The Process of a Truck Accident Lawsuit
Many accidents involving trucks cause serious and lifelong injuries. They can cause significant medical costs as well as psychological damage.
Your attorney will issue a Summons and Complaint to all the parties responsible. This process can take several years. Your lawyer can assist you determine whether any shared responsibility been properly assessed and allocated.
Investigations
If someone is injured in a collision with a truck, there is a lot more at stake than in an auto crash. A truck crash can have life-changing effects. The impact is also more complicated due to the size and weight. These accidents also involve more complicated investigation.
Due to this, trucking companies and insurance providers often conduct investigations immediately following an accident to protect their interests. The victims are left to deal only with their injuries, and are not able to gather evidence. This puts them at a disadvantage compared to the insurance provider and trucking company.
A lawyer for truck accidents who is skilled will look for evidence in various sources, such as witness testimony, police reports, and vehicle inspections. A lawyer with experience is not relying on the reports of police officers alone since they are typically not sufficient for civil litigation. Police officers aren't always trained to conduct an inquiry correctly and may not collect all the evidence required for the court case.
Other kinds of records include logbook data maintenance and service records for the truck, data from the event data recorder (also known as a black box), and more. A skilled attorney will request these and other forms of evidence from the truck driver and trucking company, and then analyze them to determine what caused the accident.
Expert Witnesses
A expert witness for a truck accident could assist your attorney in proving various elements of the case. An expert in medicine for instance, can give evidence to your lawyer that the crash caused your injuries. Your expert can also testify on how your injuries will affect your life's quality of living in the future. Expert witnesses can help your lawyer calculate the amount of damages like lost income and your future earning capacity.
Experts can examine the physical evidence and explain the impact of your injury on your future. Medical experts can, for instance, explain how the accident could impact your physical and mental health. Another type of expert is a metallurgist that can determine the reason why a component of a vehicle failed. There are also experts who can assess the ways in which weather might have contributed to the crash.
The primary role of your expert witness is to analyze the evidence and offer an objective opinion. However, some expert witnesses could pose a liability risk for your case if they're biased or have connections to the defendants' businesses. Your attorney can perform a background check on the expert witness to identify any risks.
Your lawyer will question you, as well as any other eyewitnesses that witnessed the incident prior to it happening. Be roanoke truck wreck lawyer that the insurance companies of the defendants will attempt to convince you to admit fault or provide statements that they can twist and change to reduce your chances of winning.
Litigation
Truck drivers are also required to observe traffic laws and drive with reasonable care. If they fail in this obligation and their carelessness causes an accident, they could be held responsible for damages caused by the accident to those who were injured in the collision.
Our lawyer will collect evidence from eyewitnesses and obtain written or oral evidence to prove that the defendant was negligent. Our team will also look at various other evidence, like skid marks and areas of impact, as well as conduct crash tests.
Sometimes, the reason for an accident involving a truck can be complex and involves multiple parties. For instance, if the truck crash was caused due to defective equipment or insufficient maintenance, we might seek to sue the producers of that equipment or the trucks themselves. We could also sue the mechanic who made the repairs or the repair shop.
We will attempt to settle your case out of court, however should the trucking company or its insurance company refuses to accept an appropriate settlement offer, we will prepare for trial. During the trial in which a judge or jury will decide on disputed issues like who was the culprit and what compensation you are entitled to. The legal damages you receive will be calculated by the sum of your losses. This includes financial, physical, and emotional pain.
Statute of limitations
While the legal process following a crash with a truck can be a bit complicated, knowing how these cases typically proceed can help you plan for the future and provide you with a better understanding of how long your case will take.
Establishing liability is one of the most important steps. It is probable that a driver who was drunk or distracted or impaired will be held responsible for the damage you suffered. However, there may be other parties liable as well. For instance, if the accident resulted from faulty repairs, for instance, a mechanic who completed the work or a company who made the truck or its components could be held accountable in the legal concept of respondeat superior.
You may also be entitled to punitive damages if the responsible person committed an act of recklessness that was a lot more serious. To prove this, we must prove that they behaved in a reckless and impulsive manner that was reckless and in disregard for your safety as well as that of others.
It's crucial to work with an attorney who is knowledgeable with the complexities of truck accident cases. Insurance companies and the attorneys of the at-fault parties are often as wolves in sheep's clothes and will try to collect statements from you that they can use against you in the future. You can stay clear of these pitfalls by hiring an attorney to manage your communications.