A truck accident lawyer can help you recover the financial compensation that is owed to you for your medical bills, lost income, and other expenses. They can also assist you in pursuing non-economic damages like pain and suffering.
They can gather evidence, including examining dashcam footage, reviewing medical reports, and questioning eyewitnesses. They can also identify the liable party or parties and build a strong case file for you. Contact Truck Accident Lawyer Baltimore for specialized services.
All parties that use Syracuse roadways owe a duty to take reasonable care to protect the lives and property of others. Truck drivers, in particular, have additional duties as they operate massive vehicles that present a greater risk to other motorists than passenger cars. These include adhering to federal trucking regulations, following traffic laws, and performing regular inspections of their trucks. When truck drivers breach this duty, they may be liable for a collision.
To prove liability, a lawyer must first establish the defendant’s duty of care. This involves examining the driver’s driving record, maintenance logs for the truck, and other documentation that may shed light on their standard of care. They may also hire accident reconstruction specialists to provide a more technical perspective of how the crash happened. Next, the attorney must show that the defendant failed to meet this duty by proving they acted negligently. This can be done by showing that the defendant’s actions were not reasonable under the circumstances or that they did not follow established industry standards.
Unlike car accidents, truck crashes often involve multiple liable parties. These can include the truck driver, their employer, the trucking company, and the manufacturer of a specific part that failed in the crash. Liability can also extend to a truck stop property owner if they failed to notify visitors of a hazard.
Once the at-fault party’s negligence is proven, a victim must demonstrate that their injuries and losses were directly caused by the breach of duty. This requires establishing that the victim suffered both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages can include medical expenses, lost income, and household bills. Non-economic damages can include emotional distress, loss of consortium, and pain and suffering.
A skilled Syracuse truck accident lawyer can help victims prove their claim by compiling evidence of the defendant’s wrongdoings and the causal link between those actions and the victim’s injuries. They can also work to secure a fair settlement without having to go to court. However, if the at-fault party refuses to cooperate or their insurer rejects the claim, an attorney can file a lawsuit on behalf of the victim and take them to trial to get the compensation they deserve.
Breach of duty
A truck accident case is similar to any other personal injury lawsuit. However, because of the size and weight of commercial trucks, the responsibilities and requirements to maintain safety are more complex. Our truck accident lawyers work with experts to determine which parties violated their duties in the course of the accident.
To prove negligence, our attorneys must establish four elements. First, they must show that the defendant owed you a duty of care. This essentially means that they were required to act reasonably to protect you from foreseeable harm (e.g., obey traffic laws and safety regulations).
Trucking companies must adhere to strict regulations to ensure their vehicles are safe for other motorists on the road. However, these corporations often prioritize profit over safety and allow their drivers to take shortcuts or engage in reckless driving to make deliveries more quickly. Unfortunately, these unsafe acts are what cause many catastrophic injuries that devastate victims and their families.
The second element our lawyers must demonstrate is that the defendant breached their duty of care. This involves demonstrating that the defendant’s conduct or inaction directly caused your injuries. For example, our attorneys must prove that the truck driver drove while under the influence of drugs or alcohol or that the trucking company failed to keep its vehicle in good repair.
We must also show that the breach of duty resulted in your damages. This requires demonstrating that the injury you suffered would not have occurred without the defendant’s actions or inaction. For instance, if the truck driver spent more than 16 hours behind the wheel in violation of FMCSA’s hours of service limitations and fell asleep at the wheel, their behavior is directly responsible for your injuries.
In addition, we must prove that you suffered economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages include medical bills and loss of income. Non-economic damages include pain and suffering, disfigurement, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and more. Our lawyers retain a team of professionals to help quantify these losses, including economists, accountants, and life-care planners.
Causation
Truck accidents are more complicated than a standard car crash, and proving negligence is much more difficult. To be awarded damages, an attorney needs to demonstrate that the defendant owed a duty of care and that they breached that duty, and that this breach directly led to your injuries and losses.
Your attorney will investigate the accident thoroughly to identify all responsible parties and build a strong case for you. This includes examining documents, consulting specialists (such as accident reconstruction engineers), and interviewing eyewitnesses. They will also gather data from the truck’s electronic onboard recorder (black box), photographs of the accident scene, and vehicle maintenance logs.
If the truck driver was an employee of a company, that entity will usually carry responsibility for the accident as long as the driver was acting within the scope of their employment. However, there are situations that can shift fault to the driver such as if they were speeding or driving recklessly and broke the law.
In some cases, it’s possible that the trucking company acted negligently in hiring or training the driver, or in failing to maintain their vehicles according to federal safety standards. Cargo loaders who improperly loaded or secured cargo could also be held liable. In other cases, it’s possible that the manufacturer of the truck or its parts may be held liable for mechanical failures that cause an accident.
Once your lawyer has determined which party or parties are liable, they will work to prove that their negligence caused your injuries and losses. This involves demonstrating that the oversight they established was the direct cause of your injuries and expenses, including economic damages such as medical bills and lost wages, and non-economic damages such as physical pain, emotional distress, and diminished quality of life.
Once your attorney has proven these elements, they will then seek compensation for your damages. This can include a financial settlement to cover your expenses, as well as compensation for the losses you’ve suffered due to your injuries. These include any income you have lost from being unable to work, which can include full- and part-time salary, business earnings, freelance and consulting jobs, and even investment and rental income.
Damages
When a person is involved in a collision with a truck, the consequences can be devastating. They can include catastrophic injuries, and in many cases death. These victims are often left with significant financial damages, and a Truck Accident Lawyer can help them recover the compensation they deserve.
In most personal injury and wrongful death cases, a plaintiff must prove their claims by “preponderance of evidence.” That means that their claim must be more likely true than not. This is a difficult burden to meet without the assistance of an experienced and knowledgeable Truck Accident Lawyer.
A truck accident lawyer can gather and review a wide variety of documents that support your case. This includes the data from the truck’s electronic onboard recording device (black box), photographs of the crash scene and vehicle damage, eyewitness testimony, police reports, driver cell phone records, trucking service hiring and training requirements, truck maintenance logs, and more.
These pieces of information can be used to establish negligence, causation and the extent of your damages. They can also serve as strong evidence in negotiations with insurance companies to obtain reasonable compensation for your losses.
Economic damages include expenses that can be documented, such as medical bills, rehabilitation costs, lost wages and loss of future earnings potential. Non-economic damages are more subjective, such as pain and suffering, emotional distress and a reduced quality of life.
Proving a negligence claim is a complicated process, and trucking companies have teams of lawyers to protect their interests in these types of accidents. A truck accident lawyer can fight the insurance representatives to ensure that you receive full and fair compensation for your loss.
If you have been injured in a crash with a large commercial truck, contact RAM Law as soon as possible to speak with a qualified and experienced Truck Accident Attorney. We can provide you with a free consultation, and we will work hard to get you the money that you deserve. Don’t wait to get started on your claim, because the strength of your case will wane over time.