Roswell, GA Truck Accident Lawyer

A truck accident can cause devastating damage to multiple vehicles.  Even in accidents that only involved your car and a truck, you could be left with severe injuries that you need help getting coverage for.

Trucking companies and the insurance companies they hire will rarely give up damages without a fight.  As such, it is often in your best interests to turn to lawyers like us who can fight for you.  We will stand up to trucking companies and fight to get you the damages you deserve after your crash.

For a free analysis of your case, call our truck accident lawyers from Rice, Murtha & Psoras today at (470) 287-3070.

Who is at Fault for a Truck Accident in Roswell, GA?

When a car crash involves two cars, the concept of fault usually comes down to deciding between the two drivers which one broke the law or did something wrong to cause the crash.  The two drivers can more easily be sorted into “victim” and “defendant.”  In truck accidents, there are often complications that make it harder for truck accident lawyers to prove fault.

Trucking Companies – Fault as Employer

Trucking companies that hire drivers as employees can be held liable for what their employees do while performing their job duties.  In the case of a truck accident, this often means the trucker’s mistakes are the trucking company’s mistakes, and victims can sue the trucking company for what the driver did.

Note that this only works when the trucker is an employee.  Independent contractors or independent “owner-operators” often work for themselves and only work for some company under a contract, not as an employee.  These setups often block transportation companies from being liable for a trucker’s crashes.

Trucking Companies – Direct Fault

Trucking companies can also be liable directly for things they did wrong.  For example, negligent hiring refers to hiring a driver without taking the necessary steps to do a background check or run their driving record, thus putting a dangerous driver on the road.  They can also be liable for negligent retention of an employee they knew to be dangerous after crashes, drunk driving, vehicular assault, or other offenses under their employment.

The trucking company also usually owns and performs upkeep on the trucks, making them liable if the crash was caused by a mechanical issue.  Similar issues can also occur when the cargo leaks – such as from a leaking container truck – and drips dangerous or flammable fluids all over the road and other cars.  In these cases, the truck driver might also be a victim of the trucking company’s dangerous practices.

Other Drivers

Sometimes truck crashes happen because of negligence on the part of other drivers around them.  For example, if another driver cut off a trucker, the truck might have swerved and hit you – or worse, flipped and caused a multi-car pileup.  Trucks could also face severe damage when hit by another car, potentially resulting in a second crash or even a truck fire that could injure other drivers and passengers on the road.

In cases where multiple “crashes” occur in a single event, the driver who caused the first crash is usually liable for everything that happened afterwards.  However, if other people made mistakes in the interim that made the additional crashes worse, they might share fault.  Ultimately, this becomes a giant knot where the judges and lawyers need to pull out each individual strand of fault to assign blame and damages to the right drivers.

You (the Victim)

In some cases, victims are not 100% innocent.  Truck accident cases often see the defense blaming the victim, trying to put part of the blame on them for things like failing to use a turn signal, slight speeding, or mild distractions behind the wheel.  If you suffered serious injuries in a crash that you did not cause, you should be entitled to have every penny of damages paid back, and our lawyers can fight to see that happen.

If the court does find you partially responsible, it will not block you from recovering compensation unless the court finds you were 50% at fault or more.  Otherwise, it will merely reduce your overall award by the same percentage of your fault.  For example, if your case was worth $10,000 and you were found 10% at fault, you would lose $1,000 and the trucking company would pay only $9,000.

Mechanics

Often, the mechanics that service trucks are employees of the trucking companies.  This means that the trucking company would be liable for any mistakes they made that made the truck dangerous.  However, if the trucking company relied on a third-party mechanic, and they made the truck unsafe, there is a chance the mechanic could be liable for the crash.

Auto Manufacturers

Similar theories can be used to hold a truck manufacturer liable for a crash: if parts of the truck were defective, that would make the manufacturer at fault.  This is most common with brakes or tires where failure is a common cause of a crash.

Damages for Injures Trucking Accident Victims in Roswell, GA

If you were hit by a truck, you could be entitled to recover substantial compensation.  These accidents often cause severe injuries leading not only to pain and suffering but also expensive medical care and lost wages.  These three areas of damages are some of the most common in truck accident cases, but you can also seek damages for any other economic harms you face because of the crash, loss of consortium for your spouse, mental and emotional distress damages, and more.  It is important to always talk to a lawyer about the damages in your case, as insurance companies and defendants are very likely to calculate these damages in ways that will undercut the value or potentially leave off whole areas of damages they simply do not want to pay.

Call Our Truck Accident Attorneys in Roswell, GA Today

For help with your case, call Rice, Murtha & Psoras’ truck accident attorneys at (470) 287-3070.