A truck accident changes everything. With help, you can start picking up the pieces and rebuilding your life.
Anyone who’s spent much time driving knows the stress and anxiety that come along with driving near semi-trucks and other large commercial vehicles. These lumbering trucks can reach up to 80 feet in length and weigh up to 80,000 pounds when fully loaded, making them the largest vehicles on the road. They are also among the most dangerous. In fact, truck accidents claim more than 4,100 lives per year and injure tens of thousands of others. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of these injury victims are occupants of other vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists–not truck drivers.
After a devastating collision with a large commercial vehicle, you need to hire the best truck accident lawyer you can—but how do you choose the right attorney for you? The truck accident attorneys at Console & Associates P.C. have decades of experience and a history of success handling legal matters like yours. Through our meticulous case preparation and our commitment to fighting for all an injured victim deserves, our truck wreck lawyers have secured more than $100 million in compensation for our clients.
At Console & Associates, P.C., we are here to help truck accident victims in any way we can. Our truck accident lawyers are not only experienced litigators, but they also possess in-depth knowledge about the trucking industry. This enables us to identify the negligent actions of truck drivers and trucking companies, and present a compelling case for recovery. And because we respect you and your time, we are never going to pressure you to bring a case; we’re merely here to inform you of your options. If you do decide to bring a case with one of our truck accident lawyers, you won’t pay for our legal representation unless we can recover compensation on your behalf. We make every client we represent our No Fee Promise, so getting the compensation you deserve never has to become a financial burden.
If you’re ready to get truck accident legal help, your free consultation is just a phone call away. Contact us today for a free consultation at (866) 778-5500.
Generally, truck accidents refer to collisions that involve any kind of large commercial truck rather than the average passenger pickup truck. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) classifies medium-duty trucks as 10,001 pounds to 26,000 pounds and heavy-duty trucks as 26,001 pounds and above.
A semi-truck accident can occur in many different ways, each terrifying and able to cause severe harm. Some of the types of collisions that our truck accident lawyers handle on a regular basis include:
Commercial truck accidents are different from accidents involving strictly privately-owned passenger cars, not only because of the increased forces of impact but also because of differences in truck accident insurance matters. In some states, collisions with commercial vehicles, including large trucks, waive limitations on lawsuits that might otherwise apply to a situation. While an attorney will need to get to know the specifics of your case to advise on your unique situation, this could mean that there are fewer limitations on your right to pursue compensation.
Another difference between typical car accidents and collisions involving commercial vehicles like large trucks is the amount of insurance coverage available. Commercial vehicles are typically insured by policies with much higher coverage limits than the average private policyholder.
Commercial truck accidents can be devastating. But you don’t need to go it alone. We can help.
A look at commercial truck accident statistics shows that different types of truck accidents result from different causes, although negligence is often the underlying cause of the numerous types of truck wrecks. A semi-truck accident lawyer can investigate the causes of truck accidents, which aren’t always apparent in the aftermath of a crash.
The major reasons commercial truck accidents happen include:
In the immediate aftermath of a crash, you may not know what really caused the collision—and that’s okay. Our truck accident attorneys will put our investigative skills and, if needed, the services of expert witnesses to work uncovering the truth about your truck accident.
In a truck accident lawsuit or claim, you would seek compensation from a negligent party that was responsible for the accident. Negligence is the term that describes a breach of duty by some party that had a duty of care, such as a truck driver violating traffic safety laws and in turn endangering others with whom the driver shares the roadway.
Defendant is the legal term for the person being sued in a lawsuit, and plaintiff is the term for the person who is suing. The defendant in a truck accident claim could include any party that can be established to have had a duty of care to the plaintiff and to have acted negligently in a way that constituted a breach of duty.
Potential defendants in a truck accident claim might include:
This lengthy list of possible defendants still isn’t exhaustive. In different situations, other parties may be identified as defendants. You may be able to argue that any party is a defendant if you can prove that their negligence contributed to your truck accident.
Typically, the party that pays legal damages in a personal injury claim isn’t one of the negligent parties themselves but instead an insurance company with whom that party has a policy. As such, one or more insurance companies will probably bear financial responsibility for your accident.
Any party determined to have legal liability for an accident is responsible for paying the legal damages that result from the crash. While establishing that the negligent party owed the injured victim a duty of care is part of demonstrating liability, the more complicated part of building a successful truck accident lawsuit is proving the breach of duty of care that led to the wreck.
Generally, a truck wreck lawyer will need evidence to demonstrate liability for a truck accident. Truck accident attorneys look at evidence like the following to indicate liability:
Attorneys with the skills to retrieve data stored in a black box device can use this information to demonstrate a truck driver’s negligence, a trucking company’s violation of Hours of Service regulations, or the dysfunction of truck parts or mechanical systems that indicate defective parts or maintenance. Similarly, if a truck driver’s log is missing, filled with inaccuracies, or proven to be falsified, it can substantiate arguments that the driver and trucking company were negligent in violating the Hours of Service regulations.
Each of these types of evidence, sometimes along with accident reconstruction reports created by expert witnesses, can serve to prove liability in a truck accident.
The only way to hold a defendant accountable for their role in a truck accident is to prove liability, which is based on negligence. For a party to be negligent, they must have had a duty of care to you, breached that duty, and caused you to sustain damages.
Establishing a duty of care in a truck accident may be relatively straightforward, but the other two elements of a claim require more legal knowledge. Your attorney would likely draw on evidence such as the truck’s black box recording device, the truck driver’s log, and vehicle inspection reports to prove that the defendant breached the duty of care they owed you.
To calculate and document your damages, your attorney would compile all of your medical bills, documentation of lost wages, and other evidence of financial losses pertaining to the wreck.
In many instances, the defendant will try to argue that you are at fault for the accident. Although this may be true in some cases, it may also be that the defendant is trying to unfairly pin the blame on you to get out of paying the claim, or at least exaggerating the role you played in causing the crash.
Different states have different rules in place regarding a victim’s share of negligence. Some states reduce a plaintiff’s compensation by the proportion by which they were at fault. Others prohibit victims from filing a lawsuit at all if they were even 1% to blame. If the defendant is blaming you for the crash, even partially, it’s more important than ever to prove that they were the negligent party.
When you have experienced truck accident lawyers on your side, they will draw upon the evidence obtained through an investigation to minimize any alleged liability on your part. A skilled auto accident attorney will also use this evidence to demonstrate the full severity and impact of the other party’s negligence.
Generally, you should hire a truck accident attorney in any situation in which the collision left you with injuries that are significant enough to affect your life. You will likely need truck accident legal help if you have an injury that leaves you partially or fully disabled or had to undertake a long and difficult recovery from a catastrophic injury. However, you should also consider hiring a lawyer if your non-life-threatening injury causes you pain or interferes with your work or hobbies.
Hiring a truck accident attorney is a time-sensitive matter. Evidence like black box data and vehicle inspection reports can disappear. It’s much harder to gather witness testimony when the witnesses have moved, changed phone numbers, or simply forgotten the details of what they saw .The longer you wait to consult an attorney who can launch a thorough investigation into the cause of the crash, the more difficult it becomes to prove negligence.
You pay nothing unless we win for you.
Legal representation is crucial to getting the money you deserve after a truck accident. In fact, a 2014 study by the Insurance Research Council found that attorneys get their clients 3.5 times more money, on average, than unrepresented claimants get for themselves. Having truck accident lawyers on your side also makes the legal process much simpler, saving you a great deal of time and frustration.
Console & Associates P.C. has an extensive history of obtaining truck accident settlements and verdicts, as well as compensation for other types of auto accidents and personal injury matters. Actual settlement amounts for our truck accident cases include $750,000 in semi-truck accident compensation for an off-duty truck driver struck by another tractor-trailer and a $515,000 settlement for a client who was rear-ended by a commercial truck.
We achieve these results by leaving no stone unturned in our accident investigations, diligently documenting and calculating all of a client’s damages so that their settlement fully covers their losses, and building every client’s case as if it’s going to trial from day one. Because defendants see that we aren’t afraid to take a case to court if necessary, we have been able to get many clients the money they deserve through out-of-court settlements, sparing them the hassle of going to court.
When you trust your claim to a truck accident lawyer, you simplify the legal process for yourself. While you work toward getting better, Console & Associates P.C. handles every aspect of your claim, from the very first interactions with the defendant or their insurance company to the resolution of your case. Throughout the claims process, your semi-truck accident lawyers will advocate for you, keep you informed of your rights and your claim’s progress, guide and represent you in all legal proceedings related to the civil claim, and be a constant resource to consult whenever you have questions.
Injured claimants often expect it to be more difficult to get truck accident legal help than it really is. The commercial truck accidents lawyers at Console & Associates offer every potential client a free, no-obligation consultation and provide no-win, no-fee legal representation, so hiring an attorney for a truck accident claim is always affordable.
For your free consultation, just call (866) 778-5500. today or fill out our secure contact form.
A truck accident lawyer represents injured victims in civil claims for compensation against truck drivers, trucking companies, and other negligent parties. A commercial truck accident attorney can handle the hassle of a claim and fight to get you maximum compensation.
If an accident involves property damage only or involves such minor injuries that the victim didn’t require much medical treatment or suffer any real financial damages or other impact to their life, then no, you don’t need a lawyer.
However, just because your injury wasn’t life-threatening doesn’t mean its effects on your life were truly minor. Before you dismiss your accident as being minor, ask yourself if you are still suffering effects from the collision, and consider speaking to a truck accident lawyer if so.
Truck accident lawyers only consider cases to be viable when they contain all of the elements required to successfully attain a personal injury settlement. Two factors they are looking at include whether the claimant suffered legally recognizable damages that are significant enough to make pursuing a claim worthwhile and whether evidence of the defendant’s negligence can be obtained.
If the victim doesn’t have substantial damages or the investigation shows that the injured person was at fault, the claim for compensation is unlikely to be successful.
