The Most Common Truck Accident Injuries

Anytime there's an 18-wheeler involved in a collision, the likelihood of serious injury increases substantially. In this article, we'll be taking a look at some of the most common types of injuries incurred in a crash with an 18-wheeler.

Questions Answered on This Page:

• What are some common truck accident injuries?
• What are your legal remedies/filing a lawsuit?
• How do you obtain fair compensation?

In Texas, the civil justice system provides you with avenues to seek compensation from the trucking company responsible for your injuries. A settlement from a truck accident case is not guaranteed, and you are not entitled to a single dime in compensation simply for being involved in a truck accident under Texas law. But the laws of the state of Texas do grant you the right to seek compensation.

Common injuries suffered in trucking accidents

Trucking accidents can often result in a wide array of physical harms, from "lesser" injuries like broken bones and mild back problems, all the way to complete paralysis. Further, you might have injuries you're not even currently aware of---it's quite common for the full extent of physical damage to only become apparent days, weeks, or even months after a crash. Regardless of the extent you believe you've been hurt, you need to seek out the best medical attention you can find, and then follow up if and when problems get worse.

The type of injury sustained will be central to the legal strategy for litigating your case. For example, if you or a loved one has been paralyzed, then you not only need to seek compensation for lost wages and lost earning capacity (the money and benefits that would have been earned in the future), but also for the debilitating costs associated with future medical expenses, including wheelchairs, long-term care nurses, and extensive physical therapy sessions.

Another common type of bodily harm sustained in a trucking accident is a spinal injury. Because these can be very expensive and require long-term treatment, the trucking company's attorneys will likely attempt to argue at some point in the litigation process that your spinal injury was a "preexisting condition." This defense tactic insinuates that your spinal injury existed before the accident and your settlement should be reduced to reflect that the defendant only made the injury slightly worse instead of creating the problem.

To overcome this allegation, you have to prove that your injury was the product of the defendant's actions. Grossman Law Offices's attorneys have met and exceeded the burden of proof for many cases just like yours. Through testimony from treating physicians and other experts, we can demonstrate that your injuries were directly caused by the crash, as well as prove the validity of the costs you have and are likely to incur as a result.

Sadly, we've also seen countless cases of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in truck accidents. Most people know about getting a concussion, perhaps having sustained one during a sports injury or after taking a fall. Concussions, generally, are not especially dangerous when properly treated. A traumatic brain injury, on the other hand, is extraordinarily serious and causes permanent damage. The full effects can take years to develop, and can lead to symptoms ranging from depression and memory issues to what in layman's terms can only be described as complete mental breakdown. The science on TBIs has advanced in recent years, such that we're able to determine what damage exists in much more minute detail. You need an attorney with the resources and medical experts to help find out exactly what's happened, and how best to help you.

Why you should consider hiring an experienced truck accident attorney

After suffering an injury in a trucking accident, you might consider filing an insurance claim against the carrier of the trucking company that owns the rig involved in the wreck. If you believe nothing else we tell you, we can promise this: that would be a huge mistake. We have been practicing law for two decades and have literally never seen a self-represented plaintiff win a case - not because that case wasn't strong, nor because the victim wasn't necessarily smart or even something other than quite successful in their normal life, but because the victim simply couldn't know everything involved with litigating their case. Your only reasonable chance of obtaining fair compensation is by getting the help of a skilled and aggressive Texas truck accident attorney.

A trucking policy claim is vastly different from one stemming from a car accident. Commercial trucks are required to, at a minimum, carry $1 million in liability coverage. Truck policies required to be so large because the damage that trucks can do - and the injuries they can inflict - are typically much more severe than those associated with the average automobile accident.

But because the amount of money at stake is so massive, the trucking company's insurance provider is likely to assign one of its most experienced adjusters to your case. This adjuster will focus all of their skills on fighting your claim. The trucking policy insurance adjuster assigned to your claim will employ aggressive - many would say "underhanded" - tactics in an effort to achieve his or her objective. These people are employed to do one thing: get you on record, ask a million questions until they get the answer they want, and then pay you a few pennies on the dollar of what your claim is worth.

Our attorneys have been litigating Texas trucking accident cases for so long that we're well aware of all the tactics that an adjuster will employ. We also know how to counteract them. When you call Grossman Law Offices, you can rest assured that you will not be bullied by a very aggressive - and very effective - insurance company adjuster.

What kind of compensation your injuries deserve

You know that you deserve restitution for your suffering. But what would you consider "fair" restitution? If you do not have an immediate answer to that question, that's just one more reason you need the help of an attorney with a great deal of experience in litigating Texas truck accident cases, and winning them as well.

There are tangible (economic) damages, such as present medical expenses and lost wages. There are also subjective (non-economic) damages that allow compensation for less-visible injuries such as pain and suffering, disfigurement, and mental and emotional trauma. Perhaps surprisingly, the tangible and subjective damages are equally difficult to prove. At every step of your case, your attorney will confront the defendants' efforts to minimize every claim you make. For example, even for your hard-and-fast medical damages, the defendants' highly-paid attorneys will argue that your injuries were preexisting, or that the doctor performed wildly excessive amounts of treatment on you.

The bottom line in all this is that your best chance of success in a commercial vehicle injury claim is retaining an attorney who's been down this road literally hundreds of times. At Grossman Law Offices, we have helped thousands of clients obtain fair compensation from trucking companies over the past 25 years. If you would like more information, call us at (855) 326-0000 (toll free) for a confidential and free consultation.

You may also want to read:

• What's Should I Do Immediately After a Truck Accident?
• Truck accidents resulting in brain injuries
• Truck accidents resulting in property damage