17 Signs You're Working With Truck Accident Attorneys
The Process of a Truck Accident Lawsuit
Many accidents involving trucks cause severe and lifelong injuries. They can cause significant medical expenses as well as psychological damages.
Your attorney will issue a Summons and Complaint to the parties who are liable. The process can take a few years. Your lawyer can help you determine whether any shared responsibility has been properly assessed and assigned.
Investigations
A truck crash could be more severe than a car accident. The consequences of a collision with a truck can be devastating and the impact can be more complex due to the size and weight of commercial trucks. These accidents also involve more complex investigations.
This is why trucking companies and insurance providers often conduct their own investigation immediately following a crash to protect their interests. The victims are left to deal with their injuries and are unable to collect evidence. This leaves them at a disadvantage compared to the insurance provider and trucking companies.
A lawyer for truck accidents who has experience will look for evidence from a variety of sources, including witness testimony, police reports and inspections of vehicles. A skilled lawyer should not depend solely on police reports however, since these reports are typically not adequate for civil litigation. Police officers aren't taught to conduct an effective investigation, and they may not be able to gather all the evidence needed to support an action.
Other kinds of records include logbook data, maintenance and service records for the truck and other equipment, data from the event data recorder (also known as a black box) and more. An experienced attorney will ask the driver of the truck as well as the trucking company for these and other forms of evidence, and then look over them to determine reason for the accident.
Expert Witnesses
A professional witness can help your lawyer establish the various aspects of your truck accident case. An expert in medicine for instance, can provide evidence to your attorney that the accident resulted in your injuries. Experts will also testify on how your injuries will impact your future quality of life. Expert witnesses can assist your lawyer assess the damages which include lost income and future earning capacity.
A medical professional can examine physical evidence and discuss the consequences of your injury on your future. A medical expert, for example, can explain how your accident may impact your physical and mental health. A metallurgist is a different kind of expert who will analyze the reasons behind why a vehicle component failed. There are experts who can determine if weather played a role in the crash.
Your expert's role is to provide an unbiased and objective opinion after having examined the evidence. However, certain experts can be a liability risk for your case if they're biased or have connections to the defendant's companies. el paso truck accident lawsuit can perform an investigation into the background of the expert witness to find out any risks that could be present.
In addition to experts, your lawyer will also speak with you and witnesses, including people who saw the crash occurring before it happened. It is important to note that the insurance companies of defendants will attempt to force you to admit guilt or make statements that they can twist and distort to deny your claim.
Litigation
Truck drivers are also required to follow traffic laws and drive with reasonable care. If they fail to fulfill this duty and their negligence causes an accident, they could be held accountable for the damages caused by the accident to the victims of that collision.
Our lawyer will gather evidence from eyewitnesses, and get oral or written testimony to prove that the defendant was negligent. Our team will also study other evidence, such as skidmarks as well as points of impact. We will also conduct crash testing.
Sometimes, the cause of an accident involving a truck can be complex and involves multiple parties. For example, if the truck crash was caused by defective equipment or improper maintenance, we may bring a lawsuit against the manufacturer of the equipment or the trucks themselves. We could also sue the mechanic or repair shop responsible for the repairs.
We will attempt to settle your dispute outside of court, but should the trucking firm or its insurance company is unwilling to accept an equitable settlement offer, we will prepare for trial. During the trial the judge or jury will decide on issues that are disputed, like who was responsible for the accident and what amount of compensation you must receive. The total amount of your legal damages will be determined based on your documented losses that comprise financial, physical and emotional pain.
Statute of Limitations
Understanding how these cases usually proceed can help prepare you for what lies ahead and provide you with an idea of how long it may take to settle your case.
One of the most crucial steps is establishing the responsibility. It is possible that a trucker who was drunk, distracted, or otherwise impaired will be held responsible for the damage you suffered. However, there could be other parties equally responsible. For instance, if a crash resulted from poor repairs, for instance, an individual mechanic who did the work or a business that manufactured the truck or its parts could be held liable according to the legal doctrine of respondeat superior.
You could also be entitled to punitive damages if the responsible party acted with recklessness that was more severe. To establish this, we have to prove that the liable party acted recklessly of your safety or that of others.
It's important to work with an attorney who is familiar with the complexities involved in truck accidents. Insurance companies and the attorneys representing the parties at fault are frequently as wolves in sheep's clothes and will try to get statements from you that they could use against you later. By having an attorney manage all communications, you'll stay clear of these traps.