Margarette Allred asked 1 year ago
The Process of a Truck Accident Lawsuit
Accidents involving trucks can cause serious and permanent injuries. Accidents can result in significant medical costs, lost income, truck Accident Case and psychological injuries.
Your attorney will issue a Summons & Complaint to all parties liable. The process could last for several years. Since New York uses comparative fault rules, your lawyer will ensure that any shared responsibility is correctly determined and assigned to defendants.
Investigations
If someone is injured in a crash involving a truck, there is a lot more at stake than in an auto crash. A truck accident could have life-changing effects. The impact is also more complex due to the size and weight. These accidents also require more complicated investigations.
Because of this, trucking companies and insurance providers frequently conduct their own investigations right after an accident to safeguard their interests. The problem is that victims are left to handle their injuries and are not capable of obtaining evidence. This puts them at a disadvantage in comparison to the trucking company or insurance company.
A seasoned attorney for truck accident law accidents can find evidence from various sources that include police reports, witness statements, and inspections of vehicles. A seasoned attorney will not just rely on police reports however, since these reports are usually not sufficient for civil litigation. Police officers aren’t trained to conduct an effective investigation and may not be able to gather all the evidence needed for the filing of a lawsuit.
Other types of data include logbook entries, maintenance and service records for the truck and the event data recorder (also called a black box) and more. An experienced attorney will seek these and other forms of evidence from the truck accident attorney driver and the trucking company, and then analyze them to determine what caused the accident.
Expert Witnesses
An expert witness can assist your attorney prove various elements of your truck accident case. An expert in medicine for instance, can prove to your lawyer that the accident led to your injuries. Your expert can also testify on how your injuries affect your life in the future. Expert witnesses can assist your lawyer determine the worth of your damages, which could include lost income and loss of earning capacity in the future.
Your expert can review physical evidence and explain the impact of your injury on your future. An expert in medicine, for example, can explain how the accident could impact your physical and mental health. Another kind of expert is a metallurgist, who can examine the reasons why a part of a car failed. There are also experts who can assess the ways in which weather might be a factor in the crash.
A key role of an expert witness is to analyze the evidence and offer an objective and impartial opinion. However, some expert witnesses can become risky for your case if they are biased or have connections to the defendant’s companies. Your attorney can perform a background check to identify these risks and ensure you have the best expert witnesses available.
Apart from expert witnesses, your lawyer will also interview you as well as other eyewitnesses. This includes witnesses who witnessed the crash occurring before it happened. You should be aware that the insurance companies of the defendants will try to get your to admit your fault or give statements that they can twist and change to make your case more difficult.
Litigation
As with all drivers truck drivers also have a obligation to observe traffic rules and take reasonable care when driving. If they fail in this duty and their negligence results in a crash, they may be held liable for the accident damages suffered by the victims of the crash.
Our lawyer will collect evidence from eyewitnesses and seek either oral or written evidence to prove the defendant was negligent. Our team will also review other evidence, such as skidmarks and points of impact. They will also conduct crash testing.
Sometimes, the cause of an accident involving a truck can be complex and involves multiple parties. If the truck accident lawyers accident was caused by defective equipment or improper maintenance, then we could sue the producers or the truck. We might also sue the mechanic or repair shop who performed the repairs.
We will attempt to resolve your dispute outside of court, however should the trucking firm or its insurance company refuses to make a fair settlement offer and we prepare for trial. In a trial the judge or jury will rule on disputes such as who was responsible and how much compensation you should get. The amount of your legal damages will be based on the losses you have documented, which include physical, financial and emotional suffering.
Statute of Limitations
Although the legal process following a crash with a truck can be a bit complicated, knowing the typical procedure for these cases will help you anticipate what’s ahead and give you a better sense of how long your case will take.
One of the most crucial steps is establishing the liability. It is possible that a trucker who was drowsy, distracted, or otherwise impaired will be held responsible for the damage you suffered. However, there could be other parties accountable as well. If the crash was caused by poor repairs such as a mechanic or company that made the truck or its components could be held responsible under the legal theory respondeat superior.
You could also be entitled to punitive damages if the responsible party acted with recklessness that was more acrimonious. To be able to prove this, we must to prove that the liable party acted in reckless disregard of your safety or that of others.
It is important to work with an attorney who is familiar with the complexities involved in truck accidents. Insurance companies and attorneys of the at-fault parties are frequently sheep in sheep’s clothes and will try to get statements from you that they can use against you in the future. By having an attorney manage all communications, you can stay clear of these traps.