Any truck injury lawyer will tell you: Truck crash injury claims can be very different from a typical car accident case.
When comparing the two, you’ll notice these five important differences, said Michael T. Gibson, president of Michael T. Gibson P.A. Auto Justice Attorney, a firm in Orlando.
1. There are often multiple parties that may be held liable.
In a car accident, it’s normally you versus a negligent driver or a pedestrian.
In accidents with a commercial truck, you may be dealing with a negligent truck driver, trucking company, vehicle manufacturer and/or mechanic, Gibson said.
“Trucking cases go beyond, ‘Did the driver make a mistake in driving a truck?’” Gibson added. “There are laws that govern how much [one person] can drive, how much rest time they should have, etc. And when we get into the logs, we sometimes find violations of those issues – for example, maybe the driver wasn’t credentialed enough to be driving in the first place, or he or she was on prescription medication and shouldn’t have been driving on in the first place. These issues can and do sometimes decide the whole case.”
2. Injuries from truck accidents may be more likely to be serious or fatal.
A typical passenger vehicle weighs about 3,000 pounds, where the typical truck can weigh anywhere from 10,000 to more than 80,000 pounds when cargo is included.
Trucks traveling at high rates of speed with heavy loads can be harder to maneuver and stop.
The size discrepancy between a passenger car and a truck is one reason why injuries that result from these crashes can be so severe, and may result in long-term suffering, disability or death.
3. Truck accidents may be caused by operational or mechanical hazards such as blind spots or cargo shifts, rather than driver hazards.
The size of a truck presents many operational hazards, such as larger blind spots and more difficulty maneuvering or breaking, Gibson said.
The hauling of cargo can also present a hazard if it is unbalanced, loose, or it shifts during transport.
These are hazards that normal vehicles do not face on such a serious scale.
4. Trucking companies may dispatch their legal team immediately to the scene to handle the situation.
Most trucking companies are ready at a moment’s notice to handle a crash, Gibson said.
By sending out their crash investigation team at the moment a crash occurs, they can gather the evidence before you even have a chance to consider talking to a truck accident lawyer.
They may have a truck crash attorney of their own out at the scene shortly after the wreck. You want to be prepared on your end, as well.
5. Truck driver records are important pieces of evidence that may be easily falsified or destroyed before a claim is filed.
Unique to truck accidents are driver records and “black box” data, which record important information at the time of the crash.
Some of these records, such as the driver’s time on duty, can easily be manipulated, Gibson said.
Even worse, after a period of time, the truck company can legally destroy these records, removing them from the potential evidence in your case.
Trucks contain critical digital evidence, which often means dash-cam video.
“So if a truck driver is trying to say you stopped abruptly, you can often get that on video,” Gibson said.
But you might have to spend months fighting for that digital evidence. And if you have an attorney who isn’t experienced in obtaining something like this, your lawyer might not know exactly how to go about it, Gibson said.
But you want to make sure you get the original data, whenever possible.
“These are items, sometimes in the course of business, that could be wiped out in 30 days,” Gibson said. “You want an attorney who knows what they’re doing. You have to request it early. We get out an evidence preservation letter, request driver logs, ask what they were hauling, as the weight of the truck is relevant, request dash cam video – and if you don’t know what to ask, (the company) might not keep these things.”
If you’re concerned about how to handle these differences, remember that you have the right to work with a truck injury lawyer. Just as the trucking companies will have their legal teams, you should level the playing field with a truck accident lawyer of your own, Gibson said.
“The trucking industry is a highly regulated industry. There’s a large subsect of federal and state laws specific to trucking. If you have an attorney who isn’t familiar with the laws, they’re going to miss opportunities.”
Learn more about Gibson’s firm or schedule a consultation here.