When you hear about accidents, you most often hear about the approximately 6 million car accidents that happen each year. Most of those accidents are, while unfortunate, relatively straightforward. Many involve only two drivers, and some only involve one driver.
What you hear about less often are the more than 100,000 trucking accidents that occur each year. Despite the much lower number of incidents, these accidents often involve multiple vehicles, severe injuries, and significant property damage.
If you’ve been involved in a truck accident, consider hiring a truck accident attorney. Not sure what you’ll get out of working with a truck accident lawyer. Keep reading for three key benefits.
1. Figuring Out Liability
Since many car accidents only involve two drivers in private vehicles, figuring out liability is often an easy matter. The only parties involved are the drivers and their insurance companies.
With trucking accidents, it gets a lot more complicated. The liability can encompass several parties, including:
- The truck driver
- The truck owner
- The trucking company
- Manufacturers
- Insurers
Let’s say that a driver gets into an accident because the brakes don’t work properly. If the driver doesn’t own the truck, however, he or she isn’t responsible for maintenance. The party who didn’t properly maintain the truck also bears some responsibility.
Truck accident lawyers can help untangle where the liability for the accident rests.
2. Evidence Collection
Since there are potentially so many parties involved, there is also a lot of potential evidence involved. Good truck accident attorneys will conduct investigations into the accident that go beyond the police report.
For example, they may look at:
- Driver’s professional credentials
- The actual vehicle
- Data from the vehicle’s ECM
- Video recordings from on-board cameras
- The trucking company’s safety records
If there is a suggestion that poor maintenance contributed to the accident, your lawyer may also subpoena maintenance records. All of this evidence helps them build a case for you.
3. Selecting the Appropriate Strategy
While legal shows might convince you that almost every case ends up in a courtroom, that isn’t the case. Yes, some cases do wind up in front of a jury, but most don’t. It’s much more common for personal injury cases to end with some kind of settlement.
A good truck accident lawyer can evaluate the evidence and help you decide on the best strategy. For some, a trial may make sense. For others, a settlement is often the best and most expedient course of action.
A Truck Accident Attorney and You
Hiring a truck accident attorney can provide you with several important benefits. Lawyers with experience in these kinds of cases can help pin down where the liability for the accident lies or how it should be doled out among several parties.
They’ll often conduct a much more thorough investigation into the accident to gather evidence about the driver, the vehicle, and even the trucking company. They can also help you pick a winning strategy for your case.
The Newsome Melton Law Firm has substantial experience with trucking accident cases. If you were in a trucking accident, contact Newsome Melton today.