Atlanta Truck Accident Lawyer

The most important thing is to check your passengers and yourself for any visible injuries. If anyone is injured then call 911 and do not attempt to move anyone who is injured – unless it is essential to get them out of the vehicle and off the road for safety reasons. Remember, many truck crashes involve more than 2 vehicles so be vigilant and watch for other traffic.

Just like every other accident, you must not leave the scene and you must exchange insurance information with the other driver. Be sure to get the other driver’s name, contact information, and insurance. You should also get the name of the company the commercial driver works for.

You will need to get the police report. If you called the police, there will be a report written and available in a couple days from the accident. It’s important to obtain this right away – but Murphy Law Firm can do this for you if you haven’t done it.

Collect evidence from the scene – if you are able, take pictures of the accident, including your vehicle and the truck. Get the names and phone numbers of any witnesses at the scene. They might be able to testify for you later.

Keep accurate medical records of all your injuries – make sure a medical professional documents all your injuries. You should also write a journal that states how your injuries interfere with your daily life and the activities you can no longer enjoy.

Do not talk to any of the other drivers’ insurance companies! Insurance companies may use your words against you so they can either deny your claim, or lessen the value of your claim.

The first thing to say here is that many tractor trailer accidents involve more than one vehicle so this makes the situation much more complicated. As well as the driver of the semi-truck, you may be able to file a lawsuit against the owner or operator of the 18-wheeler. We might also look at the team responsible for maintaining the truck or loading its cargo, the designer of the roads on which the accident occurred, the manufacturer of the truck itself or any of its parts, or the truck’s lessee, if it was leased to someone not its original owner. Exactly who is involved will depend on

• the condition of the vehicle,
• the work requirements for the driver,
• whether or not proper safety precautions were followed when the vehicle was being loaded and
• any problems with the highway design and maintenance that had an impact on the accident.

You might end up making a claim against multiple parties at the same time. For this reason, semi-truck accidents are somewhat more complex than car accidents, where you would typically file a claim against the other driver’s insurance (the driver who caused the accident).

A proficient truck accident lawyer will help you pursue claims against one or multiple parties, to broaden the scope of available compensation.

Just like auto accidents, injury cases involving an 18-wheeler have a deadline called the Statute of Limitations (SOL). The SOL may vary, depending on the circumstances and those involved. We recommend you contact a skilled truck accident attorney as soon as possible so we can immediately start collecting information on the all the factors that might have caused the accident.

Although you may have been involved in an accident with a semi-truck, that doesn’t automatically mean it is the trucker’s fault! Murphy Law Firm has actually represented injured truck drivers who were involved in a wreck because the other drivers were driving recklessly. If you were the one who caused the accident, you shouldn’t expect any compensation through a personal injury case (although if you were driving a company vehicle, and were on the clock, you may have a workers’ compensation case).

What if both parties were at fault? In some cases, a truck driver was partly or mostly responsible for an accident, but the other driver still acted in a way which contributed to the accident. If you were the other driver in this scenario, you many still be able to collect some damages, but they will be lessened according to the rules of comparative negligence.

In most truck accident lawsuits, the plaintiff, or injured person who did NOT cause the accident, must prove the other driver was negligent, and that negligence caused you harm (such as injuries and damage to your car).

In many cases, the trucker merely breaking the law is enough to prove negligence. If a trucker runs a red light and hits you, the traffic violation shows that the trucker was negligent. Even if the trucker wasn’t negligent, if anyone else who is responsible for the vehicle or loading the cargo is deemed to be at fault then your truck accident lawyer should be able to win your claim.

The FMCSA carried out a survey called the Large Truck Crash Causation Study. This showed that the biggest cause of semi-truck crashes is mechanical defects with tires being the most factor. Because tractor trailers are so heavy, they take a long time to brake and this means that any problems with brake lines will put other road users at high risk.

The risks of accidents also go up when a driver is working a new route or is tired. Drivers are often under pressure to complete journeys in the shortest possible time and this might explain why aggressive driving has been linked (directly or indirectly) to truck crashes.

You might be surprised to know that only 0.4% of crashes in the study were caused by illegal substance abuse, and 0.3% from alcohol consumption.

In some cases, the answer is no. The real answer depends on how good your attorney is at building a strong case for you, and whether or not the insurance company wants to offer fair compensation. There are times the insurance company rejects what we feel is a fair settlement. If that happens, we may recommend court. However, that decision is ultimately yours to make.

As with other types of accidents, there are a few different types of damages that you are allowed to collect in a truck accident lawsuit.

• Economic damages: which include specific losses that can be added up, such as medical bills, damage to your car, and money you lost by not being able to work (lost wages);
• Non-economic damages: costs that are not quantifiable, such as pain and suffering;
• Punitive damages: which are sometimes awarded by a jury for no other purpose than to punish an especially egregious offender.

Of course, the types of damages which you are eligible to collect will vary – based on the details and facts of your case. For example;

• Multiples parties may be responsible for your accident.
• Trucking companies often have more insurance coverage on their trucks.
• Settlements can vary depending on the injury, damages, and losses related to the accident.

If you get in an accident with a truck driver, and it was not your fault, there may be more money available to pay your accident-related bills and pain and suffering. The insurance on a truck is generally much higher than insurance on a personal vehicle. So, if you have a serious injury, or have lost a loved one, there would be coverage available.

Often, Georgia semi-truck accident cases result in very large verdicts and settlements, depending on the injury, damages, and/or losses. Hiring a knowledgeable attorney can be crucial to making sure your family is financially compensated fairly.