Frisco Truck Accident Attorney

Injured in an 18-Wheeler Accident in Frisco? Call Attorney Michael Grossman

There are several firms that would take your 18-wheeler accident case, but not many can truly say they've got extensive experience in working 18-wheeler and other commercial vehicle accident cases.

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However, the veteran McKinney 18-wheeler accident lawyers of Grossman Law Offices have been dealing with 18-wheeler accident litigation for the past two decades and have prevailed in hundreds of cases. If you're living in McKinney, Allen or Frisco, then we're here to assist you.

There are lots of various forms of commercial vehicles. We have successfully prevailed in personal injury and/or wrongful death claims involving rock haulers, dump truckers, all kinds of construction vehicles, moving vans, buses tankers, and other kinds and shapes of commercial vehicles. Despite all the differing kinds of vehicles out there, these types of cases share some things in common:

• They are usually bigger and can cause considerably more damage than regular cars.
• Different laws oversee them compared to regular vehicles.
• Last, but most critical, they are owned by expensive corporate entities that will develop a tough defense focused on denying plaintiffs proper compensation.

If it's fighting fire with fire, then you've found the right firm. If you want your Frisco 18-wheeler accident case to have the best odds of success, you have to get a law firm that's got a mix of experience, ability, wisdom and the track record to defeat the opposition at trial or persuade them into a fair settlement that they would normally invest great expense and effort in not paying.

When you elect to have Grossman Law offices as your legal representation in your McKinney 18-wheeler accident case, you are obtaining the benefit of 20 years of experience from skilled attorneys who have countless truck accident victories (plus thousands of successful personal injury cases overall) under their belts.

Below is a plethora of information that reveals what happens with the case-flow process in a commercial vehicle accident case, and points out some of the biggest problems in a potential successful recovery.

How 18-Wheeler Accident Cases Work

Persevering through any accident is tough, but there's nothing that can match the damage done by 18-wheeler accidents in Frisco. Big rigs can weigh in excess of 80,000 pounds, so immense damage can happen when they're involved in wrecks. Since truckers are paid hourly, they often work extended hours without breaks, which lead to increased lapses in concentration and consciousness, not to mention additional accidents, injuries, damaged property and fatalities.

For the past two decades, the McKinney 18-wheeler accident lawyers at Grossman Law Offices have been involved in personal injury litigation concerning 18-wheelers, and we've seen how victims usually have plenty of medical and legal questions they need clarification on after they've been hurt or had a loved one die due to an 18-wheeler accident in Frisco. What's critical here is to get properly examined by a medical expert following a Frisco 18-wheeler accident. Besides getting treated for your injuries, you need to get them officially documented too. If you don't have proper medical insurance or are under-insured, then we can get you in touch with a doctor who will work with your financial issues and develop a payment arrangement that can fit your budget.

After your injuries have been treated, you have to start thinking about your legal options for obtaining compensation for the harm that's been inflicted on you. Negligent parties aren't obligated by law to pay for your injuries automatically, but as the victim (also called the plaintiff) you have the burden to show you deserve to receive compensation. Only a veteran Frisco 18-wheeler accident lawyer gives you the best odds of obtaining the compensation you deserve. Our Allen attorneys want to educate you on your legal options, so you can make the best decisions for your family.

This piece is meant to serve for informational purposes only, and you should not rely on it as a replacement for the legal insight of a veteran, talented attorney in in response to the particular details of your 18-wheeler accident in McKinney. To discover more about how the law applies to the specific circumstances of your case, call us toll free at 1-855-326-0000 to have your specific questions answered.

Why You Should File an 18-Wheeler Accident Injury Lawsuit

Our Frisco lawyers know about the horrific emotional and physical pain caused by 18-wheeler accidents. Due to our extensive involvement in these cases, we've seen how lots of 18-wheeler accident victims are hesitant about pursuing legal action since they find putting a price tag on their injuries to be unnerving and doing that causes them to relive the accident. While filing a claim isn't enjoyable, we'll later show that quick action is extremely crucial to your claim's success, so you've got to move as quickly as you can after an accident.

There are two things that can be accomplished if you use a lawsuit to resolve the damages you've sustained due to a Frisco truck accident: it allows the injured party to recover from the financial and emotional pain stemming from the accident punishes those who were responsible for the accident. No sum of money can magically heal the damages you've been hit with from your accident, or erase the memory from your mind, but you've still been hit with serious financial burdens you've got to deal with. The only way to get your family headed in the right direction following a tragedy like this is to get compensation from the people who were responsible for your injuries. You probably haven't worked because of your injuries, so covering your medical bills for your injuries and your repair bills for repairs to your car can be impossible unless you file suit against those who caused your injuries.

Along with that, a McKinney 18-wheeler accident lawsuit helps to decrease continued negligence by punishing those individuals responsible for the wreck. People who have lost substantial amounts of money in Frisco 18-wheeler accident lawsuits usually don't make the same choices again. When you hit someone's wallet, you really get their attention.

Common Negligent Causes of 18-Wheeler Accidents

If you want to know who you can sue, you've first got to discover how the accident happened and who was responsible. Lots of people are involved in transporting goods through an 18-wheeler, so in lots of big rig accident cases in McKinney, Frisco and Allen, more than one party may have acted in a negligent manner that led to the cause of an 18-wheeler accident. A veteran Allen 18-wheeler accident lawyer can use the lessons gained over years of trying 18-wheeler accident claims to properly figure out how your accident happened and all the people who were liable. Any amount of negligent parties could have contributed to an 18-wheeler accident: the truck driver, the trucking company, makers of the truck or trailer, the company the mapped out the truck's route, the company the loaded up the truck, or other third parties. For instance:

• Truck drivers - Truckers spend countless hours, day after day, traveling up and down our highways and interstates, and in the majority of 18-wheeler accident cases, they are liable either partially or entirely for the injuries. Truck drivers cause accidents through such negligent behavior as driving under the influence, breaking the speed limit, running stop signs, or dangerous swerving. In other instances, 18-wheeler accidents in Frisco happen just because the trucker is exhausted. Federal law demands that truckers take required rest breaks, but lots of truckers disregard these rules so they can meet required company deadlines. Studies reveal that the odds of a trucker getting into an accident multiply after eight straight hours behind the wheel, and in one survey 20 percent of truckers confessed to falling asleep behind the wheel at least once in the previous month. Whether intentionally or on accident, if a trucker's negligence caused an accident that left you injured, you can pursue a lawsuit against him or her.

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• Trucking Companies - Texas follows a legal term known as respondeat superior. This means employers can face consequences and be held responsible for the actions or inaction of their workers. If the trucker's negligence was the reason for your accident; then the trucking company would also face punishment. So if a trucker had a string of past DUI convictions, and was responsible for an accident while drunk, then the trucking company would be liable as well for injuries stemming from the accident.

  Along with that, it's key to know the trucking company doesn't actually have to be negligent on its own to be found liable for the negligence of its drivers. That means as long as the trucker is negligent, and a lawsuit can be sought seeking damages from the trucking company. Most of the time the trucking company is the preferred defendant from who to seek damages since it has the link to far more resources than its truckers.

• Manufacturers - Trucks and trailers are made of thousands of parts that are all fashioned together to make sure the vehicle operates safely. If any of these parts don't work properly like they're intended while the truck is moving, then an accident can unfold. If this malfunction was due to a design defect or manufacturing error and a wreck happens, then anyone hurt in the Allen truck accident has the option to pursue compensation from the manufacturer.

• The Company that Planned the Route - If you travel around a lot, you'll see that not every road and neighborhood is designed to handle 18-wheelers. There are bridges, too, with height and weight restrictions. To make sure safety remains, busy trucking companies will often rely on other companies to plan out safe routes for big rigs to travel. if this company develops a route that is determined to be unsafe and dangerous for 18-wheelers, then a lawsuit can be filed against this business.

• The Company that Loaded the Cargo - Sometimes, the company that owned the cargo is able to put it all in just fine, but there are other occasions when they turn to another business for this duty. If the company that put the cargo on did so in an improper manner, this can cause a wreck leading to multiple injuries this business would be responsible for. Cargo in 18-wheelers has an 80,000 pound weight limit, but lots of companies try to subvert this by carrying more goods at a lower cost by disregarding this rule. There's a reason for weight limits since an overloaded truck has a far greater chance to turn over and cause substantially more damage when an accident takes place.

  When the company that puts the cargo on doesn't do it properly, the cargo can loosen up during transport, which leads to a load shift that overturns the trailer and creates an accident with other vehicles. When you're dealing with flatbeds, poorly loaded cargo can spill onto the road and create incredible havoc for all the cars and the suddenly shocked drivers who are behind the big rig.

• Other Drivers - An 18-wheeler may be a part of an accident but that doesn’t mean you should automatically believe the truck or its driver was responsible. Sometimes other motorists ignore this duty to ensure the safety of others on the roads, and what follows is an 18-wheeler accident, which creates additional damage and injuries for extra motorists. When this happens, victims can pursue damages from this third party.

Any of these groups or combinations of lots of them could have completely or partially played a role in the Allen 18-wheeler accident that hurt you. You need the assistance of a veteran Allen 18-wheeler accident lawyer who can determine the cause and all of the potential defendants, so you can obtain the compensation you deserve from all the people who hurt you with their negligent behavior.

Prompt Investigation is Crucial

To get all the pertinent evidence to see who all is responsible and prove your case following your injuries in a Frisco 18-wheeler accident, a quick and thorough investigation needs to take place. Since so many numerous parties could have acted in a negligent manner and played a part in the accident that hurt you, an in-depth investigation is needed to determine all of the responsible parties and their amount of negligence. It will be key to have evidence to move the jury to rule for you, and evidence can disappear quickly following any wreck. You need to hire a McKinney 18-wheeler accident lawyer and put them on the quest for evidence as quick as possible. Every day you let pass without a lawyer you trust leads to additional damage with your case because the proof you need to get is vanishing - witnesses will move or their memories become fuzzy, videos get trashed or deleted and the accident will actually change physically.

Our McKinney 18-wheeler accident lawyers at Grossman Law Offices have devoted 20 years to learning the art of investigating accident cases. The moment we’re retained we travel quickly to the accident scene at no cost to our clients so we can discover any evidence that assists us with our client’s case. We do what’s necessary to get to the bottom of the truth - locking down any key vehicles involved, taking photos, looking for key video evidence, examining police reports, measuring the distance between skid marks and points of impact, doing forensic tests, finding and locating witnesses and gathering any evidence we discover that can assist us later in court.

Chances are, you’ve probably fallen behind the attacks and investigations being done by the defense. Most of the time what happens is the trucking or insurance company gets its investigators to the accident scene shortly after the trucker calls it in. The defense investigators could care less with knowing how the accident really happened; they just want to get evidence to show your injuries were due to your own ignorance. If you don’t have attorneys on the scene doing their own investigation, you won’t know if there was any potential evidence tampering or if the defense did an ethical investigation. If they spot evidence to support your alleged negligence, then they can turn down your insurance claim if they can show you were completely responsible. Or your damages can be decreased if they can prove your contributory negligence.

One case we recently worked in McKinney shows the importance of getting a quick, in-depth investigation. In this particular matter, our firm was hired by the driver of a regular vehicle after he was involved in a nighttime accident with a big rig. The trucking company was alleging our client was driving without any headlights in his car the moment the accident took place. Once we became involved in the case, our client’s smashed up car had already been taken out of the accident scene and to a salvage yard close by. By the time our attorneys found the vehicle at the junkyard, they realized that it was missing headlights. Our concern shifted to our client getting proper compensation, but our investigators noticed a surveillance camera mounted in the salvage yard, so they got a copy of the video. This equipment was arranged to tape over its memory every 48 hours and we luckily got to it shortly before it was deleted. Upon seeing it, we discovered a representative of the trucking company improperly removing and leaving with them from the premises. Later when we were in trial, the trucking company’s defense team was trying to argue that our client’s car had no headlights installed. Right then we had the actual evidence to expose their lies and get compensation for our client. If our client had waited any longer to retain us, the video would have been meaningless, any chances of restitution would have vanished and the trucking company would have prevailed in committing felonious evidence tampering.

Our McKinney attorneys regularly deal with lies and deception when it comes to 18-wheeler accident cases, so you need to get a lawyer and let him or her start a timely and thorough investigation as quick as possible. In some instances, our investigators can still locate the burden of proof long after an accident has occurred, but the quicker we start investigating the better odds we have of getting the proof necessary to obtain compensation you deserve. Don’t delay any further before talking with a McKinney 18-wheeler accident lawyer.

Common Obstacles that Plaintiffs Must Overcome

Just because you’ve file an insurance claim after getting in a car wreck doesn’t mean you’re ready to work an 18-wheeler accident lawsuit on your own. Trucking insurance policies can be priced at 50 times more expensive than your regular auto insurance policy. Because of the enormous size of trucking insurance policies, litigation to settle truck accidents is considerably more detailed than your normal passenger car case. Plaintiffs who tried to save money on lawyer’s fees by working their own case end up costing themselves far more with decreased or denied compensation. People with no legal background and lawyers who are finally out of law school are often left frustrated when they try to file lawsuits following 18-wheeler accidents due to several common challenges: showing the burden of proof, the size of the insurance policies, self-insured trucking companies and truckers who lie.

Burden of Proof

The law doesn’t mandate that the defendant or defendants provide you with anything after you’ve been hurt in an 18-wheeler accident unless you, the plaintiff, can show they must. If you want to get fair restitution for your injuries, you’ll need to provide strong evidence for your case. Even when other means of negotiation are used to settle a claim, evidence must be discovered to urge the defense or insurance to negotiate in good faith. You will need to show each of the four key parts of an 18-wheeler accident case:

• Duty - First, you’ll have to prove the defendant owed you a duty to ensure your safety by acting appropriately. The law has legal duties established for specific circumstances and for each group, all depending on their relationships. When it comes to 18-wheeler accident cases, meeting this part is pretty easy, since every driver must drive their cars in a manner so that it ensures the safety of other motorists, pedestrians and passengers on the road.

• Breach - If you want to prove your case, the next thing you’ll have to show is that the defendant or defendants broke their duty of care you were owed. This usually occurs when the defendant put others in harm’s way with an action that a regular person wouldn’t do or inaction when a normal person would be asked to do something. You’ll have to get evidence that shows a defendant ignored his or her legal duty of care by action or inaction if you want to prove this breach of duty. Along with that, you’ll have to retain an Allen 18-wheeler accident lawyer who is able to take the evidence and persuade a jury to agree the defendant or defendants behaved inappropriately.

• Causation - Besides showing the defendant or defendant’s violation of a legal duty to you, you also must show your injuries were a direct result of this duty being breached. Since lots of various parties could have been responsible or factored into the cause of any 18-wheeler accident, it takes rock-solid evidence to let a jury see a causal relationship existed between the defendant’s breach of his or her obligation to you and the ensuing harm that was caused. If not, then the defendant can take down your case by shifting blame to someone else for your injuries. A lot of times, the defendant or defendant’s best way to duck any blame is to focus the responsibility to the victim for causing their injuries with their own negligent choices.

• Damages - After you’ve shown the first three parts needed for a great 18-wheeler accident lawsuit, you then have to prove the damages that the defendant owes for the injuries you’ve sustained. Legally, damages aren’t about your injuries and property damage, but instead refer to the compensation the defendant owes for causing that harm. The plaintiff can pursue damages for medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, lost earning capacity, property damage and other losses that developed in the tragedy.

  Unfortunately, you can’t just demand the court to give you the compensation you’re owed and think you’ll get it. No, you’ve got to give evidence that shows not just your losses but also how you totaled the monetary value for those damages. Most of the time defendants will fight over this amount of compensation requested by the plaintiff and will come back with their own totals for damages owed that will probably decrease the total fiscal amount of harm inflicted on the plaintiff. If you want to show the defendant deliberately low-balled its’ estimation, you’ve got to provide rock-solid evidence to show your calculations are dead on.

  What is the true worth of my case? Since damages like pain and suffering, or loss of earning capacity are extremely subjective an open to interpretation, totaling damages can be tough for anyone who’s not experienced. It’s very tough to put a price on pain and suffering or try and estimate lost earning capacity by computing the total for potential raises and inflation. In court, you’ve got one opportunity to total the amount of equitable compensation you deserve. For the past two decades, our Frisco commercial vehicle accident lawyers have been figuring damages, and we have gained enough comfort with similar cases to know how to factor in all your losses and reach an estimation on compensation that properly provides for the restitution you deserve.

Failing to show any of these four parts means you’ll not be able to get compensation for the harm inflicted on you. You need to get assistance from a McKinney 18-wheeler accident lawyer - especially if you head to trial. Years of experience trying 18-wheeler accident cases has helped our lawyers learn how to develop a strong legal strategy that meets the burden of proof and persuades juries to rule in your favor.

Enormous Insurance Policies

Federal regulations state that trucking companies have to buy enormous insurance policies to protect against potential accidents, injuries and fatalities that happen due to conducting business with 18-wheelers. Because of this, many falsely assume they will get quick compensation and with zero hassle. Most of the time, that’s untrue. Because insurance policies for trucks are deemed 50 times more expensive than those of normal passenger cars, the insurance companies will typically devote 50 times the resources and energy to protect their trucking policies.

With all that’s on the line, insurance companies turn to their shrewdest and most veteran insurance adjuster to work settlement negotiations. While you’re probably unaccustomed to dealing with 18-wheeler accident claims, these adjusters are the best in the business and work these claims on a regular basis. They are the best in taking an accident victim, who’s still caught in that initial shock, and their quick trust in their neighborhood insurance agent, then twisting all that against them to get their claim turned down. They offer a fake friendship and attempt to get the victim to believe they want to get them compensation - if only the victim will first answer some simple questions. They don’t want to help you; they just want to improve company profits by turning your claim down. Next, they hit you with endless questions that basically re-word the same statements over and over in an effort to get you to slip up and admit you were responsible for your accident. If they can get you to confess, then your claim can get tossed. The less interaction you have with insurance adjusters the better, so obtain a veteran Frisco tractor trailer accident lawyer and let you legal team handle the harassing questions from the insurance adjusters. In fact, we advise clients to not talk with any worker from insurance companies without a lawyer being present and ensuring your safety. If you obtain our firm, our lawyers will take all of the conversations with the insurance company and guard you from accidentally admitting you were at fault.

Sometimes aggressive insurance adjusters will even attempt to get accident victims to waive their right to sue in exchange for a low-ball settlement. It’s best to avoid the stress and unknowns with a jury trial, but you don’t want to take a settlement that doesn’t properly compensate you for the harm you’ve endured. Only an attorney with an extensive track record of success can get the insurance company to offer a fair settlement, since they’re already worried about losing extra money at trial.

The insurance company will also try to avoid liability for your injuries by using a veteran defense team that can spot legal loopholes and procedural hurdles that will cause some plaintiffs to harm their chances at compensation. You need a veteran McKinney 18-wheeler accident lawyer who can counter any attacks made by defense specialists. Our attorneys have been awarded several million dollars from every big-time insurance company in America, and we’ve learned how to figure out every possible trick they use.

Self-Insured Companies can be More Treacherous

Instead of buy a regular insurance policy, many trucking companies budget aside an amount of assets to use as insurance whenever accidents pop up. While the insurance profession is regulated by the federal government, which requires all companies be registered, adjusters get licensed and ethical standards be followed, self-insured companies aren’t hampered by these ethical guidelines and rules. Because of that, self-insured companies have gained a reputation for acting dishonorably and being difficult to work with in negotiations. A lot of times, in order to negotiate a settlement with a self-insured company, you’ll have to deal with a worker from the company’s office. Since this officer probably gets part of their income from profit sharing, they have every reason to turn your claim down. This officer will be giving you his or her own paycheck if they let you get the equitable restitution you’re entitled to. With their income at stake, self-insured companies usually put their own well-being ahead of the injured victims and will turn to such poor behavior as bullying, altering or changing evidence and threatening victims.

If a self-insured company has tried to bully you or push you around, then you can get them to stop with the help of a Frisco 18-wheeler accident lawyer. The moment we’re hired, our attorneys can force self-insured companies to work in good faith, and threaten legal action if necessary.

Truckers Can’t be Trusted

We want to always assume people are basically good and decent, but the trucker who harmed you with their negligent behavior has plenty of reasons to lie. If the trucker is deemed to have hurt others while driving in a negligent manner, then he or she will get a pink slip shortly, if they haven’t been fired already. Moreover, a truck driver who’s been found negligent will have a near impossible time getting another job like that with a black mark on his or her record. When you factor in the job market and the state of the economy, lots of otherwise honest and upstanding truckers will turn to lying so they can protect their jobs and have the ability to take care of their families. To get the compensation you deserve, you’ve got to show the trucker was lying.

Our Allen 18-wheeler accident lawyers have learned how to investigate and spot the key facts that show the trucker is lying. We will pick apart their credibility with all the facts at our dispersal and show their lies.

In the same manner insurance adjusters get victims to admit their negligence with tons of questions, our attorneys will develop questioning for the deposition with intent of tricking the trucker into admitting his or her own lie. The Frisco 18-wheeler accident lawyers at Grossman Law Offices have deposed countless witnesses in the last two decades, and we know how to structure questions to show the truckers lies.

How we can Help

If you’ve been hurt or a family member died in an 18-wheeler accident in McKinney, Allen or Frisco, then you need to retain an 18-wheeler accident lawyer to protect your legal rights and assist you in getting the fair compensation you deserve. From our first documents filed to the court’s resolution, our attorneys take on every part of your case and see to it that you’re kept updated on an ongoing basis. Our other services we provide include:

• Investigating to establish the cause of the accident.
• Spotting all of the key parties and filing comprehensive claims and lawsuits against each of them.
• Discovering key evidence to meet your burden of proof.
• Using our reputation for success to pressure the defendants.
• Shielding victims from telephone calls and questions launched by insurance adjusters.
  
• Turning to a strong investigation and deposition strategy to expose the trucker’s lies.
• Developing a strong strategy to persuade the jury to rule for our clients.
• Pressuring self-insured companies into acting ethically and negotiating in good faith.
• Making sure our clients get the required medical attention they need.

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The odds are that the defense has already finished its investigation and case against you. The longer you delay getting a lawyer, the more damage you cause in your ability to get the restitution you deserve. Call us today at 1-855-326-0000 (toll free) for a free consultation and to see how we can help you like thousands of other Texans.

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