Large commercial trucks help to drive California’s famously dynamic economy. Trucks haul produce, goods produced in factories, and raw materials around the state, out of the state, and into the state. As a result, millions of large commercial trucks rumble down California’s freeways and surface streets every single day.
An engine attached to a single trailer weighs 35,000 pounds on average before it has been loaded with any freight. Fully-loaded, a single trailer truck can weigh up to 80,000 pounds under U.S. law. Massive commercial trucks do not turn with the precision that passenger vehicles do nor do they stop as quickly. These vehicles are also structured in such a way that their drivers are forced to navigate significant blind spots when maneuvering. Commercial trucks are thus prone to crashing and when they do, people tend to get hurt.
If you have been injured in a collision involving a large commercial truck, know that you do not have to navigate the often complex legal, financial, and practical challenges that await you in the aftermath of your accident by yourself. Our experienced legal team works with injured truck operators and injured motorists on a regular basis.
We understand how to negotiate with insurance representatives effectively and efficiently without sacrificing the goal of obtaining fairly valued insurance compensation. We also regularly assist clients who have been injured as a result of work-related accidents to obtain the workers’ compensation benefits to which they are entitled. Finally, our team regularly files personal injury claims which allow injury victims to sue any third parties that contributed to the cause(s) of their accidents.
One of the most important pieces of information that you can be made aware of before you schedule a risk-free, no-cost consultation with our legal team is that California is a comparative negligence state. This classification means that even if you were partially to blame for the cause of your accident, you may still be entitled to compensation from any other third parties whose negligence, recklessness, or intentionally dangerous behavior also contributed to the cause of your crash.
Please avoid making any assumptions about the strength of your legal case until you have spoken with us. Too often, injury victims fail to seek legal counsel in the wake of an accident because they assume that they do not have grounds for a case. It is our job to understand the ins and outs of the law so that if you are entitled to any compensation whatsoever, we can help you obtain that compensation promptly.
Knowledgeable Legal Guidance for Injured Motorists and Truck Operators
Not all personal injury firms choose to represent injured truck operators and injured motorists alike. Many firms specialize in the representation of one kind of personal injury plaintiff or another. Our firm actively represents both truck operators and motorists involved in truck accidents because we believe that being able to assess an accident from both perspectives helps us to advocate more effectively and more knowledgeably on behalf of our clients, no matter who they may be.
if you have been injured in a truck accident, regardless of whose fault that truck accident was, you have rights under the law. You deserve to understand those rights and to understand how to exercise them effectively. Our firm is dedicated to assisting every injury victim who walks through our doors to the absolute best of our ability. We have earned a reputation for integrity and passionate advocacy on behalf of our clients because we believe that every injury victim deserves to be treated with respect and their legal needs deserve to be treated with focus, attention to detail, and determination. We look forward to speaking with you about our approach to representation during your confidential, free, no-obligation consultation.
Trucking Operators Hurt While on the Job
Truck operators injured as a result of work-related collisions may be entitled to collect workers’ compensation benefits, provided that they are eligible for this coverage. Workers’ compensation benefits are made available on a “no-fault” basis. This means but as long as you were not impaired at the time of your accident and as long as you did not purposefully crash your truck, you should be entitled to benefits – provided that you are eligible for that coverage – even if you were at fault for the accident in question. Truck operators who are classified as independent contractors are not eligible for these benefits.
Instead, they will need to speak with our team about filing personal injury action against other parties – which may include the trucking company for which they provide driving services – in order to seek any compensation to which they may be entitled.
Motorists Hurt in Collisions Involving Large Trucks
Similarly, any motorist engaged in work-related activity when struck by a truck may be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits, provided that they are classified as a part-time or full-time employee and are eligible for this coverage. Independent contractors cannot receive workers’ compensation benefits unless they have been misclassified (intentionally or unintentionally) and should rightfully be classified as an employee.
Those who have been injured in crashes that are not work-related may be entitled to compensation – for their medical bills, lost wages, and other eligible financial consequences resulting from their accidents – via the personal injury claims process. It is important to understand that, as noted above, California’s classification as a comparative negligence state means that even if you were partially at fault for your accident, you still may be entitled to compensation under the law.
Insurance Representatives and Settlement Offers
If you have already been approached by an insurance representative or you have been offered a settlement by any legal representative of an insurance company or legal counsel representing others involved in your accident, it is important that you call our firm today. It is not generally a good idea for accident victims to speak with insurance representatives on their own. Insurance representatives are employed by for-profit companies the train them to devalue and reject claims when possible.
As a result, it is better to have an experienced legal advocate negotiate with insurance representatives on your behalf to better ensure that you do not unintentionally compromise the strength of your case and to better ensure that any insurance compensation to which you are entitled is not ultimately devalued.
Additionally, you’ll want to avoid accepting any settlement offers whatsoever until you have spoken with our firm and allowed us to professionally assess those offers. The last thing that you want is to accept a settlement that is not valued properly and that limits your ability to seek additional compensation in the future. The offer that you have been extended may be a fairly valued one, but you will likely not know that for sure until you have a legal advocate – whose only interests are protecting your rights – carefully evaluate that offer.
Why Trucking Companies Are Often Liable for Accidents
Trucking companies are required by law to engage in certain business practices that help to ensure the safety of their drivers and the safety of those whom their drivers encounter while traveling. These business practices extend from regular maintenance schedules to ensuring that their drivers are not too drowsy or too ill to operate safely while on the road. Unfortunately, truck companies, like many other kinds of companies, do not always take their safety obligations seriously. When this occurs, due to negligent, reckless, or intentionally dangerous practices, truck companies may be held liable for injuries that their drivers cause in the event of a crash.
Truck drivers who are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits cannot generally sue their employers directly. Instead, these drivers are restricted to seek workers’ compensation benefits and to sue any third parties who may have contributed to the cause of their accidents. These restrictions exist because California’s workers’ compensation system limits direct employer liability in the event of work-related injuries and illnesses.
However, others harmed by crashes involving large commercial trucks may be in a position to directly hold accountable any trucking company that employs practices that endanger the safety of everyone on the road and may have directly caused the injury victim’s harm as a result. It is not always easy to know whether a trucking company is liable at first glance in the aftermath of an accident. However, our firm has handled enough truck accident cases that we understand what questions to ask and how to investigate in order to identify whether a trucking company may be liable in a particular situation.
Preparing for Your Consultation
After you have scheduled a free consultation with our legal team, please take some time to think about any questions you may have about your legal situation, your legal options, and/or our firm’s approach to representing our clients’ interests. Writing your questions and concerns down will allow you to easily reference your thoughts during the consultation.
Too often, injury victims find themselves frustrated during their consultations because they can’t remember what they wanted to ask us. We understand how valuable your time is, so we like to avoid that kind of frustration whenever possible.
Additionally, it will be helpful if you can take a few minutes to gather any information or documentation that will allow us to provide you with the most personalized feedback about your case possible under the circumstances.
For example, if you bring along a copy of your insurance policy, will be able to better ascertain how insurance negotiations may go given the circumstances of your accident. Similarly, bringing along copies of any accident reports, medical records related to your injuries, contact information for witnesses and others involved in the accident, etc. will help us to give you a more comprehensive case evaluation than we might otherwise be in a position to provide.
The more information we have upfront, the more we can help you understand your legal options and make informed decisions about those options.
Contact Our Firm Today for a Free Case Evaluation
Both truck operators and other travelers alike deserve to understand their rights under the law and how to exercise those rights in the event that they have been hurt in an accident.
This is why our firm does not charge for our consultation services. We invite every truck accident injury victim, regardless of the circumstances surrounding their accident, to attend a confidential, free case evaluation session with “no strings attached.”
Should you ultimately choose to work with our firm, we will passionately advocate on your behalf as you exercise any of the legal options applicable to your situation. We will never pressure you to take any particular course of action.
It is our job to protect your rights as an accident victim and to help you exercise those rights, not to “sell” you on our approach to representation. Our firm’s reputation for excellence was built by serving our clients, not by pressuring them. We look forward to speaking with you.
