Dallas Tractor Trailer Accident Lawyer
Texas Trucking Accident Legal Information from Dallas Tractor Trailer Accident Lawyer Michael Grossman
It can be difficult to know what to do in the aftermath of a tractor trailer wreck. If you’ve experienced a personal injury due to such a wreck, you’re likely experiencing physical pain in addition to the financial stress of mounting medical bills.
f you’ve had the misfortune to have lost a loved one due to a semi-truck accident, you’re likely experiencing both sorrow and anger at the likely unexpected loss. In either event, the emotions that follow such a devastating event can sometimes overwhelm you. However, it’s important that you’re able to consider the further implications of such an accident and how a liable party’s negligent behavior may have resulted in longer-lasting issues than you were first suspecting. By seeking civil action against a liable party for a trucking accident in Dallas, you will be working toward two goals: to seek proper compensation for your injury or loss and to pursue justice against the liable parties so that they can be held accountable for their actions.
If you or a loved one have recently been involved in a tractor-trailer accident in Dallas, we understand that you’re likely going through a very difficult time. With 20 years of experience in Dallas tractor-trailer accident cases, we’ve been able to help hundreds of clients just like you get through similar difficult situations. We want to help you on the road to recovery in addition to bringing justice against the negligent parties so that their future behavior does not have to cause harm to someone else or grief to another family. Compensation that is awarded through the successful outcome of a tractor trailer accident injury lawsuit can be put to beneficial use in regards to medical bills, lost wages, or the other types of financial losses, known as damages, that a plaintiff often accrues as a result of a tractor trailer accident.
The following article presents the common issues most often involved in tractor trailer accident cases in Texas. We’ll also mention the challenges that are often inherent in seeking compensation from trucking companies and their insurers. We’ll also provide a few reasons why seeking the help of an experienced Dallas tractor trailer accident lawyer is an important step to take should you want to seek compensation for your injury or loss. Our goal is to help you be able to stand to receive proper compensation for your injury or loss caused by a tractor trailer accident in Dallas or Fort Worth. The following information can help you understand what may be involved in such an undertaking, and will give you a better frame of reference for possibly pursuing legal action against a negligent party. After reading through this article, consider contacting our Dallas tractor trailer accident lawyers toll-free at 1-855-326-0000 to ask further questions in regards to your specific accident case.
Who’s At Fault in a Dallas Tractor Trailer Accident?
A tractor trailer travels down the highway at 55 miles per hour, the posted speed limit for that stretch of road. A nearby car swerves in front of the tractor trailer, causing the semi-truck to also swerve. A 1,000 pound lead pipe falls off of the semi-truck’s trailer, bounces once or twice on the roadway, and then strikes a vehicle behind it, resulting in severe personal injury to the driver. In this instance, who bears liability for the accident? Is is the driver of the first car? The tractor-trailer driver? Another outside entity? The answer, often, is all of the above. While assessing liability is a highly circumstantial issue, especially in regards to the oftentimes complex nature of 18-wheeler accident sites, it is a foundational aspect of any tractor-trailer accident case.
In many instances, a tractor-trailer driver will hold a certain degree of liability for an accident. After all, they are the ones behind the wheel. However, since an employer is responsible for their employees’ actions due to the legal notion of “respondeat superior” in Texas law, a tractor-trailer driver’s employer will also likely bear liability for such an accident. When a trucking company is involved in a civil suit, their insurer will also likely be involved. Often, it is the involvement of an insurance company that can make seeking fair compensation for your injury or loss a challenging process, one that is often best met with the help of an experienced Dallas tractor trailer accident lawyer. To summarize, an otherwise “normal” tractor trailer accident will often involve three liable parties: the driver, the driver’s company, and the company’s insurer.
However, there are seldom “normal’ 18-wheeler accidents. Many other factors can contribute to these types of wrecks. For instance, in the example provided above, a falling cargo accident could implicate a third-party cargo-loading company. Some trucking companies choose to use such outside companies in order to accomplish certain tasks, such as loading and securing cargo or planning trucks’ routes. When these outside companies are negligent in their duties, and such negligence can be proven to have been a contributing factor to an injurious or fatal tractor trailer accident in Dallas, the third-party company can be an additional defendant in a trucking accident case. Similarly, if a mechanical defect results in an 18-wheeler crashing, the manufacturer of that equipment may be held liable for a wreck resulting in injury or loss of life. Essentially, there is often more than one liable party involved in a tractor-trailer wreck. Non-attorneys and lawyers without prior, relevant experience may not even know to look for evidence in connection to liable parties that may not have been a direct cause of the accident. With 20 years of experience in trucking accident cases in Texas, Dallas tractor trailer accident lawyer Michael Grossman and his team at Grossman Law Offices can conduct a thorough investigation into an accident site so that all liable parties are discovered and held accountable for their negligent behavior.
As a side note to the issue of liability in Texas 18-wheeler cases, tractor-trailer drunk driving cases can involve an additional liable party in certain circumstances. If a truck driver has become intoxicated after being over-served alcohol at a bar, restaurant, or other similar type of alcohol-serving establishment and consequently causes a drunk driving truck wreck, the alcohol-serving establishment can be held partially liable for the consequence of that work through Texas dram shop law. Our Dallas drunk truck driving accident attorneys possess a great understanding of dram shop law and can help you seek justice against negligent bars or restaurants if their actions may have contributed to a tractor trailer drunk driving accident resulting in your own injury or loss.
Why Should I Pursue a Civil Suit for a Tractor Trailer Accident in Dallas?
There are two reasons why you should consider seeking civil action after being injured, or losing a loved one, in a tractor trailer accident. In a vast majority of tractor-trailer accidents, an injured victim or a bereaved family experiences some type of financial loss in addition to their injury or loss of a loved one. These types of economic losses, known as damages in the legal realm, can include items such as medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other types of damages specific to the accident itself. The stated goal of a personal injury or a wrongful death lawsuit is for the plaintiff to be compensated for their damages by the party that is responsible for their injury or loss. Consequently, seeking compensation from the defendant is the goal of civil action; however, that’s not the only aim of proceeding with a civil suit.
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A civil suit also works to hold the liable parties accountable for their negligent behavior. This aspect of a civil suit is important in all instances, but can prove especially meaningful in instances where criminal charges have not been pressed, but the aggrieved party still desires to see justice served against the party or parties responsible for their injury or loss. When Dallas tractor trailer accident lawyer Michael Grossman takes on a civil suit, he and his team will work to see to it that the liable parties are held fully accountable for their actions so that the possibility of a similar act occurring in the future, causing harm or loss to someone else, has the smallest possibility of occurring. We want to ensure that the liable parties understand the severity of their actions so that justice can be served.
It should also be noted that legal action must be initiated by the victim, i.e. the plaintiff. A plaintiff cannot simply wait for compensation to be awarded to them by a defendant. A plaintiff must prove, through the legal process, that the defendant was the cause, or a contributing factor, to their injury or loss. Only after such a claim has been substantiated does the law mandate that a liable party must then award compensation to an injured victim or a bereaved family. Even then, the amount of compensation owed is dependent on the plaintiff’s legal representation’s ability to correctly prove up damages, i.e. justify the inclusion of the type and amount of damages being asked for in the civil suit. With two decades of practice in proving up damages, Dallas tractor trailer accident lawyer Michael Grossman knows the value of these particular types of cases and can help ensure that your compensation is fair.
Tractor Trailer Companies and Large Insurance Policies
One of the central issues at play in a tractor-trailer injury accident case is the existence of large insurance policies held by the trucking company. Since tractor trailers can cause large amounts of damage, many times in excess of what a passenger vehicle is capable of doing, the insurance policies on these types of commercial trucks are likewise often immense. While some people would believe that such “full-coverage” insurance policies should mean quick and easy compensation for their injury or loss due to an 18-wheeler wreck, the reverse is more often true. As a result of the insurance policy being worth so much, and since an insurance company may stand to lose quite a sizable sum, they will muster their defenses in order to not be ultimately responsible for paying out such compensation. Consequently, this is one of the main areas in which you’ll likely require the legal assistance of a knowledgeable, experienced, and capable Dallas tractor trailer accident lawyer.
Experienced Insurance Adjusters
Tractor trailer insurance companies will often send their most seasoned veterans to work 18-wheeler accident cases, especially when the amount of damages incurred by a victim is high. These types of adjusters often bear little resemblance to your neighborhood auto insurance agent. They will likely have many years of experience in seeing tractor-trailer accident claims denied or greatly diminished. Ultimately, their goal is more often concerned with keeping an eye out for the company instead of keeping an eye out for your best interests. They may attempt to employ certain tactics, such as asking a victim the same question in various ways in order to get the victim to inadvertently admit to some, or even all, of the blame for an accident. Without an attorney to help you through such a situation, you may fall into this snare.
If an insurance adjuster cannot get blame for an accident shifted onto another party, they may offer a victim a settlement number. However, such a settlement is often a low-ball number offered to a victim in exchange for the victim signing away their rights to pursue further legal action. It is a shrewdly calculated move in which the insurance company hopes that the victim will be enticed by sure compensation in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, these types of unmediated settlements are often less than equal to the amount of damages a victim has incurred. Without an experienced attorney to look over such a settlement, you will likely not know whether or not the amount offered is commensurate with your actual incurred damages. Additionally, if such a settlement is accepted by an aggrieved party, there is very little that an attorney can do to help a victim that has signed away their rights to pursue further legal action.
Well-Trained, Ready-to-Respond Defense Attorneys
Since tractor trailer accidents happen with a certain regularity, trucking companies and their insurers are often ready to deploy well-trained defense attorneys to the scene of an accident shortly after it has occurred. These teams of defense lawyers will then scour an accident site in order to locate any evidence that may be able to be used in the defense of their client. By essentially getting a jump on the opposition, these defense attorneys hope to be able to build a strong case against you by having more time to look into the accident site itself. This is one of the reasons why contacting a Dallas tractor trailer accident lawyer as soon as possible after a tractor-trailer wreck has occurred can prove beneficial toward building a case in your defense.
Unethical Self-Insured Tractor-Trailer Trucking Companies
While all trucking companies in Texas must carry insurance coverage on their trucks, not all trucking companies have to choose coverage from a traditional insurer. Some companies choose to insure themselves by setting aside a portion of their assets to be used in the event of a claim. However, some of these types of self-insured trucking companies can be prone to acting unethically when a claim is brought against them. Since they do not have to meet the guidelines that traditional insurers must meet, they sometimes feel as if they can get away with certain behaviors that would be intolerable within a traditional insurer. For example, our trucking accident law firm has been called in the past to help clients that had been mistreated by a self-insured trucking company. Such mistreatment has taken the form of witness badgering, evidence tampering, and plaintiff threatening. When we became involved, we sought certain legal action in order to coerce the self-insured trucking company to begin acting correctly against our client. Once the legal playing field was leveled, then we were able to help our client through the legal process against such a liable and unethical entity. Had these clients chosen to contact us before seeking compensation on their own against these types of trucking companies, we likely could have saved them from much frustration and lost hours.
Deceitful Tractor-Trailer Drivers
In some instances, a tractor-trailer driver may opt to lie about their involvement in a wreck, or about the particular details of an accident. In these instances, a combination of thorough investigative work and careful deposition techniques can function to verify the validity of a tractor-trailer driver’s story. Such drivers may choose to lie about their wreck if they fear they might lose their job if the real story was known. This can often happen when a severe personal injury has been sustained by a victim or when a fatality has occurred. However, our job is to seek out the truth of an accident scene, regardless of the various stories that a liable party may tell. With two decades of experience, and listening to hundreds of truck drivers relate different details about 18-wheeler wrecks, we’re often able to ascertain whether or not further inquiry needs to be made into a truck driver’s story.
Do I Need an Attorney’s Help with My Tractor Trailer Accident Case in Dallas?
In the same way that you likely wouldn’t perform open-heart surgery on a friend, seeking to represent yourself in a challenging civil lawsuit is a risky choice. A victim can know the law to a great degree, but knowledge is only one part of being able to see a civil lawsuit through to a successful outcome. Experience and reputation are also necessary aspects that a legal representative must possess for the opportunity for a civil suit to result in a welcome outcome for the plaintiff. Proper procedure must be followed in court or a case could be thrown out on a technicality, even if the liable party is readily identified as being guilty of causing or contributing to the accident. Furthermore, the compensation awarded through the successful conclusion of a tractor trailer accident lawsuit may be quite sizable. Consequently, the choice to self-represent could be a costly mistake. The challenges of pursuing legal action against a trucking company and their insurer, in addition to the other liable parties that may be involved in the accident case, are often immense, as evidenced by the information provided in this article. The opposition in these types of cases is often well-experienced in their particular fields of work. Furthermore, a plaintiff often has little to no access to investigative resources that are often necessary to proving the actual events of a tractor-trailer accident. As a result, seeking legal help for assistance with your Dallas trucking accident case is an important first step in seeking compensation and pursuing justice.
What to Do Following a Tractor Trailer Accident
First, seek proper medical care within a reasonable amount of time. The legal issue known as “duty to mitigate damages” refers to the fact that an injured victim must seek out medical attention within a reasonable amount of time following an accident such that the injury is not allowed to worsen. If the injury worsens too much, the victim may not be able to seek compensation for their injury from the liable party or parties. That is one of the reasons why seeking medical attention is important, in addition to the often physical necessity of seeking medical help. Certain medical conditions sustained in a trucking accident may not be readily apparent following an accident, so it’s important to seek medical help following an accident, even if you’re unsure whether or not you’ve sustained an injury. If you are without medical insurance or cannot otherwise afford to seek medical care, contact our law firm at 1-855-326-0000. We can help you located proper medical help that will take your financial means into consideration. Furthermore, medical costs can be reimbursed through the successful conclusion of a civil lawsuit.
Secondly, contact an experienced Dallas tractor trailer accident lawyer as soon as possible following an accident. 18-wheeler accidents can often have complex accident sites that will require a thorough investigation to be conducted as soon as possible so that a strong and robust case can be built based on evidence obtained at the crash site. As time goes by, that evidence can become lost, or even deleted or manipulated by a liable party that doesn’t want to get caught. Key witnesses may also become increasingly difficult to track down. As such, contacting an attorney as soon as possible in order to help you with your claim against a negligent truck driver, trucking company, insurance company, or other liable party is often an early, beneficial step toward seeking justice against the liable parties.
Contact Dallas Tractor Trailer Accident Lawyer Michael Grossman
If you have been injured as a result of a tractor trailer accident in Dallas, Texas, or if you’ve had the misfortune to have lost a loved one due to a tractor-trailer wreck in the Metroplex area, consider contacting Dallas tractor trailer accident lawyer Michael Grossman and his team at Grossman Law Offices at 1-855-326-0000 for a toll-free legal consultation. We can discuss the merit of your possible civil suit, as well as your legal options to seek compensation and pursue justice against the parties responsible for your injury or loss. With 20 years of relevant experience and a proven history of helping clients, trucking accident attorney Michael Grossman can help you through this difficult time so that you can start the recovery process.
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