After a truck accident, you may recover significant compensation from the at-fault parties and their insurers. There is no guarantee of payment, however, nor is the process automatic. To protect your rights and maximize your chances of receiving the money you need to pay your bills and rebuild your life, you’ll need an experienced truck accident injury lawyer to handle your claim.
In this blog post, we review everything you need to know after suffering injuries in a truck accident. We discuss your rights to payment, the party who owes you money, the process of seeking damages, and the role a skilled truck accident attorney in Atlanta plays in handling your claim.
You Have Valuable Rights to Compensation After Suffering Harm in a Truck Accident
Accidents involving trucks often cause devastating damage and serious injuries, sometimes even taking lives. Multiple parties may owe damages to you as a truck accident victim. You may also have the right to claim payment for a wide assortment of physical, emotional, and financial losses.
Parties Potentially Liable for Your Damages
You can hold anyone whose careless, reckless, or intentional misconduct caused the truck crash that injured you liable for your losses, including an individual, business, government agency, or any other legal entity. More than one party could owe you damages for your injuries.
Every truck crash differs.
Parties commonly accountable to victims of truck accidents can include:
- A truck driver whose careless actions behind the wheel, such as distraction or drowsiness, led to the crash.
- A trucking company that employed a careless trucker or failed to maintain a truck in roadworthy condition.
- A manufacturer of a defective truck or truck parts that failed, leading to the crash.
- A government agency or private road owner at fault for fostering unreasonably hazardous road conditions that contributed to the accident.
- Other motorists who failed to share the road safely with trucks, leading to the collision.
These are just a few examples. You can never know for certain who may owe damages for a truck accident without delving into the evidence. A skilled truck accident lawyer can explore the facts, untangle trucking companies’ corporate relationships, and determine who might owe you compensation for the losses you suffered in a crash.
Compensation You Have the Right to Receive
As a truck accident victim, you have the right to receive payment for the full scope of physical, emotional, and financial harm you suffered. It might surprise you to learn the extent of those rights.
While every case is different, your damages could include compensation for your:
- Past and future medical expenses in treating your accident-related injuries and health complications.
- Costs of repairing or replacing your damaged vehicle or other personal property.
- Other accident- or injury-related expenditures you’ve had to make or will likely have to make in the future.
- Loss of income and job benefits from missing work while healing from your injuries.
- Loss of future earnings and opportunities due to a temporary or permanent accident-related disability.
- Physical pain from your injury or medical treatments.
- Emotional anguish and mental health struggles stemming from the accident or your injury.
- Diminished quality of life and personal relationships.
- Challenges of living with scarring, disfigurement, or loss of bodily function.
The actions that caused a truck accident are sometimes so extreme or malicious that a court might also award punitive damages to punish the at-fault party and deter others from similar conduct.
The amount of damages you can hope to receive may depend on numerous factors, including the severity of your injuries, the strength of the evidence, the skill and reputation of your lawyer, and the financial resources of the parties with liability. Speak with an experienced truck accident injury lawyer today to learn about the types and amounts of compensation you could claim.
A Skilled Truck Accident Lawyer Can Handle the Process of Seeking Compensation for You
The process of seeking compensation for losses you suffered in a truck accident isn’t as daunting as you might imagine. You have just one task to fulfill—hiring a truck accident lawyer to handle your claim. The lawyer then takes care of the rest. Here’s how:
Your First and Only Step Is to Hire a Skilled Truck Accident Lawyer
Your only significant task in seeking compensation for the losses you sustained in a truck crash is to find and hire a skilled truck accident lawyer to handle the process on your behalf. It’s critical to retain a lawyer with experience and a strong reputation in truck accident cases specifically.
A lawyer with a deep understanding of the truck industry and the laws and regulations governing it can significantly increase your chances of a successful claim. A truck accident lawyer will be well versed in navigating the numerous complexities of cases that often involve multiple victims, transportation companies, and insurance carriers.
Don’t settle for just any personal injury lawyer. Make sure you choose a lawyer who knows truck accident cases inside and out so your case will be in good hands.
A Truck Accident Lawyer Can Handle the Rest
Once you’ve hired a truck accident lawyer, they can take over the management and execution of your claim for damages. You can step away from worrying about legal issues and instead focus your time and energy on healing and rebuilding from your trauma.
The steps a lawyer takes on your behalf can vary depending on the needs of your case and your unique priorities. They often involve the following:
Investigating and Identifying Liable Parties
A truck crash lawyer can conduct an independent investigation of the accident, which may involve reviewing evidence, interviewing witnesses, and consulting with experts. The lawyer aims to determine precisely how the accident happened, who should face liability, and what resources those liable parties have available with which to pay your losses.
Evaluating Damages
A truck accident lawyer can also review your medical, emotional, and financial condition. Skilled attorneys work hard to quantify and gather evidence proving your damages, thereby ensuring that any legal action they take on your behalf seeks the maximum compensation available.
Handling All Interactions With Insurance Companies
Truck accident lawyers can relieve you of the burden of worrying about dealing with insurance companies while you are healing and recovering from truck accident injuries.
A lawyer takes over all dealings with insurance companies on your behalf, acting as your authorized representative and shielding you from aggressive insurance adjusters and the tactics they employ to try to undermine your claim.
Answering Your Questions and Advising You About Your Rights
A truck crash attorney is your trusted advisor and counselor, answering your questions, explaining your options, and helping you weigh decisions that could influence your legal rights and financial future. Many clients in truck accident cases find these services just as valuable as the money lawyers recover for them.
Preparing and Filing Lawsuits and Insurance Claims
Lawyers for truck crash victims can assemble the evidence and prepare the necessary paperwork to initiate lawsuits and insurance claims seeking compensation from at-fault parties and their liability insurance carriers. With a skilled truck accident lawyer handling these details, you can have the assurance that the documents your lawyer files on your behalf are timely, accurate, and comprehensive.
Negotiating Settlements
Most truck accident claims settle out of court. A skilled truck accident claim lawyer can negotiate settlements of your claims with insurance companies and defense lawyers and advise you about whether to accept or reject their offers. The decision of whether to settle your truck accident claim is always yours.
Taking Your Truck Accident Claim to Court
It sometimes takes going to court to obtain justice and fair compensation for a truck accident. If yours is such a case, a truck accident lawyer can represent you in front of judges and juries, arguing your case in written filings and at a courtroom trial.
Making Sure You Receive Payment
A truck accident lawyer doesn’t stop at achieving a favorable settlement or winning your case in court. They also take the final steps necessary to ensure that you actually receive the money that the at-fault parties and insurance companies owe you.
Hiring a Truck Accident Lawyer Is Affordable
Hiring a lawyer for a personal injury case will cost you nothing. Here’s why.
Free Consultations
Most truck accident lawyers offer free consultations to prospective clients, during which a qualified legal professional goes over the details of your case, provides an initial assessment, and outlines the potential steps for seeking compensation. It’s an opportunity for you to understand your rights, the process, and the role a lawyer can play, all at zero cost.
Contingent Fees
Truck accident lawyers also represent their clients on a contingent fee basis. This is an arrangement whereby you don’t pay the attorney upfront or by the hour. The lawyer only receives payment if they successfully recover compensation for you. The lawyer’s fees are a predetermined percentage of the recovery amount.
Contingent fees ensure that anyone, regardless of their financial condition, can access quality legal representation after suffering harm in a truck accident. These fees also align a client’s and lawyer’s interests—both parties benefit only when the case is successful.
Taking These Simple Measures Can Further Protect Your Rights
Taking these few simple measures after sustaining an injury in a truck accident can go a long way to protecting your rights and ensuring the best possible outcome for your case.
Look After Yourself
Prioritizing your health is essential. Follow your doctor’s orders to ensure you heal effectively. Take your medicine, engage in physical therapy, attend follow-up appointments, and avoid activities as per your doctor’s directions.
The value of your claim depends on being able to show that you took reasonable steps to safeguard your well-being, and the medical records documenting your efforts can serve as important evidence in your claim for damages.
Avoid Quick Insurance Settlement Offers
After a truck accident, insurance companies representing at-fault parties may approach you with quick settlement offers. These may seem tempting, but it’s dangerous to agree to them without first speaking with a qualified truck accident attorney.
Chances are the offer falls well short of the amount you have the right to receive, and if you accept it, you could jeopardize your ability to recover full compensation. Leave negotiations with insurers to a skilled truck accident lawyer to handle on your behalf.
Hire a Lawyer Immediately
Retaining legal representation as soon as possible after a truck accident is of utmost importance. Early intervention by an experienced truck accident lawyer can help preserve crucial evidence, identify liable parties, and prevent missteps in dealing with insurance companies. An attorney’s early involvement in your case can also ensure that you meet deadlines for taking legal action.
Contact an Experienced Truck Accident Lawyer Today
After a truck accident, you must contend with injuries, emotional trauma, and pressing financial needs. You might feel confused and uncertain about where to turn for help and who to trust.
Be aware, however, that the law entitles truck crash victims like you to receive significant compensation from at-fault parties and their insurers, and obtaining that money isn’t as difficult as you might imagine. Without spending a penny upfront, you can hire a skilled truck accident injury lawyer to handle your claim and fight on your behalf to secure the maximum compensation possible.
Don’t delay. Contact an experienced truck accident lawyer in your area today for a free, confidential, no-obligation consultation about your legal rights and options.