If you are a victim involved in a truck accident, you may wonder whether hiring an attorney will benefit you. After all, you may know who caused the accident and who should pay for your damages. If the insurance claims process works as it should, you should file your claim and get paid with few challenges or obstacles.
Sadly, this is not how things work in truck accidents or other personal injury accidents. The parties at fault and the insurers, if available in your case, will make it as difficult as possible for you to get any compensation in the first place and then to get the maximum compensation you deserve under the law.
Insurance claims can draw out into lengthy processes, and you may be unsure whether or not filing a lawsuit is a necessary step to protect your rights. Fortunately, you do not need to try and go through this process on your own.
One of the best options to protect yourself and provide you peace of mind is to hire a truck accident lawyer to represent you.
How a Truck Accident Attorney Will Help You with Your Case?
Your attorney will take on multiple responsibilities as your case goes forward.
A truck crash victim is at a disadvantage. They typically lack knowledge and experience handling an insurance claim and potential lawsuit, and they are not prepared for the overall amount of work and energy that it takes to handle these types of cases.
From communications to managing requests from opposing parties, gathering information, proving your case, and protecting your rights, a truck accident case can become overwhelming and difficult for an everyday person to deal with effectively. There is far too much at stake and no room for errors and mistakes during this process.
#1. The Truck Accident Lawyer Will Help You to Preserve Evidence
In the chaos following a truck accident, you can’t easily think about how to recover compensation when your worries are on your health and injuries. However, crucial evidence can be available following a truck accident that requires immediate attention and efforts to preserve for use later in your case.
A truck accident attorney has the resources to obtain the available evidence that you or others cannot. Evidence that may be in danger of getting lost or destroyed requires quick action to identify and preserve in the days following a crash.
Gathering sufficient evidence will influence the likelihood of success in your case. Your attorney will work with you to discover what evidence may exist and where it may be following a truck accident. The more evidence and support you can collect in your case, the stronger your case will be and the higher chance of successfully negotiating your truck accident damages with the insurance company or party at fault.
#2. To Discover Liability of a Truck Accident
You may think that the fault for the truck accident is apparent, and there is little room to argue otherwise, but an insurance company will find any way to attribute fault to you or others in the accident. Liability for the losses in a truck accident is challenging. Truck accidents involve commercial vehicles, drivers who are either contractors or employees, and third parties that may play a role in the safety of the shipment and truck.
A truck accident attorney working for you knows to look for not only the parties that are liable for the accident itself, such as the truck driver, but also other parties that may have contributed to your injuries.
Your lawyer understands the intricacies of truck accident cases and how to discover the parties that may be liable to you and responsible for your losses, giving you a better chance of collecting the maximum compensation available for your injuries and damages.
Liability for truck accidents can include parties such as:
- The truck driver
- The trucking company or employer of the driver
- The company shipping the cargo or products
- The company responsible for loading the truck
- Any company that provides maintenance or repairs for the truck
- A manufacturer of truck parts or equipment
#3. To Help You Calculate Your Truck Accident Losses
Figuring out how much money your case is worth and the overall costs and expenses for your care is not simple. While collecting receipts and bills for your medical care and other economic losses can help you estimate your current financial damages, that alone is not enough to calculate the totality of your losses.
Truck accident cases that result in injuries can have far-reaching effects on your finances and personal life that you may not consider or think about at the beginning of your case. The reality is that damages to a truck accident victim are the current losses you have accumulated since the accident and the future costs and personal losses you will suffer.
A truck accident attorney will methodically and with great care in detail go through each category of damages available for your case and calculate your current losses and potential future damages. Predicting or estimating future damages is not easy and can require significant research, expert testimony, and other evidence to support the value that your attorney comes up with for each category of losses.
Having a lawyer represent you will allow you to seek the maximum compensation for your damages that arise due to the truck accident. You will not need to worry that you are not considering your future or that money you are eligible for will remain unclaimed.
The damages that an attorney can help you seek in a truck accident case include:
- Medical costs and expenses
- Loss of income due to lost work
- Personal losses including pain and suffering from physical, emotional, and mental injuries
- Property damage to your vehicle or other personal property
- Wrongful death compensation for family of a loved one that dies in a truck crash
#4. To Prove Your Case
You need an attorney who will help you build a strong truck accident case that will prove the elements necessary to establish your right to compensation under an insurance policy or the law. Getting ahold of evidence that will help you in your case is just the first hurdle of your truck accident insurance claim.
Your evidence will only benefit you if it shows the cause of the accident, who is at fault, and what you have lost because of the crash.
This is where an attorney can prove invaluable in a truck accident collision. An attorney has a deep understanding of the law and how it applies to truck accident victims seeking compensation from the parties responsible for their losses.
a) Proving Fault for a Truck Accident
Your attorney must first prove who caused the truck accident and, subsequently, your damages. Once an attorney can prove liability by investigating your case and gathering all the evidence available, they can prove the accident’s impact on your life now and in the future.
b) Proving Damages from a Truck Crash
To prove the fault for an accident will, in turn, reveal who must pay for your losses. However, seeking payment for your damages is not simply stating how much you think you have lost or how much you have suffered. Rather, it is a detailed process where you must show the value of each of the damages and why an insurer or other party should pay you for the amount of compensation you are asking for.
Your attorney understands this process and how best to position you, their client, to get the maximum compensation possible through a claim or, if necessary, a lawsuit.
In many instances, a lawyer will be able to negotiate with an insurance company for a fair and reasonable settlement that allows the defendants in your case to avoid court and for you to get your money sooner. However, suppose there is any dispute or conflict that does not allow for a settlement agreement. In that case, your attorney in a truck accident case will move the case through civil court and a trial until a court ultimately decides the liability and damages in the case.
#5. To Fight for Your Rights
Insurance companies, the truck company, the truck driver, and other parties interested in the outcome of your case are not looking out for you, nor do they feel any obligation to take care of your losses. They will act solely to protect themselves, their bottom line, and their assets.
You need an advocate in your truck accident case that will serve as your voice against other parties that only want to benefit themselves. A truck accident attorney on your behalf will represent your interests from the moment you hire them. They will work to prioritize your interests and damages throughout each step of the process until you resolve your case.
#6. To Help You Reach a Resolution for Your Benefit
Ultimately, an insurance claim in a truck accident case or lawsuit attempts to reach a resolution that will benefit you and cover your losses. Your lawyer understands that and will make every effort to fight for you and get you the best possible outcome.
There is no way to predict how your case will resolve or exactly how much money you will be able to collect for your damage, but a lawyer can help you to know what you can expect and the likelihood of recovery from your truck accident case.
Is There a Statute of Limitations for a Truck Accident Case?
While most truck accident cases settle with insurance claims, you must always consider the applicable statute of limitations. Each state sets its own rules and parameters for the amount of time a plaintiff has to file a lawsuit against the parties they believe to be liable for their losses in a personal injury case such as a truck accident.
While some states may have longer statutes of limitations, giving victims upwards of four years to begin a case, the period can be as little as one year in other states. A lawyer representing you in a truck accident case knows the statute of limitations in your state and will protect your right to compensation by initiating a lawsuit before time runs out.
When Is the Best Time to Hire a Lawyer to Represent You After a Truck Accident?
The timing of when you choose to hire a lawyer to represent you matters and can influence the outcome of your case. Do not wait until you run into trouble with a truck accident insurance claim to hire an attorney.
Hire a lawyer right off the bat and avoid complications that can cause delays or obstacles to getting the money you need following a truck accident.
Contact a truck accident attorney to schedule a free consultation to discuss your case.