White Marsh, MD Truck Accident Attorney

A truck accident can be incredibly dangerous. Since commercial trucks are so large and heavy, they almost universally cause significant damage to anything they impact in a crash. This includes infrastructure, vehicles, and people. The injuries people sustain in truck accidents are often extremely serious and sometimes permanent. Moreover, getting treatment for truck accident injuries is often quite expensive and can create a great deal of stress and frustration for victims of truck accidents.

If you got injured by a truck in White Marsh, MD, you should get legal counsel as soon as you can. We can provide just that. We can work with you on your case from the start of gathering evidence to trial and beyond. Do not be afraid to seek legal assistance after a truck accident.

To get a free case review, call our truck accident attorneys from Rice, Murtha & Psoras at the number (410) 694-7291.

Proving Negligence in a White Marsh, MD Truck Accident Lawsuit

To be successful in a personal injury/truck accident lawsuit, our truck accident lawyers have to show the court that your opponent -the defendant – was negligent. In law, “negligence” means that a person did not act like a reasonable person would under the circumstances, and that person’s unreasonable acts caused someone else to get injured. Proving negligence is the basis of all personal injury lawsuits, including truck accident lawsuits. Thus, the most important thing to do is to establish that the defendant was negligent.

Negligence has four “elements” that need to be proven:

Duty

A “duty” refers to some obligation that one party has to another. For example, motorists have a duty to drive safely and obey traffic laws so that other people do not get hurt. Truck drivers may have additional duties beyond what is expected of regular drivers. For example, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has guidelines that must be followed regarding how long truck drivers can drive before they are required to take a break. Following these regulations can be considered a duty for truckers.

Breach

Breach refers to when a party does not uphold a duty they have. For example, if a truck driver decides that they want to get where they are going faster, push their limits, and stay on the road beyond what the FMCSA regulations allow, that trucker would be breaching their duty to other drivers by driving while tired, drowsy, and fatigued.

Causation

You need to prove that the defendant caused your injuries or you cannot recover damages from them. To prove causation, you need to establish that the defendant was the “proximate cause” of your injuries. This means that their conduct has to be closely related to the accident. In other words, you need to prove that the defendant was not just a cause of your injuries in a truck accident but the cause.

For example, suppose a trucker is cut off by another driver and misses their exit. A little while later, the trucker decides to do an illegal U-turn to try and get back on course. During this turn, the trucker hits an unsuspecting car traveling in the opposite direction, resulting in an accident that sends the car driver to the hospital. Now, technically, the first driver who cut off the truck driver is part of the cause of your injuries. However, they are not the proximate cause. Their liability is “cut off” by the trucker taking a U-turn and hitting you.

Damages

The damages element simply means that you need to prove that you were injured. After all, if you do not have any injuries, there is not much reason to pursue a truck accident lawsuit. This can be done through personal or eyewitness testimony, medical records, and other evidence.

Remember that damages refers to more than physical damage to your person, although that does tend to make up the bulk of injuries in truck accident lawsuits. damages can also mean property damage. For example, if the truck accident totals your car and you need to get a new one out of pocket, or it could mean increased insurance costs. Both of those things can be part of your “injuries.”

Determining Damages in White Marsh, MD Truck Accident Lawsuits

Damages are also how courts compensate plaintiffs for their injuries. The idea is to place them back where they were before the accident took place. Often, the nature of the injuries a plaintiff sustained and the passage of time makes this physically impossible, so financial compensation is used as a substitute.

You can get compensation for a number of different things in a truck accident lawsuit. First and probably foremost are medical bills and expenses. Even with effective insurance, the cost of emergency medical treatment, hospital stays, medications, procedures, and long-term medical treatment can add up to enormous amounts. Accordingly, the court can compel the defendant to compensate you for these costs.

Second, you can get damages for any income you missed out on because you were busy recovering instead of working. Alternatively, if you can no longer work because of the nature of your injuries, you can get damages based on your projected income for what would have been the rest of your career.

You can also get damages for less tangible things like physical pain or mental distress. There is no price tag on how much, say, a broken bone hurts after a truck accident. Therefore, you need to establish, with the help of our lawyers, the value of these kinds of things so that the court is convinced of their worth.

Speak With Our Truck Accident Lawyers from White Marsh, MD Today

Rice, Murtha & Psoras’s truck accident attorneys are ready to take your calls when you dial (410) 694-7291.