Amazon · FedEx · UPS · USPS · Brooklyn
Hit by a delivery van in Brooklyn? Somebody owns that van.
The driver who hit you is usually the smallest name on the paperwork. Behind that van there is a contractor company, a leasing company, a delivery giant setting the route, and two or three insurance policies stacked on top of each other. Most people only ever find the first one. Koenig Pierre, Esq. finds all of them.
Free consultation · No fee unless he wins · English · Español · Kreyòl
⏱ 72-Hour Problem
In-van camera footage runs on a loop and gets written over. A preservation letter has to go out in days. See what evidence wins cases.
📮 Was it a mail truck?
USPS runs on a totally different clock than Amazon or FedEx. Read about USPS mail truck crashes.
🚔 No police report?
Happens constantly with delivery crashes. You still have a case. Here's what to do instead.
Free Case Review
Only pay once he wins.
Tell him what happened. The more you can fill in, the faster he can tell you who's actually on the hook.
Or just call him
1 (800) 946-4616Sources: NYC Comptroller, Fast Shipping. Slow Justice (Nov. 2025); NYC DOT freight and delivery reporting.
Why Brooklyn Specifically
The warehouses moved in. The crashes followed.
This isn't a feeling. When the City Comptroller's office studied what happens after a last-mile delivery warehouse opens in a neighborhood, they found injury crashes went up in 78% of the surrounding areas, with truck-related crashes rising 146%. And they found those warehouses aren't spread evenly — about two-thirds sit in environmental justice neighborhoods, with Red Hook and East New York named specifically. A cluster of four East New York facilities alone drove a sharp jump in crashes within a half-mile.
If you live in Brooklyn you already know the shape of it. Sprinter vans stacked three deep on Van Brunt Street. A step van sitting in the bike lane on Bushwick Avenue with its flashers on. Somebody jogging a package across Flatbush Avenue against the light because the app is counting. Brooklyn's residential streets were laid out for row houses and stoops, not for 200-stop routes run against a clock.
The route is the cause
Drivers are dispatched with a stop count and a window. When the day runs long, the shortcuts start: rolling stops, backing without a spotter, parking in the crosswalk because the block has nowhere legal to stop. That pressure comes from the company, not the driver — and that matters for who pays.
Nowhere to legally stop
NYC DOT has been building microhubs and loading zones precisely because there is not enough curb. Until there is, vans double-park in travel lanes and bike lanes. A van blocking sight lines can be part of what caused your crash — not just scenery.
November through January
Volume spikes, seasonal drivers get hired fast with thin training, and routes stretch. If you were hit during peak season, the driver's training file and hire date are worth pulling. See also: the most common causes of NYC crashes.
A step van is not a car
High hood, tall body, no rear window, and a passenger-side blind zone that swallows a person on a bike. The same crash that would bruise you against a sedan breaks bones against a loaded delivery van — which is why these are handled like truck accident cases, not fender benders.
📍 Red Hook & Sunset Park
Heavy warehouse corridors feeding trucks onto narrow residential blocks. Crashes here often involve a turning or backing van.
📍 East New York
Four last-mile facilities clustered, plus Linden Blvd traffic. See the East New York crash page.
📍 Bushwick & Greenpoint
BQE microhub zones and industrial edges. Vans cut through side streets to save minutes.
📍 Canarsie & Flatlands
Wide avenues, long blocks, fast routes. Canarsie car accident page →
Who Actually Pays
One van. Up to five people who owe you money.
This is the part that catches people. You saw a logo, so you assume you're dealing with that company. Then a letter shows up from an LLC you've never heard of, saying the delivery giant "was not the employer" and has nothing to do with it. That is the model working exactly as designed. It is not the end of your case — it's the start of the investigation.
The control question. Delivery giants argue their contractors are independent businesses. But courts across the country keep looking at the reality: who assigns the route, who sets the delivery window, who installs the cameras, who grades the driver every night? When the answer is "the brand," the independent-contractor shield starts to crack. A South Carolina jury reached exactly that conclusion and returned a verdict in the tens of millions. Every case is its own case — but the argument is live, and it's worth making.
Practical · Do This Now
How to read the van that hit you
Pull up your phone photos from that day. The paint job and the small lettering near the rear doors tell your lawyer which legal road your case goes down. This is genuinely the single most useful thing you can figure out today.
| What you saw | Who's usually driving | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Blue Amazon van, smile logo | A Delivery Service Partner (DSP) — a small contractor company, not Amazon staff | Claim starts with the DSP's commercial policy. Reaching Amazon takes proof of how tightly they ran the route. |
| Regular car, hazards on, packages inside | Amazon Flex — a gig driver in their own vehicle | Different animal entirely. Personal auto policy first, and whether the app was active matters a lot. |
| White van, purple & green FedEx | FedEx Ground — usually an Independent Service Provider (ISP) that owns the route | Look for tiny "operated by [company name]" text near the rear. That's your first defendant. |
| White van, purple & orange FedEx | FedEx Express — typically company drivers and company vehicles | Cleaner path to the corporation itself and a much bigger insurance program. |
| Brown UPS truck | UPS employees, driving UPS vehicles | Most direct of all. The company is generally responsible for its driver on the clock. |
| White/blue USPS mail truck | Federal postal employee | Separate federal process with an early written-claim requirement and no jury. Read more → |
| Unmarked box truck, grocery or meal van | Regional carrier, third-party logistics, or a store's own fleet | Plate and DOT number are everything. Photograph them before the van leaves — a USDOT number can be run through the FMCSA's public carrier lookup. |
📸 Go look right now
Check your camera roll from the crash date. Zoom in on the rear doors and the plate. Screenshot anything legible and bring it to your consultation.
🚚 Look up the carrier
A USDOT number on the door pulls up the company's federal safety and crash record for free at FMCSA SAFER.
🧾 Keep the package slip
If a neighbor got a delivery on your block that hour, the tracking record helps place the van. Small thing, real evidence.
🎥 Ring & bodega cameras
Brooklyn blocks are covered in doorbell and storefront cameras. Most overwrite in 7–30 days. Ask neighbors this week, not next month.
Crash Patterns
The five ways delivery vans hurt people in Brooklyn
These aren't random. They repeat, block after block, because they're baked into how the work gets done — and you can see the pattern yourself in the city's own numbers on Vision Zero View and the NYPD collision dataset. If your crash looks like one of these, there's usually a company policy sitting behind it.
- The right hookVan turns right across a bike lane or crosswalk. The cyclist or pedestrian is sitting in the passenger-side blind zone the whole time. Brutally common on avenues with painted-only bike lanes — see who is at fault in a sideswipe.
- Backing without a spotterNo rear window, no camera angle that helps, driver in a hurry. This is how people get hit on residential blocks and in loading areas — often at very low speed and with very serious injuries.
- The door and the step-outWide sliding doors and rear doors that swing into the roadway, plus a driver who hops out mid-thought. If a door hit you while biking, read this.
- The blocked crosswalkVan parks across the crosswalk or the corner. Pedestrians step around it into a lane where no driver can see them coming. The van's position is evidence.
- The rear-end at the lightA loaded van needs more room to stop than the driver's instincts allow, especially on a wet Brooklyn street. Heavier vehicle, harder hit, worse neck and back injuries. If the driver was on the delivery app: proving distracted driving in New York.
🦴 Don't tough it out
Low-speed van impacts still cause herniated discs, torn shoulders, and concussions. Get checked in the first days — gaps in treatment get used against you later. More on treatment gaps.
🚲 Hit while riding?
Cyclists and e-bike riders have real rights here, including no-fault benefits in many situations. Brooklyn bicycle accident page →
👷 Are you the delivery worker?
Injury rates at last-mile facilities run more than triple the national private-sector average. Workers' comp isn't always the end of the road — you may also have a third-party claim.
The Clock That Nobody Tells You About
What disappears, and how fast
Delivery vans generate more digital evidence than almost any vehicle on the road — road-facing and driver-facing cameras, GPS breadcrumbs, hard-braking alerts, stop-by-stop timestamps. Here's the catch: none of it belongs to you, and nobody has to save it until they're formally told to. That letter is one of the first things Koenig sends.
Camera & telematics hold
A written demand that the company freeze road-facing and driver-facing video, hard-braking alerts, speed data and everything the van's systems recorded that day — before the loop erases it.
The route file
Stop count, delivery window, how far behind schedule the driver was at the moment of impact, and how many stops were still left. This is often the story of your case in one document.
The driver's file
Hire date, training records, prior incidents, and the safety scorecard the company was grading them on. Patterns matter — for the driver and for the company that kept them on the road.
Every policy in the stack
The contractor's coverage, whatever sits above it, the vehicle owner's policy, and your own underinsured coverage if the numbers don't reach. Finding the ceiling early shapes everything.
New York Rules, In Plain English
What actually governs your claim here
No-fault pays first — but you have 30 days
New York no-fault covers medical bills and a portion of lost wages regardless of who caused the crash. The application is generally due within 30 days. Separately, the state requires drivers to file their own crash report with the DMV on a much shorter clock. Miss either and you create a fight you didn't need to have.
The "serious injury" gate
To go after pain and suffering on top of no-fault, your injuries have to clear New York's serious-injury bar — fractures, permanent limitations, significant disfigurement, or being knocked out of your normal life for roughly three of the first six months. Documentation is what gets you through that gate.
Partly at fault? You still recover
New York reduces your award by your share of fault instead of wiping it out. If you're found 20%% responsible on a $200,000 case, you recover $160,000. Never let an adjuster tell you being partly at fault ends it — or that your own insurer can simply drop you.
The owner of the van matters
New York holds vehicle owners responsible for how their vehicles get driven, with a specific carve-out for professional leasing companies. Figuring out which bucket the van's title falls into can change how much money is available — and the DMV can confirm who insured a registered vehicle on the date of a crash. A boring detail that moves real numbers.
Deadlines, short version. Roughly three years for most New York injury lawsuits. Around 30 days for your no-fault application. A 90-day notice if a city or MTA vehicle was involved. A federal mail truck runs on its own earlier written-claim clock, and suing a city entity adds a 50-h hearing before the lawsuit is even filed. Different vans, different calendars — which is exactly why you call before you're sure. Understanding your rights as an injured New Yorker →
💵 What you can recover
Medical care past and future, lost wages, reduced earning ability, pain and suffering, property damage, out-of-pocket costs — and wrongful death damages if you lost someone.
🚫 Don't sign anything
A quick check with a release attached ends your case forever, including for injuries that get worse next month.
🗣 Kreyòl & Español
Koenig handles cases in all three languages. Gid pou kominote Ayisyen an →
If It Just Happened
Your first seven days
Not a lecture. Just the order Koenig would do it in if it were his own family.
- Call 911 even if the driver asks you not toDelivery drivers get graded on incidents and some will plead with you to keep it off the books or offer cash on the spot. Get it reported. Full step-by-step after a NY crash.
- Photograph the van, not just the damagePlate. Fleet number. The small "operated by" lettering. The DOT number if there is one. Wide shot showing where the van was standing.
- Get seen by a doctor within daysAdrenaline hides a lot. An early record connects your injury to the crash — a late one gives the insurer an opening.
- Ask the block about cameras this weekBodega, doorbell, building lobby. Most loops are short. Ask now and write down who has what.
- Write down what you remember tonightTime, weather, where the van was, what it did, what you heard. Your memory will never be sharper than it is today.
- File your no-fault application — and your DMV crash reportThirty-day window on no-fault. The state's own motorist crash report runs on a shorter clock and is separate from anything the police filed. Do both even if you think somebody else's insurance should be paying.
- Call before you give any recorded statementCommercial adjusters move fast and record everything. One conversation before that call is free and changes your position. If the other side won't hand over their details: what to do when a driver refuses to share insurance information.
Why Koenig Pierre
A Brooklyn lawyer who doesn't stop at the driver
A lot of firms will take a delivery van case, name the driver, name the contractor, and take whatever the first policy offers. That's not the same job. The work is proving how the route was run and who was really in control — and that work is what opens the layers above.
⚖️ No fee unless he wins
Nothing upfront, nothing at all unless he recovers for you. What hiring a lawyer really costs.
🏙️ Actually based here
Office at 2653 Coney Island Ave. He knows these corridors, these courts, and these carriers.
📋 No-fault depth
Deep command of New York's no-fault system, so you collect every dollar of coverage before the injury claim even starts.
⚡ Built for corporate defendants
Delivery cases are corporate cases. Multiple entities, multiple insurers, and a defense strategy of pointing sideways. He's ready for it.
🤝 He picks up the phone
Your case is handled by Koenig, not passed down a hallway. If your lawyer won't call you back, that's a problem.
🌍 English · Español · Kreyòl
Your case shouldn't get weaker because of the language you're most comfortable in.
Written & Reviewed By
Koenig Pierre, Esq.
Brooklyn Personal Injury Attorney
"The desire to come through for my clients is the driving force behind my practice."
Education & credentials
- Juris Doctor — Hofstra University School of Law
- B.A. Political Science — St. Francis College
- Admitted to practice in New York State
- Background in class action, criminal defense and personal injury
Why Brooklyn clients call him
- Investigates the company behind the van, not just the driver
- Moves fast on camera and route-data preservation
- Zero upfront cost — he only gets paid if you do
- Phone, video, or in-person consultations
Straight Answers
Questions Brooklyn delivery van clients actually ask
Real questions from real intake calls. No jargon. More on the NYC Injury Lawyer Blog →
An Amazon van hit me. Am I suing Amazon or the driver?
Probably both, plus a company you've never heard of. Most Amazon-branded vans on Brooklyn streets are run by a Delivery Service Partner — a small contractor that hires the drivers and carries the first layer of insurance. Amazon's name is on the door, but a separate LLC signs the paychecks. Koenig identifies the contractor, the driver, whoever holds title to the van, and Amazon's own coverage, then pushes on all of it.
The driver begged me not to call the police. Did I mess up?
If you didn't call, you didn't ruin anything — but yes, always call 911. Delivery drivers get graded on incidents and some will offer cash or swear their company will "take care of it." Once that van pulls off with no report and no plate, figuring out which contractor had that route gets a lot harder. You can still file your own crash report with the DMV. If it already happened, call Koenig and bring whatever you do have. Here's how to build a case without a police report.
How fast does the van's camera footage disappear?
Fast. A lot of delivery vans run road-facing and driver-facing cameras that only upload short clips around flagged events and loop over the rest, sometimes within days. Route and GPS data gets archived and buried. Nobody has to save any of it until they receive a formal preservation demand. That's a phone call on day two, not week six.
A double-parked van blocked my view and I got hit. Is that on me?
Not necessarily. A van standing in a travel lane, a bike lane, or across a crosswalk can be part of what caused the crash, which can put the delivery company into the claim next to the driver who actually hit you. And even if you carry some share of the blame, New York reduces your recovery — it doesn't erase it.
I was doored by a delivery van while riding my e-bike.
That's a real case and a common one. These vans have wide sliding doors, rear doors that swing into the roadway, and drivers stepping out under time pressure without looking. Depending on the facts, the driver, the contractor and the brand can all be in it, and Koenig handles these alongside other Brooklyn cycling injury claims. More on getting doored while biking in Brooklyn.
Is a white FedEx van different from a purple-and-orange one?
Legally, very. Purple-and-orange FedEx Express vehicles are typically run by FedEx with company drivers. White FedEx Ground vans are usually operated by contracted Independent Service Providers — separate small businesses that own the routes and employ the drivers. Look for the tiny "operated by" line near the rear doors. That one line decides who your lawyer names first.
Their adjuster called the next morning. Should I talk?
Not before you talk to a lawyer. Commercial carriers move faster than personal auto insurers because they know exactly what a serious injury costs them. A next-day call isn't customer service — it's damage control, and it's recorded. One free conversation with Koenig first changes how that call goes. Five reasons hiring a lawyer matters.
What if the contractor's insurance isn't enough to cover me?
That happens more than you'd think — these contractor companies are small and often carry limits that don't come close to a catastrophic injury. That's exactly why reaching past the contractor matters, and why your own underinsured motorist coverage gets reviewed too. Finding the real ceiling early determines the whole strategy. Related: when the other driver won't share insurance information.
My car got wrecked, not just me. Does that get covered?
Yes. Your claim covers property damage alongside medical care, lost wages and pain and suffering — and don't accept the first number on a totaled vehicle. How to get the most money for a total loss in NY.
I stopped going to physical therapy. Did I wreck my case?
A gap in treatment gives the insurer an argument that you weren't really hurt. It's a problem, not a death sentence — people miss appointments because of work, childcare, and money, and there are ways to explain it. Don't assume it's over. Read the full breakdown.
I deliver for a living and I got hurt on the job. Anything besides workers' comp?
Possibly. Comp covers you against your employer, but if somebody else contributed — another driver, a property owner, a defective piece of equipment, a company that didn't control the site — there may be a separate claim on top. Worth twenty minutes on the phone to find out.
How much is my delivery van case worth?
Nobody honest gives you a number on a first call. It depends on your injuries, your treatment, how much work you lost, how clear the fault picture is, and how much insurance is actually available across all the parties involved. What Koenig can tell you early is whether the layers above the contractor are reachable — and that's usually the difference-maker. How large settlements get built.
Service Area · Brooklyn & NYC
Where he handles delivery van cases
Koenig Pierre represents delivery van and commercial vehicle accident victims across Brooklyn and the wider New York metro area.
Related cases Koenig handles
Sources & Official Resources
Where the numbers on this page come from
Every figure above is public and checkable. These are also the tools Koenig points people to on a first call — look them up yourself before you hire anybody.
- Fast Shipping. Slow Justice — the Comptroller's study of crashes, worker injuries and air quality around NYC last-mile warehouses.Office of the NYC Comptroller · Nov. 2025
- Vision Zero View — the city's official map of injury and fatality crashes, searchable down to your intersection.NYC DOT · NYPD crash data
- Motor Vehicle Collisions — Crashes — the raw NYPD dataset behind those maps, including vehicle type.NYC Open Data
- Deliveries in New York City — DOT's freight program, microhubs, loading zones and off-hour delivery work.NYC Department of Transportation
- FMCSA SAFER Company Snapshot — free federal lookup of a carrier's safety rating, fleet size and crash history by USDOT number.U.S. Dept. of Transportation
- File a Motorist Crash Report — your own state crash report, required separately from anything police filed.New York State DMV
- Get Insurance Information After a Crash — how to identify the insurer behind a New York-registered vehicle.New York State DMV
- Microhubs Pilot Results — city data on truck trips removed from residential streets, including Brooklyn sites.NYC DOT · 2026
More reading from Koenig: what evidence wins a car accident case · how large settlements get built · traffic violence across New York · the most dangerous roads on Flatbush Avenue · all articles.
Free · Confidential · No Obligation
They already have lawyers. Now you do too.
The company behind that van started building its file the day of your crash. Give Koenig twenty minutes and he'll tell you what you're actually sitting on — and what needs to happen this week.
No fee unless he wins · English · Español · Kreyòl Ayisyen · 2653 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn