Get Real Help From Our Truck Accident Lawyers in Florida

How Long Will My Truck Accident Process Take?

A lot of times we can get the case resolved within one or two years. You know, some insurance companies and adjusters want to resolve the case without incurring the cost of expensive litigation or defense on their end. However, trucking cases are very complicated and can take much longer than that. It’s important to hire an attorney who specializes in truck accident cases because most of the time these truck accident cases are much more complex than a typical car crash. The reason being, is you are dealing with corporate defendants who want to protect their company and their assets. Therefore, they have investigators and attorneys working on the case immediately after the truck crash. Most truck drivers, when they are involved in a crash, their first call is not to 911. It is to their corporate office to notify them that they have been involved in a wreck. That corporate office is immediately going to work to provide the best possible defense, so they pay out as little as possible. This is why it’s important to get an attorney as quickly as possible who specializes in truck accident cases because we want to make sure that we have a fair fight against the defendant to get you the best possible result.

Why Do I Need a Truck Accident Lawyer?

Well, first off, when you’re involved in a truck accident, most of the time these are significant impacts with a big multi-ton vehicle. Therefore, your brain is probably racing in a million different directions. How am I going to pay my bills? What do I do with my car? Am I going to be able to work? When you hire an attorney who specializes in these truck crashes, they can assist you in handling all these different things. And your main job is going to focus on your health. We’re going to make sure that you go and see the right doctors, that you get the right treatment, that the trucking companies are put on notice, that we are collecting evidence, information right away, that we are contacting any witnesses that may have seen the crash, getting the Blackbox data from the truck, getting the trucking logs because there’s certain rules that govern truck drivers much differently than car drivers. How long they can drive, how far they can drive, when they need to sleep, how much tonnage they are allowed to tow. And a lot of these can significantly increase the value of your case, if we can collect that data right away. So, it’s very important to hire an attorney that specializes in these cases so that the evidence can be preserved, that it can be collected, and that we can hold the trucking company accountable for causing injuries to you.
A lot of times in trucking cases, insurance companies and trucking companies want to minimize and pay out quickly because they know, unfortunately, when a truck is involved and hits a typical sedan, SUV, or truck. Unfortunately, a lot of times the semi-truck wins that crash and they know the person in the other vehicle, they are going to be severely injured. Therefore, it is important to contact an attorney because once you contact an attorney, we will send out letters of representation to all the defendants and their insurance companies. At that point, they can no longer contact you. They’re going to try to reach out to you directly before an attorney is involved to offer you money to resolve the case because they know, and studies have been done that show, if they can reach out directly to an injured party that that case is going to resolve for significantly less than what the case is worth. Also, it’s important to note right after a truck crash, the insurance company may offer you money, but what are your damages at that point? You don’t know how injured you are. You don’t know what your future medical treatment is going to be like. You don’t know whether you’re going to be spending the rest of your life in pain and suffering every single day.
Therefore, it’s important to get an attorney who handles these things because we want to make sure that we have a full picture of what your damages are, what your case is worth before ever negotiating with that company. The trucking companies know the sooner they can settle the case, typically within a couple days, that value is going to be significantly less than what they would have to pay in the future. At the end of the day, you want to get an attorney who handles these cases, that knows exactly how the process is going to go. Because the defense has attorneys that all they do is truck accident cases.

What Should I Do After Being Involved in a Trucking Accident?

First off, you’re going to want to seek medical attention. A lot of times, your adrenaline is going right after a truck accident, and you may not think you’re that injured. However, when a multi-ton vehicle hits your car, the energy transferred through that, a lot of times, causes significant injuries. Therefore, it is important to go seek medical treatment. It is also important to contact the police so that they can come out, write a crash report, collect any evidence, get witnesses’ names and numbers. It is also important that you contact an attorney directly, right away. That attorney will pick up your case and immediately start working on it, collecting evidence, making sure that you are getting the right medical treatment. There are doctors who specialize in truck accident injuries and that know how to document these injuries, and we’re going to make sure that you are seen by the best. It is also important too that the attorney is going to collect all that information. The defense attorneys and trucking companies are immediately going to go to the scene. They’re immediately going to inspect the truck. They’re going to look at the Blackbox data. They’re going to look at the driver’s logs. They’re going to look at what the load was. And if you do not contact an attorney, you’d be surprised. Sometimes that information goes missing. Or if you contact an attorney who specializes in these cases right away, they can put the truck company on notice as well as their insurance company that any and all evidence needs to be preserved for us to inspect. We’ll immediately go into investigating, sending investigators to get the Blackbox data, to get the trucking logs, to get the cell phone, because sometimes you’d be surprised, truck drivers are on their phones. And make sure that we have all the information, because all this makes a difference in your case. Every trucking case is different, and you want to make sure that you have an attorney who knows specifically what to look for, what information, what data, what evidence they need to get you the best possible result.

How to Document a Truck Accident?

First off, it’s important, at the scene, to contact the police. Therefore, a car crash accident report can be written. It is also important to get any eyewitnesses information. Sometimes witnesses will get out and make sure that you are okay or that the other driver is okay but not wait around for the cops. You’re going to want to get a picture of their driver’s license, their address, their phone number, their email. So therefore, if they move or change their phone number, we still have ways to get in contact with them and get statements from them. You’re also going to want to take pictures of both the scene of your vehicle, all areas of impact, as well as the truck, and any damages to the truck that may have incurred. You’re going to want to take pictures of the truck itself, the driver’s license, the VIN number, the company name on the side of the truck. All of that is imperative that we get and that you collect from the scene. You also will want to take pictures of any injuries that you may have sustained. You may have bruising. You may have injuries sustained from the airbags deploying. You may have scrapes or cuts from hitting your arm, leg, head, or something inside the vehicle. It’s important to have documentation of all those and take pictures. Lastly, I encourage everyone to immediately start making a journal. Talk about how the crash occurred. Talk about how you immediately felt after the crash. Write down how you felt the next day when you woke up. Keep track of the days that you missed for work because sometimes these cases do take time and when you’re sitting for a deposition a year later, you may have forgot some of these things. However, if you’ve kept a journal from the day of the crash moving forward, you can use that to refresh your recollection and make sure that you remember every aspect of your case.

Who Can Be at Fault for a Truck Accident?

The first area to look for is the driver. Obviously, they may have acted negligently. They may have failed to follow certain traffic rules or statutes. In trucking cases, truck drivers are held to a much higher standard than a typical driver because they have a commercial driver’s license, a CDL. So, the first area that we look for is the truck driver. Next, we are going to look at the actual trucking company because, a lot of times, the maintenance of the truck may not have been upkept. They may have negligently hired this truck driver; they may have a history of driving recklessly and causing crashes and should have never been hired. Lastly, we’re going to look at the truck manufacturer. Sometimes when these trucks are built, they are not built to the same standard as some other cars, and therefore there could be a case where the brakes were put on wrong, the steering column was put on wrong. So, we look at many different aspects including the truck driver, the manufacturer, as well as the trucking company. And a lot of times there may be multiple companies involved. Therefore, it’s important to hire an attorney who knows every aspect to look at and make sure that we look at every possible avenue to get you the best recovery, because sometimes it may seem like one area is at fault when, in fact, it’s completely another entity or company. And therefore, you are going to want to have experienced truck accident attorneys on your case.