18-Wheeler and Commercial Truck Insurance FAQ
18-Wheeler and Commercial Truck Insurance
18-Wheeler Accident Personal Injury Team
If you have been involved in an accident with a large commercial truck, you may find the insurance issues considerably different than dealing with the insurance company of another passenger vehicle driver. It will first have to be determined who the potential defendants in the case are. Establishing the liability of all potential defendants is extremely important, as each entity likely carries a separate insurance policy which will properly apply to the accident. Trucking injuries can be catastrophic, requiring months, years, or even a lifetime of recovery.
Who Are the Potential Defendants in Your Truck Accident?
The more potential defendants your attorney can identify, the better for the ultimate outcome of your lawsuit. Your truck accident could have been caused by:
- Truck driver error or other issue directly related to the truck driver;
- The maintenance company who failed to perform proper maintenance;
- The loading company who failed to load or secure the cargo properly;
- The truck or truck part manufacturer if the accident was caused by a defective part, or
- The trucking company.
How Could the Trucking Company Be Liable?
The basic employment relationship between the truck driver and the trucking company may allow your attorney to establish liability under a doctrine known as respondeat superior which holds that the trucking company exercised some degree of control over the driver. Taking this theory further, the injuries sustained were the direct result of an accident which occurred while the driver acted in this employment relationship. When a truck driver operates under an independent contract with a large company, it can be more difficult to establish this third-party company liability and the amount of supervision over the driver by the company must be proven.
What if the Driver’s Acts Were Intentional?
An employer may not be held responsible for intentional acts by the driver—as an example, if a truck driver deliberately hits another vehicle because he believes the driver of that vehicle is seeing his wife, then the company would not be liable.
How Do You Establish Liability in a Commercial Truck Accident?
Most all personal injury cases operate under the legal theory of liability or proving whose negligence was responsible for the accident. If your injuries were a direct result of negligence on the part of the truck driver, the manufacturer of the truck, the maintenance company, the loading company or the trucking company itself, your attorney will seek to prove your case by demonstrating these elements:
- The specific entity had a duty to exercise reasonable care, taking into consideration the surrounding circumstances, to avoid injury to another.
- The defendant or defendants in your accident breached this duty of care through a failure to exercise reasonable care and caution.
- Your specific injuries were a direct result of this failure by the defendant or defendants to exercise proper and reasonable care.
How Can a Lee Hoffoss Injury Lawyers Attorney Help?
A Lake Charles, Louisiana truck injury attorney from Lee Hoffoss Injury Lawyers can help you get the medical treatments you require, while ensuring you get compensation for necessary medical care, lost wages and possibly damages for pain and suffering and reduced quality of life. Don’t deal with a trucking accident on your own, rather seek experienced legal help from Lee Hoffoss Injury Lawyers.