5 People You Should Be Getting To Know In The Truck Accident Attorneys Industry
The Process of a Truck Accident Lawsuit
Many truck accidents cause victims to suffer severe and lifelong injuries. They can result in substantial medical costs as well as psychological damage.
Your attorney will prepare an Summons and Complaint to all the parties responsible. This process could take a few years. Because New York uses comparative fault rules, your lawyer will ensure that any shared responsibility is correctly evaluated and distributed to defendants.
Investigations
A truck accident could be more severe than an auto collision. The consequences of a truck accident can be life-changing and the impact can be more complex due to the weight and size of a commercial truck. These accidents also require more complex investigations.
Because of this, trucking companies and insurance providers often conduct investigation immediately following the incident to protect their interests. The victims are left to deal with their injuries and are not able to gather evidence. This puts them at a disadvantage when compared to the insurance company and trucking company.
A seasoned truck accident attorney will seek evidence from many sources that include police reports, witness statements and vehicle inspections. A lawyer who is knowledgeable cannot rely solely on police reports alone as they can be not sufficient for civil litigation. Police officers are not trained to conduct a proper investigation and may not gather all the evidence needed to support the filing of a lawsuit.
Other kinds of data could include logbook entries and maintenance and service records from the truck. The data from the event data recording device (also known as a black box) is also available. A competent attorney will demand these and other forms of evidence from the truck driver and the trucking company and carefully examine them to determine the cause of the accident.
Expert Witnesses
An expert witness can help your attorney prove various elements of your truck accident case. An expert in medicine could, for instance, provide evidence to your lawyer that the accident caused your injuries. Your expert can also testify as to how your injuries could affect your future quality-of-life. Expert witnesses can assist your lawyer calculate the amount of damages like lost income and future earning capacity.
Your expert can review the physical evidence and explain how your injury will impact your future. For example, a medical expert can explain how your accident will affect your physical and mental well-being. A metallurgist is a different kind of expert that can examine the reasons behind why a vehicle component failed. There are also experts who can determine if the weather could have caused the crash.
Your expert's responsibility is to offer an honest and objective opinion after examining the evidence. However, some expert witnesses can become a liability risk in your case if they are biased or have ties to the defendant's companies. Your attorney can perform an investigation of the background of the expert witness in order to identify any potential risks.
Apart from expert witnesses, your attorney will also interview you and other eyewitnesses, including any people who saw the accident taking place before it happened. You should be aware that the insurance companies of the defendants will try to convince you to admit fault or give statements that they can twist and deform to weaken your case.
Litigation
Truck drivers must also adhere to traffic laws and operate with reasonable care. If they do not comply and their negligence causes a crash, then they could be held responsible for the accident damages that victims are liable for.
To prove kalamazoo truck accident law firm , our attorney will gather a variety of evidence from eyewitnesses who witnessed the crash and give written or oral evidence about the circumstances of the collision. Our team will also review other evidence, including skidmarks and points of impact and conduct crash testing.
Sometimes the reason for an accident on the road is complicated and involves multiple parties. If the truck crash was caused by defective equipment or improper maintenance, we could sue the manufacturer or the trucks. We might also sue the mechanic or repair shop responsible for the repairs.
We will try to resolve your dispute outside of court. If, however, the trucking firm or its insurer is unwilling to accept an equitable settlement or offer, we'll prepare to go to trial. During a trial, a jury or judge will decide on issues that are disputed such as who was responsible and the amount of compensation you should receive. The legal damages you receive will be calculated according to the total of your losses, which includes financial, physical, and emotional suffering.
Statute of limitations
Understanding how these cases typically are handled can help you prepare for the future and give you an idea of how long it will take to resolve your case.
Finding out who is responsible is one of the most important steps. If the truck driver was drunk or distracted, for instance it is likely that they will be held responsible for the damages. There may be other parties that are also accountable. If the crash was the result of poor repairs or a mechanic, then a company that made the truck or its components could be held responsible according to the legal theory of respondeat superior.
It's also possible that the person who is responsible was guilty of a more serious act of recklessness, which could be grounds for you to receive punitive damages. To establish this, we have to prove that the liable party acted recklessly for your safety or that of others.
It is vital to hire a lawyer who is familiar with the complexities of truck accident cases. Insurance companies and the at-fault parties' attorneys are frequently the wolves in sheep's clothing who will try to obtain information from you that they can use against you in the future. You can avoid these traps by hiring an attorney to manage your communications.