5 Things You Need to Know if Your Child has Serious Injuries
Attorney Fred Pritzker and I help children and their parents after bike accidents involving serious injuries, including bicycle accident TBI (brain injury), spinal cord injury, kidney damage and amputation. Below are 5 things you need to know if your child has been hit by an 18-wheeler or other commercial truck. We urge you to read the information below and to protect your child’s legal rights by contacting us as soon as possible.
- More than One Company May be Liable for the Accident. Bike accidents caused by 18-wheelers and other semi-trailers involve complex issues of liability (legal responsibility) there are almost always multiple parties that can be sued. For example, most people do not know that an accident victim may have a claim (be able to sue) the owner of the freight being transported in the semi-trailer.
- There are Special Laws for Commercial Truck Drivers and Trucking Companies. There are special federal laws that apply to interstate commercial truck drivers and trucking companies. These laws govern how many hours a truck driver can be on the road, licensing, truck maintenance, drug testing, and many other issues. It is absolutely critical that your attorney know these laws inside out for you to obtain full compensation for your child’s injuries.
- A Spoliation Letter Needs to be Sent to the Trucking Company. Your attorney should send a spoliation letter to the trucking company as soon as possible after your child’s accident. “Spoliation” of evidence is the destruction, loss, alteration or concealment of evidence. Intentional spoliation of evidence is a violation of the federal laws discussed above.
- Lawsuits Involving Serious Injuries Require Expert Medical Testimony. Your child has the legal right to sue for future medical expenses, future pain and suffering, future cost of care, and other expected expenses and suffering. When we are hired to represent a child with serious injuries we hire the best medical experts available to examine your child and testify regarding this. I can’t stress how important this is. These experts are expensive, so it is important (for many reasons) to hire an attorney from a law firm with the resources to foot these expenses. If you hire me to represent you and your child, you do not have to pay our law firm until we win your case (settlement or verdict).
- Everything You Say Can be Used against Your Child. Under your insurance contract, you have to immediately inform your insurance company that an 18-wheeler hit your son or daughter. However, you are under no obligation to speak to the truck driver’s or trucking company’s insurance company, and you should not discuss the bike accident with these insurance company representatives. Once you hire an attorney, the law requires these insurance companies to stop contacting you and to contact your attorney instead.
Eric Hageman is a lead attorney for our bicycle accident litigation team. He is a member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) Interstate Trucking Litigation Group and has won many multimillion dollar accident verdicts and settlements. He has handled many cases where a bike was hit by a car or semi truck. Contact him for a free consultation today.
Our bike accident lawyers represent victims and their families nationwide in bicycle accident personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits. Our offices are in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We have successfully handled cases throughout Minnesota, including the Twin Cities area, Duluth and other cities in Northern Minnesota, St. Cloud, and Rochester and other cities in Southern Minnesota.
