How to File a Truck Accident Claim
Accidents involving trucks can be catastrophic. They can cause serious injuries that make it difficult to continue working and pay bills.
Victims are able to seek damages from the party at fault by filing an individual injury claim. The insurance company may not be willing to negotiate a fair agreement. Your attorney at Buckingham Barrera Vea can assist you determine whether or not to pursue litigation.
Identifying the At-Fault Party
Unlike standard vehicle crashes, truck accidents often have multiple at-fault parties. You could get compensation from the driver of the truck as well as their employer, the company who loaded the vehicle, the manufacturer of truck or truck parts or even government agencies, depending on the circumstances. Identifying all the liable parties will require a thorough investigation as each party has different insurance policies, and there are a lot of variables to consider.
If you are tempted to contact the insurance companies of the other party or claim examiners after your accident, this is an error. Defense lawyers for the defendants will be looking for anything you say that they can use in a different context or twist and distort to weaken your case.
You should instead focus your efforts on getting medical care and documenting your injuries. It is important to have an experienced lawyer for truck accidents involved in the early stages of the process so that they can handle all communications with liable parties.
In general, a truck driver is at the fault of an accident if they're negligent behind the driving. This includes reckless driving, including speeding or driving under the effects of alcohol or drugs. They may also be held accountable for an accident when truckers fail to adhere to regulations governing trucking, like driving hours restrictions.
Respondeat superior may make the employer of truck drivers accountable when they hire an incompetent or negligent worker. The trucking company can also be held liable if it isn't able to adequately supervise its employees. The company that designed or sold the truck could also be accountable for its flaws.
Additionally, any parties that control relevant surveillance footage that filmed the scene of the accident could be liable. They may possess footage that documents the incident, such as skids outside of marked lanes or damaged rails. They might also have video which can give details of the crash including the truck's location at the time of the crash. Video evidence is hard to obtain because the parties that control the evidence do not keep it for long periods of time.
Receiving Medical Attention
Even if you seem to be fine after a crash with the truck, it's vital to consult an expert in medical care as soon as you can. People often feel whiplash-like symptoms for days or weeks after an accident. You may cause permanent damage if ignore these signs and thereby limit your chances of obtaining compensation.
Seeking medical attention also ensures that your injuries are fully documented in your medical records. This could prevent the truck driver, the trucking company or another at-fault person from later claiming your symptoms are not related to the crash.
If you have medical insurance, make sure to provide this information to your providers in order to bill the policy upfront and then seek reimbursement later from the person who is at fault or settlement. If you don't have insurance, our law firm can often work with medical providers to delay collection or billing until after your claim has been resolved.
Once you have sought medical attention, it is important to keep a diary of your experiences. This will help you keep track of your injuries and their impact on your life. This can help you identify injuries related to accidents such as medical expenses, loss of income due to absence from work and other losses.
It is important to remember that even though it's normal to feel upset or angry after a truck accident, yelling or screaming or engaging in arguments could make your case more difficult. Insurance adjusters from the truck driver or a trucking company may try to contact you and record your testimony. It is recommended to politely decline and refer your attorney.
It is also essential to follow your doctor's instructions for treatment and to keep all of your follow-up appointments. This can help you recover faster and strengthen your claims for reimbursement for the entire range of your injuries. A jury will be more likely to accept any settlement offer if have strong medical evidence.
Documenting Your Injuries
Photograph both your vehicle and the accident scene, from different angles. This will help prove who was responsible and will be useful for documenting your physical injuries. In addition, it could be useful to write down everything you remember about the accident, including small details.
If medical assistance is on the scene, ensure that you and all other passengers undergo a thorough exam. Even if there is no reason to think you are hurt, a doctor can detect injuries that do not show up until later on and can provide evidence of these invisible or delayed symptoms throughout your case.
After you've been examined at the hospital, make sure you request copies of your medical records. This should be done directly with your medical professional, rather than the insurance company being able to access your medical records. This will protect your privacy, and prevent an insurance company from using your pre-existing medical condition against you in a dispute over a claim.
It is also recommended to keep your notes of your symptoms. This will be useful to you and your lawyer when it comes time to calculating your losses. Be eau claire truck accident law firm to document every particular detail, like a throbbing headache or blurred vision, or a sharp pain in your leg. Keeping a journal of these symptoms can help support your claims for pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, and other damages.
If possible, speak with any witnesses who saw the incident. Request their names and contact information to enable your attorney to request a statement from them later on during the process. If you can't speak to them at the scene it is vital to examine the area where the accident took place. You can also try to locate witness statements later on.
It is important to gather any other documents or records that are relevant to your truck accident case for example, police reports, vehicle repair estimates as well as pay stubs medical records, as well as an accident journal. These records can be used to prove your losses if you have a dispute with the insurance firm of the trucking company. You may also need to request certain types of records from the trucking firm for example, documents that are DOT compliant.
Contacting an attorney
Every claim is unique. While many victims of truck accidents can settle their claims without going to court, every case is different. If you believe that an insurance company isn't being fair or their settlement offers are far lower than what you need to cover the losses, you may want to consider making a claim.
There are many reasons why it's essential to contact an New York truck crash lawyer immediately following an accident as soon as is possible. One of the most important is that it lets us begin to build your case while evidence remains fresh. The longer you put off contacting an attorney, the more difficult it will be to retrieve important evidence like witness statements. The memories of witnesses will fade and their statements will be questioned.
An investigation into a truck-related accident is also more thorough than a car accident. This is because truckers must possess special commercial driver's licenses that allow them to drive vehicles of a certain size and weight on most roadways. Truckers and trucking firms are also subject to a variety of federal regulations which must be adhered to. A skilled attorney knows how to handle such an investigation and will gather all the available evidence including the black-box data of the truck.
If you submit a claim for compensation, it is important to document in detail your losses and the impact your injuries have affected your life. This information will be used to calculate your economic damages, which could cover past, present and future expenses that are directly caused by the accident. For instance, you may claim compensation for medical expenses and lost wages, property damage, and more.
Remember that even a seemingly minor injury can have long-term consequences. Therefore, you should always get checked out by a doctor after any crash regardless of whether you feel hurt or not. If you're treated immediately and diagnosed you can avoid any complications that may make it harder to claim compensation for your injuries resulting from an accident.