DeSoto Truck Accident Lawyer

Attorney Michael Grossman Discusses The Reasons to File a DeSoto or Cedar Hill Commercial Truck Accident Injury Lawsuit

Our lawyers in DeSoto, Cedar Hill, Cockrell Hill and Lancaster know about the tremendous emotional and physical toil caused by truck accidents. Because of all our experience, we’ve realized lots of truck accident victims are hesitant to pursue legal action since they find putting a price on their injuries off-putting and doing that causes them to relive the moment in their mind. While filing a claim can be unpleasant, as we’ll see later in this article, quick action is critically important to the success of your claim so you need to move quickly after your accident happens.

There are two reasons why it’s key to pursue a lawsuit when it comes to harm done by a Cockrell Hill truck accident: it allows the injured party to recover from the financial and emotional trauma caused by the accident punishing those whose negligent actions resulted in the accident. There’s no sum of money that erase the damages caused by your accident or take that painful memory from your mind, you still have overwhelming financial burdens you have to recover from. The only way to get your family back to normal following such a tragedy is to get compensation from the person or group that was responsible for your wreck. You also probably missed plenty of work due to your injuries, so covering medical expenses to fix your injuries and repair costs for your car can be impossible unless you sue the party or parties who caused your injuries.

The other objective for a DeSoto truck accident lawsuit is to try and reduce additional negligent behavior by punishing those liable for the DeSoto accident. People who have lost tremendous sums of money in Cedar Hill truck accident lawsuit will usually not do the same thing again. If you want someone’s attention - focus on their pocketbook.

Common Negligent Causes of Truck Accidents

If you want to know who you should sue, you’ve got to first figure out how the accident happened and who was responsible. Lots of people can be involved in transporting goods by a truck, so in a lot of DeSoto truck accident cases, more than one party may have acted in a negligent manner that caused or led to the cause of a DeSoto truck accident. A veteran DeSoto truck accident lawyer can use past experiences gained over years of working truck accident claims to properly determine the cause of your accident and everyone who was liable. Any amount of negligent parties could have caused a truck accident: the truck driver, the trucking business he works for, makers of the truck or trailer, the company that loaded the truck up, or other third parties. For instance:

• Truck drivers - Truckers spend countless hours traveling up and down the highway and in a lot of truck accident cases, they are responsible either totally or partially. Truck drivers cause accidents with such negligent behavior as: driving under the influence or drugs or alcohol, speeding, driving through stop signs, or crazed swerving. Basically, Lancaster truck accidents happen due to fatigue by the Lancaster truck driver. Drivers are mandated by federal law to take required rest breaks, but a lot of trucks blow those rules off so they can meet required company deadlines. There are studies that show the chances of a truck driver being involved in a wreck double following eight consecutive hours spent driving and 20 percent of those surveyed said that had fallen asleep more than once behind the wheel the month before they were interviewed. Whether accidentally or intentionally, if a trucker’s negligence led to an accident that harmed you, then you’ll be able to file a lawsuit against that individual.

• Trucking Companies - Texas adheres to a legal concept known as respondeat superior which means that employers are held liable for the actions or inaction of their workers. If it’s discovered that the trucker’s negligence led to your accident, then trucking company would also be found liable. That’s why if a truck has a string of DUI convictions in the past, then causes a wreck while plastered drunk, then the trucking company becomes liable for any injuries caused by the accident. Along with that, it’s key to know the trucking company doesn’t have to do anything negligent on its to be deemed liable for the negligent behavior of its truckers. That means as long as the trucker is found negligent, a lawsuit can be pursued seeking damages from the trucking company. The majority of the time the trucking company is the preferred defendant that damages are pursued for because it has great access to more resource than the drivers working for them.

• Manufacturers - If you were able to look close, you’d discover trucks and trailers are made up of thousands of parts, all put together to make sure the vehicle operates safely. If any of these parts don’t perform like they’re meant to while the truck is working, then that can lead to an accident. If this error was due to a design defect or manufacturing error and a wreck ensues, then anyone hurt in the accident has the ability to pursue compensation from the manufacturer.

• The Company that Planned the Route - Not every road and neighborhoods in DeSoto, Cedar Hill, Cockrell Hill and Lancaster are meant for trucking, and lots of bridges have weight and height restrictions that have been established. In order to maintain safety, busy trucking companies often turn to other companies to contract out the planning of safe routes. If this business develops a course that is showed to be unsafe and dangerous for DeSoto trucks, then a lawsuit can be filed against that business.

  
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• The Company that Loaded the Cargo - Sometimes, a company that owned the cargo puts it on the truck themselves, and sometimes another business takes on that task. If the company that put the cargo on did it in an improper or unsafe manner, this can lead to a wreck and injuries that the company would be responsible for. Cargo in a Cedar Hill truck is limited to 80,000 pounds, but several companies try to carry more goods at a lower cost and disregard this rule. Weight limits are established for a reason because an overloaded truck has a greater chance to turn over and cause considerably more damage when it has an accident.

  When the company that puts the cargo on doesn’t fasten it properly, the cargo has a chance to loosen during travel, causing a load shift that topples the trailer and leads to accidents with other cars in DeSoto, Cockrell Hill, Cedar Hill, or Lancaster. When flatbed trucks are involved, poorly loaded cargo can spill onto the road and create serious havoc for tons of unsuspecting drivers who are moving behind the truck.

• Other Drivers - Just because you saw a truck involved in a DeSoto accident doesn’t mean the truck or the driver was the cause of the wreck. Sometimes other motorists ignore their responsibility to ensure the safety of others on the road, and a Cockrell Hill truck accident unfolds, creating damage and injuries to additional drivers on the road. In that case, the victims can seek damages from this third party.

Any of these parties or a combination of lots of them could have totally or partially played a part in the Cedar Hill truck accident that hurt you. You need the assistance of a veteran Lancaster truck accident lawyer who locate the cause and all of the key defendants, so that you can obtain the compensation you deserve from all the parties who hurt you with their negligence.

Prompt Investigation is Critical

A quick and thorough investigation has to take place if you hope to get the required evidence to spot all of the pertinent parties and prove your case after you’ve been hurt in a DeSoto truck accident case. Since there are multiple groups that could have in a negligent manner and played a role in your injury, a solid investigation is need to figure out all of the liable parties and their degree of negligence. You’re going to need proof to be able to persuade the jury to rule for you, and evidence begins to vanish quickly following a Cockrell Hill wreck. You need to put your Cedar Hill lawyer on the trail of evidence as quickly as possible. For every day you choose not to find a lawyer you’re comfortable with, you are doing incredible damage to your case because the proof you need is leaving quickly - witnesses vanish or their memories fade, videos get deleted and the accident scene will change physically.

Our DeSoto truck accident lawyers at Grossman Law Offices have devoted two decades to learning the art of investigating accident scenes. The moment you retain us we go quickly to the accident scene at no cost to our clients, so we can search for any evidence that supports our client’s case. We do what’s necessary to get to the bottom of the truth - locking down and securing all the pertinent vehicles, taking photos, looking for video evidence, scouring through police reports, measuring the distance between skid marks and points of impact, doing forensic tests, finding and interviewing witnesses and compiling any evidence we spot so we can use it later at trial.

Odds are that you’re already probably lagging behind the defense’s investigative efforts. A lot of times, the trucking or insurance company sends their investigators to the scene of the accident the moment it’s reported by the trucker. The defensive investigators aren’t worried about determining how the accident really occurred; they just want to obtain evidence that shows your injuries were due to your own negligence. If you don’t have your attorneys on the scene doing their own work in DeSoto, Cedar Hill, Cockrell Hill or Lancaster, you won’t know if the defense has tampered with evidence or not, or done its investigation in an honest, ethical manner. If they can locate evidence that proves your negligence, then they can get your insurance claim tossed if they can show you were completely responsible, or shrink the damages if owed if they can adequately show your partial negligence.

One recent case we worked in DeSoto illustrates the need for a quick and complete investigation. In this situation, our firm was hired by the driver of a regular car after he was involved in an accident at night with a truck. The trucking company said our client didn’t have headlights installed in his vehicle when the accident unfolded. Once we were brought on the case, our client’s demolished car had been taken from the accident scene and to a salvage yard close by. When our DeSoto attorneys spot the car at the junkyard, they discovered that it was truly without its headlights. We were instantly worried about our client being able to obtain compensation, but our investigators surveillance camera in the salvage yard and were able to get a video copy of the footage. This exact surveillance system was program to record over its memory every 48 hours, and we got our hands on the footage shortly before it was deleted. The footage showed a worker from the trucking company illegally removing and escaping with our client’s headlights. Later in trial, when the trucking company’s defense council attempted to say our client’s vehicle didn’t have any headlights installed, we had physical evidence to show their deception and get compensation for our client. If our client had made the mistake of waiting any longer to retain us, the video would have been lost, any ability to get restitution would have shrunk, and the trucking company would have prevailed in committing evidence tampering - which is a felony.

Our Cedar Hill attorneys run into lies and deception quite often in Cedar Hill truck accident cases, so you need to get a lawyer and have a time, quick investigation start as quick as possible. Sometimes, our Cedar Hill investigators can still locate the necessary proof long after an accident has occurred, but the quicker we can start investigating, the better chance we have of finding the proof necessary to get the compensation you deserve. Don’t delay any further before talking with a Cedar Hill truck accident lawyer.

Common Obstacles that Plaintiffs Must Overcome

Just because you’ve filed an insurance claim after a normal car accident doesn’t mean you’re able to handle your DeSoto truck accident lawsuit on your own. Trucking insurance policies are valued at 50 times that of a normal insurance policy. Because of the enormity of commercial trucking insurance policies, litigation to settle these cases is far more detailed than your normal car. Plaintiffs who try to save money on lawyer’s fees by working their own case end up costing themselves far more than they saved with decreased or totally denied compensation. Citizens with zero legal background and lawyers who are just out of school are often ripped to shreds when try and file lawsuits following truck accidents because of multiple common challenges: establishing the burden of proof, the bulk of the insurance policies, self-insured trucking companies and truckers who choose to lie.

Burden of Proof

The law doesn’t require the defendant or defendants to pay you a dime after you’ve been hurt in a DeSoto truck accident unless you, the plaintiff, can show they have to. In order to get the fair restitution you deserve for your injuries, you’ll have to back up your case with solid, credible evidence. Even when other kinds of negotiation are used to settle a claim, evidence must be located to get the defense or insurance to work in good faith. You have to met each of these four factors in a DeSoto trucking accident case:

• Duty - The first step is that you have to show the defendant owed you a duty to ensure your safety by acting reasonably. The law has set guidelines for the legal duty of care owed for a specific circumstance and for each group depending on their relationships. In Cockrell Hill truck accident cases, meeting this element usually isn’t difficult, since all motorists have to operate their cars in ways that would protect other drivers, pedestrians and passengers on the road.

• Breach - If you want to prove your case, the next part is to show that the defendant or defendants breached the responsibility of care they owed you. This usually occurs when the defendant put others at risk either with choices that normal people wouldn’t do or inaction when a normal person would be asked to do something. You’ll need to acquire evidence that shows the defendant disregarded his or her legal duty of care by action or inaction in order to show this breach of duty. Along with all this, you’ll need a Lancaster truck accident lawyer who is able to use that evidence to persuade a jury that the defendant or defendants behaved improperly.

• Causation - Besides being able to establish the defendant or defendant’s breach of a legal duty to you, but also that your injuries came about due to this breach. Since multiple parties could have caused or factored into the cause of a Lancaster truck accident, it takes strong, credible evidence to make a jury see a causal relationship was there between the defendant’s breach of his or her obligation to you and the ensuing harm it caused. If not, then the defendant can defeat your case by shifting blame to someone else for your injuries. A lot of times, the defendant or defendant’s best option of avoiding blame is to put the fault squarely on the victim for his or her injuries through their very own negligence.

  

• Damages - After you’ve proven the first three parts in a successful DeSoto truck accident lawsuit, you have to then prove the damages the defendant owes for the injuries you’ve sustained. Legally, damages have nothing to do with your injuries or destroyed property, but instead refer to the compensation the defendant owes for creating that harm. The plaintiff has the ability to go after damages for medical costs, lost income, pain and suffering, lost earning income, property damage and other losses sustained in the accident.

  The bad part is that you can’t just request compensation from the court and automatically get it. You’ve got to present evidence that shows not just your losses but also how you reached the monetary value of those damages. Chances are, defendants are going to content the total compensation that plaintiff has demanded and will counter with their own amount owed that will probably decrease the overall fiscal amount of harm the plaintiff was hit with. If you want to show the defendant low-balled their estimate, you’ve got to provide rock-solid evidence to show your totals are valid.

  How much is my case worth? Since damages like pain and suffering or loss of earning capacity are extremely subjective and open to interpretation, totaling damages can very difficult for the unqualified. It’s very tough to put a number on pain and suffering or estimate lost earning capacity by figuring out the overall value of hypothetical raises and inflation. In trial, you only get one shot to total the amount of equitable compensation that you’re entitled to. For the past two decades, our Cedar Hill truck accident lawyers have been figuring damages, and we have developed enough familiarity with cases like yours to know how to compile all of your losses and reach an estimation of compensation that properly gives you the restitution you seek.

Being unable to establish any of these four things guarantees that you’ll also likely be unable to get the compensation for the harm done to you. You need the assistance of a DeSoto truck accident lawyer - especially if you head to trial. Years of experience trying truck accident cases has aided our lawyers in developing a solid legal strategy to meet the burdens of proof and persuade any jury to rule for you.

Enormous Insurance Policies

Federal regulations state that trucking companies have to obtain large insurance policies to protect against accidents, injuries and possible fatalities that happen due to working with big rigs. As a result, many people falsely assume they’ll get compensated quicker and without any issues. Most of the time, that’s simply untrue. Since insurance policies for trucks can valued at 50 times that of normal car passenger coverage, the insurance companies typical invest 50 times the resources and energy to defend their trucking policies.

With everything on the line, insurance companies turn to their shrewdest and most qualified insurance adjusters to deal with settlement negotiations. While you’re probably a novice at working truck accident claims, these adjusters are the elite and deal with these matters on a routine basis. They are experts in using the initial shock from victims and their basic trust of local insurance agents against them in order to turn down their claims. They offer up fake friendship and attempt to convince the victim that they want to help him or her get compensation - if only the victim would first answer some basic questions. They really don’t want to help; they are just wanting to increase company profits and turn down your claim. After that, they hit you with a ton of questions that basically re-word the same questions nonstop in hopes of getting to mess up and admit your own liability in the accident. If they can get you to accidentally confess, then they can toss your claim. It’s best if you have as little contact with the insurance adjuster, so obtain a veteran DeSoto truck accident lawyer and let your legal team handle the incessant questions from the insurance adjusters. In fact, we’d prefer that you don’t talk to any member of an insurance company without a lawyer there to act as a buffer. If you choose our firm, our Cedar Hill lawyers will take care of all conversations with the insurance company and guard you from any chance at admitting your own liability.

A lot of times, aggressive adjusters will even attempt to get accident victims to waive their rights to sue in exchange for a smaller settlement offer. It’s wise to want to avoid the stress and uncertainty of a jury trial, but you don’t want to at take an offer than doesn’t properly compensate you for the harm you’re dealing with. Only a DeSoto lawyer with a long track record of success can get the insurance company to bring a fair settlement, because they’re afraid of losing additional money at trial.

The insurance company will also try and dodge liability for your injuries by turning to a savvy defense team that can pinpoint the legal loopholes and procedural hurdles that would cause other plaintiffs to destroy their chances at compensation. You need a veteran DeSoto truck accident lawyer who can go toe-to-toe with the defense specialists. Our DeSoto attorneys have won several million dollars from every big-time insurance company in the country, and we’ve learned how to anticipate everything in their bag of tricks.

Self-Insured Companies can be More Treacherous

Instead of buying a normal insurance policy, some trucking companies budget aside an amount of their total assets in reserve to be used as insurance in the event of an accident. While the federal government oversees the insurance industry, which requires that all companies be registered, adjusters be licensed and ethical standards be followed, self-insured companies aren’t forced to follow any ethical guidelines. That’s why self-insured companies have earned the reputation of acting unethically and being impossible to handle when negotiations are involved. A lot of times, in order to reach a settlement with a self-insured company, you’ll have to deal with a worker from the company. Since this individual probably gets part of their income through profit sharing, they have every reason to turn down your claim. This officer would be giving you their own money if they let you get the equitable restitution you’re owed. With their own income at stake, self-insured companies usually put their own best-interests ahead of the injured victims and will turn to despicable acts like bullying witnesses, altering or tampering with evidence and threatening victims.

If a self-insured company has tried to bully you or push you around, then you need to get them to quit with the help of a DeSoto truck accident lawyer. The minute we’re hired, our DeSoto attorneys can pressure self-insured companies to negotiation in good faith with threats of legal action there as an option.

Truck Drivers Can’t be Trusted

We all want to hope that people are basically good and trustworthy, but the trucker who hurt you with his negligence simply has too much reason to perpetuate a lie. If the trucker is found to have hurt others while driving negligently as well, then that individual will likely be getting a pink slip shortly, if they haven’t already been canned. It also needs to be noted that a trucker who’s been proven negligent won’t get a similar job so easily with that kind of mark hanging on their record. When you think about the job market and the economy, a lot of good, hard-working trucks will turn to lying so they can save their jobs and ability to provide for their families. To get the compensation you deserve, you need to be able to show the trucker is lying.

Our DeSoto truck accident lawyers have learned about investigating and finding the necessary evidence that reveals the trucker’s lies. We will take apart the trucker’s credibility with all the available evidence while disproving their lies.

In the same manner that insurance adjusters attempt to get victims to admit negligence with a slew of questions, our Lancaster attorneys will develop a series of questions for the deposition, all of it intending to trick the trucker into admitting his or her lie. The Lancaster truck accident lawyers at Grossman Law Offices have deposed thousands of witnesses in the last two decades and we know how to structure the questions to reveal the trucker’s lies.

How We Can Help

If you have sustained any injury or a loved one has died in an 18-wheeler accident in Cockrell Hill, DeSoto, Cedar Hill or Lancaster, you need to get a truck accident lawyer to shield your legal rights and help you in getting the fair compensation you deserve. From filing to resolution, our attorneys will take care of every detail of your case and see to it that you’re update on any developments as they arise. We will give you the following services:

• Conducting an investigation to determine how the accident occurred.
• Locating all of the liable parties and filing comprehensive claims and lawsuits against each party.
• Locating the proper evidence to meet your burden of proof.
• Using our reputation for success to pressure the defendants.
• Shielding victims from non-stop harassing phone calls and questions from insurance adjusters.
• Using a solid investigation and deposition game-plan to reveal the trucker’s lies.

  Did You Know?

  

  Michael Grossman has been fighting for 18 wheeler accident victims` rights for over 20 years. Call Mike to discuss your case. 1-855-326-0000

• Developing a strong game-plan to persuade the jury to rule for our clients.
• Forcing self-insured companies to act ethically and negotiate in good faith.
• Making sure our clients get proper medical attention.

Odds are the defendant has already investigated and concluded its case against you. By waiting any longer to obtain a lawyer, you’re causing serious damage to your chances at getting the restitution you deserve. Call us toll free today at 1-855-326-0000 to get a free consultation and discover how we can assist you much like we have several other Texans.