Commercial Vehicle & Trucking Accidents

Attorneys for Commercial Vehicle and Trucking Accidents

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Commercial Vehicle & Trucking Accident attorneys helping victims recover fair compensation.

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Commercial vehicles can weigh 80,000 pounds or more. When they slam into automobiles, motorcycles, or pedestrians, they can cause catastrophic injuries, such as burn injuries and brain damage. Fortunately, crash victims can seek financial compensation from negligent trucking companies, shippers, and owner-operators.

Gideon Asen has the resources to stand up to powerful freight companies and the companies that insure them. Our premier truck accident attorneys use their knowledge and experience fighting these businesses to help you pursue compensation for your injury-related losses.

How Commercial Vehicle and Trucking Accidents Happen

Truck accidents, like other motor vehicle accidents, often result from driving errors. When truck drivers speed, tailgate, or make unsafe lane changes, they can collide with other vehicles. The results are predictable. The massive commercial vehicle often totals the smaller automobile and injures or kills its occupants.

However, commercial vehicles are also vulnerable to other crash causes. Semitrucks and other freight carriers often log over a hundred thousand miles annually.

Mechanical breakdowns and equipment failures can lead to malfunctions, causing drivers to lose control of their vehicles. Brakes, tires, wheels, and trailer hitches are common culprits of these equipment-related crashes.

Federal regulations allow truckers to drive for up to 11 hours a day. Fatigue, distractions, inattention, and even highway hypnosis can dull a driver’s ability to observe and react to other road users.

Their massive weight makes commercial vehicles difficult to control in adverse weather and poor surface conditions. They are also vulnerable to load shift and cargo loss. As a result, a driver can do everything right, but still lose control of their truck and trailer.

Liability for a Truck or Commercial Vehicle Accident

Truck accident attorneys prove liability for an accident using negligence law. A party is negligent if it fails to exercise reasonable care and, as a result, causes a foreseeable injury. Using this doctrine, several parties may be liable for truck crashes.

Trucking Companies

Trucking companies are liable for employee negligence. Suppose the trucking company’s workers negligently loaded the trailer, leaving it unbalanced. The trucking company would be liable for any crash caused by a shifting load.

Similarly, if a trucking company uses employee drivers, it will be liable for negligent driving. Thus, a company will be liable if its driver ran a red light, even though it did not order or approve of the driver’s action.

Trucking companies are also liable for their own acts. For example, a trucking company that fails to conduct mandatory drug and alcohol tests will be liable if a driver causes a DUI crash.

Owner-Operators

Owner-operators work as independent contractors for trucking companies. They can be held liable when their negligent driving causes crashes.

Shippers

Sometimes, shipping containers are loaded by the shipper or its shipping agent. If they load the container improperly, they may be liable when the truck carrying them causes an accident.

Equipment Manufacturers

Manufacturers are strictly liable for injuries caused by defective products. Thus, if a truck crashes because of a faulty steering part, the manufacturer may be liable for the resulting losses.

How Truck Accident Attorneys Assist You

Federal laws require trucking companies to carry hundreds of thousands of dollars in surety bonds and insurance policies.

A truck accident attorney assembles evidence and files your claim with these companies. Your lawyer fights any claim denials and negotiates to settle your case. If the sureties or insurers refuse to settle, an attorney can file a lawsuit.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Can I Seek in a Truck Accident Lawsuit?

A commercial vehicle accident attorney can pursue compensation for your economic and non-economic losses. Economic losses include hard financial costs due to medical care and missed work. Non-economic losses encompass all the ways your injuries eroded your life, including pain and suffering.

What Happens if I Was Partially Responsible for a Truck Accident?

You can still pursue a claim if your actions partially caused your crash. However, your compensation may be reduced in proportion to your share of the fault. For example, if you were 15% at fault for the crash because you were speeding when the truck hit you, you can only recover 85% of your losses.

What Evidence Does a Truck Accident Lawyer Use to Prove Liability?

Truck accident lawyers use accident reports, witness testimony, and medical records to prove what occurred and how the crash affected you.

Contact Gideon Asen to Discuss Your Case With Experienced Trucking Accident Lawyers

Trucking companies, as well as their sureties and insurers, have the resources to fight accident claims. Contact us to discuss your injuries and how our truck accident attorneys fight for your right to fair injury compensation.

Taylor Asen on Auto Accidents

“An advantage of coming to a smaller firm is that Ben and I work on every case together. You also know that you will always be able to reach us. At Gideon Asen, our rule is that every client is our most important client.”