Don't Believe In These "Trends" Concerning Truck Accident Attorneys
The Process of a Truck Accident Lawsuit
Many accidents involving trucks cause severe and lifelong injuries. These accidents can lead to massive medical expenses, loss of income and psychological traumas.
Your lawyer will issue an Summons and Complaint to the parties who are liable. This process can last several years. Because New York uses comparative fault rules, your lawyer will ensure that any shared responsibility is properly determined and assigned to defendants.
Investigations
If someone is injured in a truck accident there is much more at stake than a car crash. A truck crash can have devastating consequences for the person. The consequences are more complex due to its size and weight. These accidents also require more complex investigation.
To protect their interests trucking companies or insurance providers will often conduct investigations right after the accident. The issue is that the injured are left to manage their injuries and aren't capable of obtaining evidence. This leaves them at a disadvantage when compared to the insurance company and trucking companies.
A lawyer for truck accidents with experience will search for evidence in a variety sources, including witness testimony, police reports and vehicle inspections. A lawyer who is well-informed does not rely on reports from the police as they can be insufficient for civil litigation. Police officers may not be equipped to conduct an investigation properly and may not gather all the evidence needed to file the court case.
Other types of information include logbook records, maintenance and service records for the truck as well as data from the event data recorder (also known as a black box), and more. A competent attorney will demand these as well as other types of evidence from the truck driver as well as the trucking company and carefully examine them to determine what caused the accident.
Expert Witnesses
A truck accident expert witness can aid your attorney in proving various elements of the case. For instance an expert in medical science will provide your lawyer with evidence that the crash resulted in your injuries. Experts can also testify as to the impact your injuries will have on your quality of life in the future. Expert witnesses can assist your lawyer calculate the amount of damages like lost income and future earning capacity.
An expert can look over the physical evidence and explain how your injury will impact your future. For instance, a medical expert can demonstrate how your accident will affect you in terms of physical and mental health. A metallurgist is an additional type of expert who will analyze the reasons behind why a vehicle component failed. Experts can determine whether the weather was a factor in the crash.
Your expert's role is to provide an unbiased and impartial opinion after having analyzed the evidence. However, certain expert witnesses could be a liability risk in your case if they are biased or have connections to the defendants' businesses. Your lawyer can conduct an investigation of the background of the expert witness to identify any potential risks.
Your attorney will conduct an interview with you, along with any other eyewitnesses who saw the accident before it happened. It is important to keep in mind that the defendants' insurance companies will attempt to force you to admit guilt or make statements they can twist and deceive to weaken your claim.
Litigation
Like any other driver truck drivers also have a duty to obey traffic laws and to exercise reasonable care when driving. If they fail in this obligation and their negligence causes a crash, they could be held accountable for damage to the victims of that crash.
To establish the defendant's negligence, our attorney will gather a number of eyewitnesses who witnessed the crash and provide oral or written evidence of the manner in which the collision took place. Our team will also study other evidence, such as skidmarks and points of impact and conduct crash testing.
Sometimes, the cause of a truck accident is complicated and involves multiple parties. If scottsdale truck accident lawsuit was caused by defective equipment, or improper maintenance, we could sue the manufacturers or the trucks. We might also sue the repair shop or mechanic responsible for the repairs.
We will try to resolve your case without going to the courtroom. However, if the trucking firm or its insurance company refuses to negotiate an equitable settlement, we will prepare to go to trial. During the trial the judge or jury will decide on any disputed issues like who was at fault for the crash and what amount of compensation you should receive. The amount of your legal damages will be determined based on the losses you have documented, which include physical, financial and emotional suffering.
Statute of limitations
Understanding how these cases normally take place can help you prepare for what lies ahead and provide you with an idea of how long it will take to resolve your case.
One of the most crucial steps is establishing liability. It is likely that a trucker who was drunk, distracted, or otherwise impaired will be held responsible for the damage you suffered. There could be other parties equally responsible. For instance, if the crash occurred due to poor repairs such as a mechanic who did the work or a company which made the truck or its components might be held responsible according to the legal doctrine of respondeat superior.
It's also possible that the liable party did a greater risky act, which could be grounds for you to receive punitive damages. To prove this, we need to prove that the responsible party acted recklessly of your safety or that of others.
It is important to work with an attorney who understands the complexities involved in truck accidents. Insurance companies and lawyers representing the parties at fault are frequently wolves in sheep's clothing and will try to get statements from you that they could use against you later. By having an attorney manage all communications, you'll avoid these pitfalls.