The Process of a Truck Accident Lawsuit
Many accidents involving trucks cause severe and permanent injuries. These can result in significant medical costs as well as psychological trauma.
Your lawyer will file an Summons and Complaint against all responsible parties. This process can take several years. Your lawyer can help determine whether any shared responsibility been properly assessed and allocated.
missouri city truck accident law firm could be more serious than an auto accident. The consequences of a truck accident could be catastrophic and the resulting damage is more complex due to the size and weight of a commercial truck. These accidents also involve more complex investigations.
To protect their interests, trucking companies or insurance providers will often conduct investigations right after the incident. The problem is that victims are left to take care of their injuries and are not able to collect evidence. This leaves them at a disadvantage when compared to the insurance company and trucking company.
A seasoned truck accident attorney knows to look for evidence from many sources, including police reports, witness statements, and inspections of vehicles. A lawyer with experience is not relying on police reports alone as they can be not sufficient for civil litigation. Police officers aren't properly trained to conduct a proper investigation and might fail to gather all of the evidence needed to support an action.
Other kinds of information include logbook records maintenance and service records for the truck, data from the event data recorder (also known as a black box) and many more. A competent attorney will ask both the driver of the truck and trucking company for these and other kinds of evidence and then carefully examine them to determine the root of the accident.
Expert Witnesses
A truck accident expert witness can assist your attorney in proving different elements of the case. For instance an expert in medicine can prove to your lawyer that the crash resulted in your injuries. Your expert can also testify on the impact your injuries could have on your quality of life in the future. Expert witnesses can assist your lawyer calculate the amount of damages which include lost income and your future earning capacity.
A medical professional can analyze the physical evidence and explain how your injury will affect your future. An expert in medicine, for example, can explain how your accident may impact your physical and mental health. Another kind of expert is a metallurgist who can identify the reason a part of a vehicle failed. There are also experts who determine if the weather could have contributed to the crash.
The role of an expert witness is to provide an unbiased and objective opinion after having examined the evidence. However, certain expert witnesses could pose a liability risk in your case if they're biased or have connections to the defendants' companies. Your lawyer can conduct a background check on the expert witness to identify any risks.
Your attorney will conduct an interview with you, as well as any other eyewitnesses who witnessed the incident prior to it happening. It is important to remember that the defendants' insurance firms will try to get you to admit that they are at fault or make statements they can twist and distort to undermine your claim.
Litigation
Truck drivers are also required to follow traffic laws and use reasonable care when driving. If they fail to comply with these rules and their negligence results in an accident, they could be held responsible for the damages caused by the accident the victims suffer.
Our lawyer will obtain evidence from eyewitnesses as well as written or oral testimony to prove that the defendant was negligent. Our team will also review an array of other evidences, including skid marks and areas of impact, and will conduct crash tests.
Sometimes, the reason for an accident involving a truck can be complex and involves multiple parties. For instance, if a truck accident was caused by defective equipment or poor maintenance, we could seek to sue the producers of that equipment or the trucks themselves. We might also sue the mechanic or repair shop accountable for the repairs.
We will try to resolve your case outside of court. If, however, the trucking firm or its insurer refuses an equitable settlement or offer, we'll prepare to go to trial. During the trial the judge or jury will decide on the merits of the dispute such as who was at fault for the accident and the amount of compensation you are entitled to be awarded. The amount of your legal damages will be determined based on your documented losses that include physical, financial and emotional suffering.
Statute of Limitations
Understanding how these cases typically are handled can help you prepare for the future and provide you with an idea of how long it will take to settle your case.
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 accountable for the harm you suffered. However, there could be other parties accountable as well. If the accident was caused by poor repairs such as a mechanic or company that made the truck or its components could be held accountable according to the legal theory of respondeat superior.
It's also possible that the responsible party has may have committed a more serious reckless act, which could be grounds for you to receive punitive damages. In order to prove this, you must prove that they behaved in a reckless, impulsive manner, with no regard for your safety and that of others.
It's important to work with an attorney who understands the complexities involved in truck accidents. Insurance companies and lawyers for the at-fault party are usually sheepskin wolves and will try to force you to give statements that they can later use against you. By having an attorney handle all communications, you will stay clear of these traps.