insurance Code and wage orders. In an injury lawsuit, California juries get a different instruction, CACI No. 3704. It says “the most important factor” is whether the company “had the right to control how” the driver did the work, “rather than just the right to specify the result.” The jury also weighs who supplied the equipment, whether the driver was paid by the hour, and whether delivery is part of the company’s regular business.

A contract label does not settle it. In Alexander v. FedEx Ground Package System (9th Cir. 2014), a class of about 2,300 full-time FedEx delivery drivers in California, who worked for FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery between 2000 and 2007, argued they were employees, though FedEx treated them as independent contractors. The drivers had to wear FedEx uniforms and drive FedEx-approved vehicles, and FedEx told them what packages to deliver, on what days and at what times. The court sided with the drivers: “We agree that plaintiffs are employees as a matter of law.” FedEx Ground has since moved to a different model, in which contractor companies employ the drivers.

For a DSP van, the first defendant is usually the DSP itself. It employs the driver. Whether Amazon shares responsibility depends on how much control it had over that route and driver. We investigate that case by case.

APP COURIERS AND THE $1 MILLION POLICY UNDER PROP 22

Food and grocery app drivers sit under a separate law. Proposition 22, which California’s Supreme Court upheld in 2024, says an app-based driver who meets its conditions “is an independent contractor and not an employee or agent” of the app company (Business and Professions Code section 7451). That usually rules out an employer-liability claim against the app.

Instead, Prop 22 requires insurance. Section 7455(f) requires a delivery network company to carry at least $1,000,000 per occurrence “for the benefit of the public” to cover injuries caused by an app-based driver. Two limits matter:

• It covers “engaged time,” which runs from when the driver accepts a delivery request until the driver completes it (section 7463).
• It applies only where the car is “not otherwise covered” by an auto policy that meets Insurance Code section 11580.1(b), so whether the driver’s own policy covers delivery driving matters.

A driver waiting between orders with the app open may fall outside that $1 million policy. That makes the driver’s phone, and the app’s trip records, some of the first evidence we request.

Amazon Flex has its own policy. Amazon says Flex drivers who keep personal auto insurance are covered by its commercial auto policy, with liability coverage of $1,000,000, “while you’re actively driving and delivering.”

FOR-HIRE DELIVERY COMPANIES MUST FILE INSURANCE WITH THE DMV

California treats a business paid to carry packages as a motor carrier “regardless of vehicle size, type, or weight,” according to the DMV. A DSP or other for-hire delivery company needs a Motor Carrier Permit and must file proof of liability insurance. Vehicle Code section 34631.5 sets the minimum at $300,000 for a carrier that runs only vehicles under 10,000 pounds, and $750,000 for most other property carriers.

Those are minimums. But the delivery company should have a policy on file with the state, even if the driver at the scene gives you no insurance details.

TWO SAN DIEGO PLACES WHERE DELIVERY TRAFFIC CONCENTRATES

Amazon’s SAN3 center in Otay Mesa. The four-story, 3-million-square-foot fulfillment center at Otay Mesa Road and Enrico Fermi Boulevard opened in September 2021 with about 1,500 workers, Times of San Diego reported. We name it only as an example of the region’s package network, not to suggest any problem there.

Fifth Avenue at Broadway, downtown. City of San Diego traffic engineers analyzed the city’s reported 2025 injury and fatal crashes. In a March 24, 2026 memo, they listed Fifth Avenue at Broadway as the intersection with the most pedestrian crashes in the city that year: four. On busy downtown blocks like this one, a few minutes from our Front Street office, delivery vans, pedestrians and cyclists all compete for the same stretch of curb.

California road rules cover what happens at those stops:

• No double-parking. A driver may not stop “on the roadway side of a vehicle stopped, parked, or standing at the curb” (Vehicle Code section 22500(h)).
• Keep clear of crosswalks. No stopping within 20 feet of the approach side of a crosswalk (section 22500(n)). A city may allow commercial loading closer only by ordinance, with the area marked by paint or signs.
• Pull out and back up safely. No driver may start from a stop or back up until the move “can be made with reasonable safety” (section 22106).

A van stopped in the wrong spot can block a driver’s view of a pedestrian or force a cyclist into traffic. Breaking one of these rules can be evidence of negligence. See our San Diego pedestrian accident page and San Diego bicycle accident page.

WHAT TO COLLECT AFTER A DELIVERY VEHICLE CRASH

1. Call 911 and get a police report number.
2. Photograph the vehicle from all sides, including any company name, van number and license plate.
3. Ask the driver who they work for, and whether they were on a delivery. Write down the answers.
4. If it was a personal car, ask the driver to show the app screen, or photograph it.
5. Get witness names and phone numbers, and note any doorbell or business cameras facing the street.
6. See a doctor the same day, even if you feel fine.
7. Don’t give a recorded statement to any insurer before talking to a lawyer.

If you drive for a delivery company as its employee and were hurt on the job, workers’ compensation usually applies. See our San Diego workers’ compensation page. App-based couriers covered by Prop 22 are not employees, so they are not covered by workers’ compensation. The app must instead carry occupational accident insurance for them (Business and Professions Code section 7455(a)).

OUR RESULTS

Gomez Trial Attorneys has recovered more than $1 billion for clients over 20 years. That includes $1,400,000 for a construction worker injured on a construction site through the negligence of a vendor delivering materials to the site. He needed multiple surgeries. See our construction accident page and case results page.

Results depend on the facts of each case. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

HOW LONG YOU HAVE TO FILE

Most injury claims in California must be filed within two years (Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1). If a city or county vehicle, or a dangerous public road, played a part, a written claim is usually due within six months (Government Code section 911.2). A crash with a U.S. Postal Service truck or another federal vehicle follows federal claim rules and deadlines.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

CAN I SUE AMAZON IF AN AMAZON VAN HIT ME?

Maybe. The delivery company that employs the driver is usually the main defendant, and its insurance usually pays first. Amazon may share responsibility depending on how much control it had over the driver and route, which takes investigation.

THE DRIVER SAYS THEY’RE AN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR. DOES THAT END MY CLAIM?

No. In an injury case, the label in a contract does not decide employee status. A jury looks mainly at who had the right to control how the work was done. Even if the driver is a true contractor, you can still claim against the driver and their insurance.

WHAT IF A DOORDASH OR OTHER FOOD DELIVERY DRIVER HIT ME?

If the app company qualifies as a delivery network company under Proposition 22, it must carry at least $1,000,000 in liability coverage for crashes during an accepted delivery, when the car is not otherwise covered by a qualifying auto policy. Whether that policy applies depends on the driver’s own insurance and on the app’s records of when the order was accepted and completed.

THE VAN HAD NO COMPANY NAME ON IT. HOW DO WE FIND THE EMPLOYER?

Start with the license plate, the police report and the driver’s statements at the scene. Companies paid to deliver other people’s packages must hold a DMV motor carrier permit with insurance on file, which can help identify them.

WHAT DOES IT COST TO HIRE GOMEZ TRIAL ATTORNEYS?

Nothing up front. We work on contingency, so our fee comes from what we recover, and there is no attorney’s fee unless we win.

TALK TO A SAN DIEGO DELIVERY TRUCK ACCIDENT LAWYER

Call 833-GET-GOMEZ or contact us online for a free case review. Our San Diego office is at 755 Front Street, San Diego, CA 92101. Hablamos español.