If you need help with an accident claim involving a semi trailer truck, the information below should help you find the best attorney for your personal injury case. You can discuss your case for free with me by calling 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or by submitting our free consultation form. I have handled many personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits against truck drivers, trucking companies and others. Even if you do not hire me, I may be able to help you in some way.
- You need a personal injury lawyer with experience handling cases just like yours. Truck accident cases are different from other accidents because special laws apply. These federal truck laws limit the amount of time a driver can be on the road, ban the use of cell phones, require certain truck drivers to have special qualifications, require drug testing and put many other restrictions on commercial truck drivers and trucking companies.
- It will be very expensive to get you full and fair compensation. Trucking companies and insurance companies that represent them are aggressive and don’t easily settle. Your attorney needs to have the resources to win your case. This may require significant amounts of money to hire experts, including accident recreation specialists (forensic engineers and others), medical professionals (to testify regarding pain and suffering and future medical problems), and others depending on the facts of your case. If you hire me and attorney Fred Pritzker to represent you, you will not need to pay any money up front. We are paid a contingency fee, meaning we are not paid unless you win. It is usually a percentage of the amount we win during settlement negotiations or at trial. I will be happy to discuss this with you.
- It can be difficult proving that the truck driver was at fault. As I stated earlier, trucking companies are not generally eager to settle a case for full and fair compensation (although they may be eager to settle for far less than what your case is worth). Part of their strategy is to deny that the truck driver was at fault. Fred and I recently won two cases that illustrate this point. In the first case, we represented a couple whose car was hit from behind by a semi semi trailer truck. The husband suffered traumatic brain injury and multiple fractured bones, and his wife, who was driving, also suffered less serious injuries. As the husband lay in the hospital, the trucking company claimed that his wife was at fault. We hired an accident reconstruction expert to produce a video showing what the evidence proved—that the semi driver was at fault. Once trucking company and insurance company representatives saw the video, we settled the case for $2.56 million. The other case involved the wrongful death of a bicycle rider, who was run over by a semi trailer during a left turn. This case went to trial, and we won a $2.4 million for the family.
- The trucking company may destroy valuable evidence if your lawyer does not send a spoliation letter. When you are talking to lawyers to decide who to hire, your first question should be, “What is a spoliation letter?” If an attorney does not know, do not hire that attorney. A spoliation letter will put the trucking company involved in your case on notice that you have a claim against the company and that the company is responsible for preserving evidence that may be used to prove that claim. The spoliation letter has to state that notice of the claim is thereby given, and it should list specific types of evidence that must be preserved. You could lose your case if the spoliation letter is not sent.
You can contact me for a free consultation by submitting our online form found here. If you would prefer to call, the law firm number is 1-888-377-8900 (toll free). Because these kinds of accidents can involve several states (accident in one state, truck driver from another and auto driver from yet another), our semi truck accident lawyers have a national practice.
