Trucking accidents are noticeably dissimilar from car accidents in most cases, and for more reasons than just one vehicle is incredibly larger than the other. The differences are not cosmetic, either, but can actually considerably change how any resulting personal injury claims or lawsuits will be managed. In order to improve your chances of winning fair and maximized compensation in a truck accident claim, it helps to learn about the dissimilarities and how they could impact your case.
Consider these key differences between car accidents and truck accidents:
- Liability: In a car accident, you can probably point at the other driver and already know with some confidence that they are liable for what happened. In a truck accident, it will rarely be that easy. Truck drivers are the root of the problem, obviously, but they might have caused the accident due to fatigue that was brought about by unreasonably long work hours. The parent company may be partially liable in that situation. Or, perhaps the maintenance crew didn’t repair the brakes, which failed and sent the truck out-of-control? The point is that liability is often spread out in trucking accident cases, and your claim needs to reflect and be prepared for that complexity.
- Damages: Most car accidents don’t actually cause tremendous amounts of damage, or at the very least, they do not cause so much damage that insurance policy payouts hit a cap. In truck accidents, the sheer weight and size of a big rig will cause widespread devastation. So much so, it is not unusual for insurance policies to cap out and there still to be more damages that need coverage. An injury claim may be able to achieve beyond this limit.
- Opposition: Insurance companies representing individual drivers in car accident claims will put up a fight, but perhaps not as much as legal teams representing trucking companies. If you are not ready for a heated legal battle, sensitive conference room negotiations, and lengthy courtroom litigation, you could be putting yourself at a disadvantage.
Take the guesswork and the legwork out of your trucking accident claim by working with Erskine & McMahon LLP and our personal injury lawyers in Longview, Texas. We havemore than 100 years of combined legal experience and knowledge under our belts, all of which we can put to good use in defending your rights and pursuing compensation on your behalf. Talk to our team during a consultation to learn more about what you should do next after being hurt by a negligent trucker or reckless motorist.