The Process of a Truck Accident Lawsuit
Accidents with trucks can cause severe and permanent injuries. These accidents can lead to significant medical expenses, lost income and psychological damages.
Your attorney will issue a Summons and Complaint to the parties who are liable. The process can take a few years. Because New York uses comparative fault rules, your lawyer will ensure that any shared liability is properly defined and allocated to defendants.
Investigations
If someone is injured in a collision with a truck, there is a lot more at stake than in an auto collision. The consequences of a truck accident could be catastrophic and the impact is far more complex due to the size and weight of a commercial truck. These accidents also require more complex investigation.
Because of this, trucking companies and insurance providers often conduct investigations immediately following an accident to protect their interests. The victims are left to deal with their injuries and are not able to gather evidence. This puts the injured at a disadvantage to the insurance company and trucking company.
A seasoned truck accident attorney will seek evidence from a variety of sources that include police reports, witness statements and vehicle inspections. A lawyer who is knowledgeable cannot rely solely on the reports of police officers alone because they are usually not sufficient for civil litigation. Police officers may not be equipped to conduct an investigation correctly and may not collect all the evidence needed for a lawsuit.
Other kinds of data include logbook entries, maintenance and service records for the truck as well as data from the event data recorder (also known as a black box) and many more. A competent attorney will request these as well as other types of evidence from the truck driver and trucking company and carefully examine them to determine what caused the accident.
Expert Witnesses
A expert witness from a truck accident can aid your attorney in proving different aspects of the case. For instance an expert in medical science can provide evidence that the crash resulted in your injuries. Experts can also testify as to how your injuries affect your life in the future. Expert witnesses can assist your lawyer determine the extent of your injuries which include lost income and future earning capacity.
Experts can review physical evidence and explain the impact of your injury on your future. Medical experts for instance, can explain how the accident could affect your mental and physical health. A metallurgist, for instance, is another kind of expert who will analyze the reasons behind why a vehicle component failed. There are also experts who analyze how the weather may have contributed to the crash.
The main function of an expert witness is to evaluate the evidence and offer an objective and impartial opinion. Some experts could be a liability in your case in the event that their opinions are biased or they are associated with the defendants. Your attorney can perform a background check on the expert witness to find out any potential risks.
Your attorney will interview you, as well as witnesses who were present at the incident before it occurred. It is important to remember that the defendants' insurance companies will try to convince you to admit guilt or to make claims they can twist and deceive to undermine your claim.
Litigation
Truck drivers are also required to obey traffic laws and operate with reasonable care. If they do not follow the rules and their negligence leads to an accident, they could be held responsible for the damages caused by the accident the victims are liable for.
To prove the defendant's negligence, our lawyer will collect a array of evidence from witnesses who witnessed the crash and give either oral or written testimony regarding how the collision occurred. Our team will also look at various other evidence, including skid marks and points of impact, and conduct crash tests.
Sometimes the cause of the truck crash is complex, involving multiple parties. For instance, if a truck accident was caused by defective equipment or improper maintenance, we might seek to sue the producers of that equipment or the trucks themselves. We could also sue the mechanic who performed the repairs or the repair shop.
We will try to resolve your case outside of court, but in the event that the trucking company, or its insurer refuses to make an appropriate settlement offer and we prepare for trial. In trial, a jury or judge will rule on disputes like who was at fault and how much compensation you are entitled to. Your legal damages will be determined according to the total of your losses, which includes physical, financial, and emotional pain.
Statute of limitations
Although navigating the legal system after a truck accident can be complicated, understanding how these cases usually go will help you understand the future and give you a better sense of the length of time your case might take.
Establishing liability is one of the most crucial steps. If the truck driver was tired or distracted, as an example then it is likely that they will be held responsible for your losses. However, there might be other parties who are equally responsible. If laredo truck accident attorney was the result of poor repairs or a mechanic, then a company that made the truck or its components could be held accountable in the context of the law governing respondeat superior.
It's also possible that liable party committed a more severe reckless act, which could be grounds for you to receive punitive damages. In order to prove this, you must prove that they behaved in a reckless, impulsive way, and with a disregard for your safety and the safety of others.
It's essential to find an attorney who is familiar with the complexities of truck accidents. Insurance companies and lawyers for the at-fault party are often wolves in sheepskins and will attempt to convince you to make statements which they later use against you. You can stay clear of these pitfalls by having an attorney handle your communications.
