Truck Accidents
Semi-truck accidents are different.
They are not just car accidents involving bigger vehicles. Select an experienced and knowledgeable truck accident lawyer to represent you in an accident case involving a truck. Even the most experienced driver can feel nervous when a massive semi-trailer truck pulls up beside them on the interstate. Commercial trucks are huge, heavy, fast, and vulnerable to several mechanical problems and driver errors.
When a semi-truck rolls over, runs out of control, or collides with someone else’s car, the impact can be catastrophic. Victims typically suffer serious injuries, which may be life-altering. Sadly, many of these accidents are deadly.
How This Works
A careful case review will be performed by your lawyer to assess the strengths and weaknesses of your case. Then the conclusions of this review are presented to you in a thorough, understandable manner.
For more details: Litigation Process.
Colorado Semi-Truck Accidents
Truck accidents are not like ordinary car crashes. They raise several insurance issues, and they may be subject to legal standards, statutes, or regulations specific to the trucking industry. Truck accident injuries can cause staggering medical costs, prolonged time away from work, profound emotional distress, and life-long damages. In terms of property damage, the trucks themselves are valuable and due to their size, the damage inflicted on other vehicles is greater.
In most truck accident cases, there is a lot of money on the line. That’s true not only for the victims but also for the truck carrier and the insurance companies. They defend themselves against these claims aggressively.
$600 k
for family hit head-on
$1.2 million
for wrongful death claim
While truck drivers must drive carefully and obey the rules of the road, their employers have certain duties too. Truck carriers, for example, must hire drivers carefully, train their employers thoroughly, and maintain their fleet in a safe working condition.
Often, trucking companies can also be held liable for their drivers’ negligence on the job. Truck accident claims involve not only the truck driver but also his or her employer, and the employer’s liability insurance carrier.
Further complicating claims, these cases involve issues of fractured or divided ownership, vehicle leases, and complex insurance arrangements. Depending upon the fact and circumstances, your claim might also involve various third parties such as the truck’s manufacturer, a maintenance provider, or the drivers of other vehicles involved in the accident.
One important example is found in the federal Hours of Service regulations, which dictate how long truck drivers can work before stopping to get some rest. Drowsy driving is one of the leading causes of semi-truck accidents. Often, the truck driver’s employer is to blame, having created an unrealistic or grueling delivery schedule for the driver.
Many trucking companies’ tractors are set up with electronic/digital satellite monitoring. This monitoring generates an electronic log of the truck and driver’s time of service and hours on duty to assure compliance with the United States Department of Transportation permissible hours on duty and driving hours.
However, many trucking companies refuse to integrate their vehicles into an electronic monitoring system, so the drivers make written records. Often these hand written logs are inaccurate, illegible, incomplete, and sometimes outright falsified.
Whether by electronic logging data or by a cell call to an on-duty employee, the instant an accident occurs, the insurance defense team is notified, and within 24 hours an investigator is on the scene, interviewing witnesses, law enforcement officers, photographing the wreckage, the highway, and creating a narrative consistent with their own corporate and monetary interests.