TRUCK ACCIDENTS
On the surface truck accidents might seem similar to car accidents, but there are actually several significant differences. If handled correctly, these differences can maximize your recovery and allow you to be “made whole.”
Maybe the most important difference is the severity of injuries. The typical semi-truck weighs about 35,000 pounds, although some can weigh up to 80,000 pounds. The average commuter car weighs about 3,000 pounds.
People injured in truck accidents frequently suffer catastrophic injuries that result in long hospitals stays and, in many cases, permanent disabilities. Those types of injuries are much more expensive to treat and manage compared to injuries commonly associated with regular auto accidents.
The other major differences are the types of insurance coverage commercial trucking companies possess and the number of potentially liable parties.
In many cases more than one defendant can be named in a trucking accident. The driver, the trucking company, their maintenance contractor, and even the distributor that loaded the truck are all potentially liable for their contributory negligence. Under the Federal Motor Safety Carrier Regulations, any commercial vehicle hauling cargo while transacting interstate commerce must carry (a) a minimum ofof $750,000 of liability insurance coverage if they are haluling non-hazardous substances (49 C.F.R. § 387.9) or (b) a minimum of $5,000,000 if they are hauling hazardous substances or materials (49 C.F.R. § 171.8, 49 C.F.R. § 473.403).
Perhaps most importantly, where the truck is owned and/or operated by an interstate carrier, the insurance carrier(s) themselves may be named as Defendants in the action under Georgia’s “direct action” statute. O.C.G.A. § 40-2-140(d)(4) and/or O.C.G.A. § 40-1-112(c).
Those companies are covered by commercial liability policies that typically have liability limits than personal auto insurance policies.
To put it simply, when pursued vigorously, truck accident victims have an opportunity to be recompensed in a way that the victims in car wreck cases may not. The avenues of recovery when the case is handled correctly can guarantee a result that helps the client get a full recovery for their damages.
Most truck drivers are trained professionals who do their best to drive safely, but even skilled and experienced truck drivers can make mistakes or have accidents.
Truck drivers are frequently encouraged to work long hours. Commercial truck drivers can get distracted just like normal car, truck or SUV drivers. The truck driver’s vehicle might be poorly maintained, have faulty brakes or suffer some other kind of malfunction that causes an accident.
Driver fatigue or distraction might cause a truck driver to drift slightly into oncoming traffic. They might be forced to swerve because of an aggressive driver and hit another car as a result.
There are an essentially limitless number of scenarios that can lead to these deadly accidents. Working with a truck accident attorney who understands how to investigate truck accidents can help ensure the true cause is uncovered and brought to light.
Do you need to speak with a Duluth personal injury attorney? Zdrilich Injury Law is ready to help.
QUESTIONS AFTER TRUCK ACCIDENTS
Frequently Asked Questions
Finding a lawyer with experience in tractor-trailer accidents and auto accidents can make a huge difference in your outcome. It’s also useful to talk with a lawyer who has experience representing clients who have suffered catastrophic head injuries, brain injuries or spine injuries.
First, you need a lawyer with the resources to uncover what happened in a collision. Even where liability has been “admitted”, such an admission rarely leads to an agreement on the value of the actual damages in a case.
At Zdrilich Injury Law, we move quickly to preserve the evidence of the wreck, including telematic date, video recordings, or other information off of the truck that is often available at the time of the collision but, if the parties do not move quickly, may be lost forever. Where given notice and where a company, or any party, fails to properly secure and preserve important pieces of evidence, it will give rise to a legal presumption that the evidence not saved would have been harmful to the non-preserving party’s case. Lane v. Montgomery Elevator Co., 225 Ga. App. 523, 484 S.E. 2d 249 (1997), J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc. v. Bentley, 207 Ga. App 250, 427 S.E. 2d 499 (1992), Bennett v. Associated Food Stores, Inc., 118 Ga App. 711, 165 S.E. 2d 581 (1968) and O.C.G.A. 24-4-22. For instance, if there is a cabin video that is deleted, but is proven to have existed at the time of the collision, the jury must infer that it would have been helpful to the claimant and harmful to the trucking company. None of this can happen unless an experienced lawyer puts the company on timely notice.
Next, we use top-shelf experts and spend the time and resources required to quickly obtain information to reconstruct what happened in the wreck. Big trucking companies have their experts on call 24-7. You deserve counsel that will pay the same caliber of expert to examine the scene of the wreck and the vehicles involved to find out what actually happened and to hold the trucking companies accountable. Some attorneys do not want to spend the resources to preserve evidence at the time of the collision in case the injuries do not justify the damages. We disagree. We believe it necessary to preserve the data in any event before it is too late.
Using investigators, we conduct the kind of background check on the truck driver that their companies should have done in the first place. What we find is often hard to believe: trucking companies do little in the way of due diligence to find out whether its truck drivers have dangerous driving histories, well-documented substance abuse problems, or criminal backgrounds. We are not here to pick on the drivers, but to hold their employers, the truck companies, accountable for their failures and their conscious indifference to the safety of others.
The factors that contribute to successful resolutions and verdicts in truck accident cases can be complex, and it’s helpful to have a lawyer that understands how to take into account the many variables that could impact the damages in your case.
Regulations and existing laws give trucking companies and insurance companies a lot of advantages over plaintiffs in trucking accident injury cases. For example, if a lawyer doesn’t quickly file suit the trucking company may be able to legally wipe the truck’s black box or coach the driver on their story.
The trucking company can afford expensive injury defense attorneys who focus solely on truck accident cases. The insurance company and the trucking company knows that a lot of money and their reputation is on the line if you win, which is why they will do everything they can to make your case difficult.
While every case is different, sometimes the smartest move is to file suit quickly. Unlike in typical car wreck cases, where there is a distinct advantage in giving the insurance carrier a chance to arrive at a pre-suit settlement, trucking companies usually have sufficient coverage that the lawyer’s priority must be not on opening up a potential bad faith claim, but on preserving discovery and beginning the process of litigation. Litigating these claims is often the only way to obtain a fair resolution.
Filing a claim quickly can prevent the trucking company from failing to preserve evidence, and it gives our firm time to thoroughly investigate the wreck and build your case.
GET A FREE CONSULTATION TODAY
Zdrilich Injury Law is committed to helping injured Georgians receive the money they need to recover physically and financially after an accident.
Zdrilich Injury Law, LLC providers one-on-one representation to car accident, truck accident and workers’ compensation clients in Georgia.
770-691-1680
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Duluth Office
3575 Koger Blvd. Ste 125
Duluth, GA 30096
Phone:
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123 Canal St. Ste 201
Pooler, GA 31322
Phone:
(912) 888-1111
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11545 Parkwoods Cir. Ste B
Alpharetta, GA 30005
Phone:
(404) 888-1111
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