Reports | January 27, 2023 | Truck Accidents
When trucks and truck parts malfunction on area roadways, serious accidents can result. Truck mechanical failure may be the fault of a repair facility, a product manufacturer, or the truck driver or trucking company.
If you suffered injuries in a truck accident that resulted from mechanical failure, you should seek prompt medical treatment for the injuries you suffered. Moreover, you should talk to a knowledgeable truck accident lawyer in your area as soon as possible. Your lawyer can review your truck accident circumstances with you and explain your legal options for moving forward.
If you are eligible to file a personal injury claim against a repair facility, truck part manufacturer, or other person or entity, your truck accident lawyer can help you take that step. In addition, your lawyer can help you negotiate a fair settlement with the insurance company, file a lawsuit in the court system if necessary, and pursue the highest amount of monetary compensation available to you in your truck accident case.
Who or What Can Cause Truck Mechanical Failures?
Truck mechanical failure can happen for a variety of reasons, including defective steering mechanisms, defective tires, poorly maintained braking systems, and defective overhead and undercarriage lighting mechanisms.
Truck drivers and the trucking companies that employ them are responsible for taking their trucks and trailers in for proper maintenance on a regular basis. If an accident victim can demonstrate that a truck driver or trucking company violated this legal duty of care, and the truck malfunctions on the road, an accident victim can bring a legal claim against the truck driver, trucking company, or their insurer.
Similarly, repair facilities have to perform all of their work in a safe, careful, and workmanlike manner. If they fail to do so and a truck malfunctions on the road, causing an accident, the accident victim can bring a legal claim against the responsible repair facility.
Moreover, truck part manufacturers are responsible for constructing and designing their products in a reasonable manner and for adequately testing their products efficiently before making them available for consumer purchase. When truck part manufacturers fail to take this step, and the truck malfunctions on the road, causing an accident and injuries, the accident victim can file a lawsuit against the part manufacturer or some other entity in the product distribution chain.
If you suffered injuries in a truck accident resulting from mechanical failure, you have legal rights and options. An experienced truck accident lawyer in your area can review your case, determine your legal options, and help you take legal action against all potentially responsible parties. If the insurance company refuses to offer you the monetary damages you deserve, your lawyer can file a lawsuit against the responsible party in court and pursue the damages you need through litigation.
What Happens When Trucks Malfunction?
When a large truck, tractor-trailer, big rig, or 18-wheeler malfunctions while on the road, accidents can happen, leaving others injured. Moreover, when a facility performs deficient brake repair work, the truck can lose its brakes while going down a steep hill, causing it to collide with other vehicles or begin a chain-reaction collision that leads to a multi-vehicle pile-up.
Likewise, when trucks malfunction, they may jackknife, causing the tractor and trailer to fold inward on one another, resembling the shape of a jackknife. A jackknifing truck may also skid down a hill and collide with everything in its path, leading to multiple collisions and injuries.
Truck malfunctions, including those that involve defective steering mechanisms and braking systems, may also cause a truck to overturn in the middle of the road, bringing about a severe explosion or chain-reaction collision that involves numerous other vehicles.
In addition to multi-vehicle pile-ups, truck jackknife collisions, and overturn accidents, malfunctioning trucks may also cause rear-end crashes, head-on collisions, sideswipe collisions, and broadside accidents. A rear-end crash happens when the front of a truck hits the back of another vehicle. These accidents are common when a truck loses its brakes primarily when proceeding downhill. On the other hand, a head-on collision happens when the front of a large truck hits the front of another vehicle traveling in the opposite direction.
Sideswipe collisions happen when the sides of a truck and another vehicle strike one another while traveling in different lanes on the same road. These accidents can occur when a truck’s steering mechanism goes bad, preventing the truck driver from averting a crash. Finally, broadside collisions, or T-bone accidents, usually happen at traffic intersections where the front of a large truck hits the side of a vehicle traveling on an adjacent road.
If you suffered injuries in any of these truck accidents that resulted from a mechanical failure, you can file a legal claim with the insurance company for the repair facility, truck part manufacturer, truck driver, or employer trucking company. Your lawyer can review all of the facts and circumstances of your case with you and determine who was likely responsible for your accident.
Common Injuries in Truck Accident Scenarios
When a truck malfunctions and hits a much smaller vehicle, such as a car or motorcycle, the injuries that the accident victim sustains can be devastating. The resulting injuries may depend upon several factors, including the type and size of the truck, the force of the collision, the speeds of the vehicles, the type of accident that happens, and the way the accident victim’s body moves in their vehicle at the time of the crash.
In some cases, the collision force is so significant that it causes a part of the accident victim’s body to strike something in their vehicle, resulting in serious injuries. For example, a collision might force the accident victim’s body abruptly forward and backward, causing them to strike a part of their body on the car’s headrest, steering wheel, door frame, window, or dashboard.
Common truck-accident injuries include traumatic head and brain damage, internal organ injuries, soft tissue contusions, broken bones, spinal cord injuries, paralysis, open lacerations, and bruises.
If you suffered any of these injuries in an accident, it is essential to seek prompt medical treatment as soon as possible. Even if you are unsure about the extent of your injuries, you should still seek this initial medical treatment. This is because many injuries do not become symptomatic until days or weeks after an accident. Therefore, your best bet is to visit a doctor immediately so they can physically diagnose you.
An emergency room or urgent care doctor can diagnose you upon examination and order the necessary imaging studies to support their diagnosis. They create medical records that you can use to link your injuries to the truck crash. You should follow the doctor’s orders regarding rest, refraining from work, and all follow-up treatment of your injuries.
While you undergo your medical treatment for all accident-related injuries, a knowledgeable truck accident lawyer in your area can start advocating for you. Your lawyer can begin gathering your medical treatment records, earning statements, lost wage documents from your employer, photographs of your injuries, and other potential evidence, and assemble these documents into a complete settlement demand package for the insurance company adjuster’s review.
If the adjuster accepts liability for your accident, settlement negotiations in your case may begin promptly. Your lawyer can advocate for you during these negotiations and work to pursue the maximum amount of monetary damages available.
Filing a Timely Truck Accident Claim or Lawsuit
Victims of truck accidents must take legal action as soon as possible to recover monetary compensation. This is because, according to the prevailing statute of limitations, accident victims may only have a few years from their accident date to file a lawsuit for damages.
The statute of limitations time clock begins to run on the truck accident date and stops on the date that the statute of limitations prescribes. If an accident victim files their lawsuit even one day after this expiration date, they are no longer eligible to recover any monetary damages.
Retaining an experienced truck accident lawyer to represent you immediately increases your chances of recovering the monetary compensation you deserve for your injuries. A truck accident lawyer in your area can immediately file a lawsuit if the statute of limitations clock is running short in your case.
Your lawyer can then continue settlement negotiations with the insurance company adjuster and, if necessary, litigate your case efficiently through the court system. If your case must go to a jury trial, your lawyer can zealously represent your legal interests and work to maximize your financial recovery.
Recovering the Damages You Need for Your Truck-accident Injuries
When a truck malfunctions on the road and an accident occurs, accident victims can suffer serious and sometimes permanent injuries that have lifelong complications. Accident victims who can prove the legal elements of their personal injury claim or lawsuit may be eligible to recover various damages.
Damage types and amounts will often vary from case to case and depend upon various circumstances. Those circumstances usually include the type of truck accident that happened, the extent of the accident victim’s injuries, and the pain, suffering, and other symptoms that the accident victim endured.
First, truck accident victims may be eligible to recover various out-of-pocket expenses and economic damages. For example, if the accident victim had to miss time from work to recover from their injuries and attend medical and physical therapy appointments, they may be eligible for lost wage compensation.
Sometimes, truck-accident injuries are so serious that accident victims have to switch jobs and take on lower-paying jobs. In those circumstances, they can bring a claim for a loss of earning capacity.
Truck accident victims can also pursue monetary compensation for past and future pain and suffering damages. Past damages compensate accident victims for the pain and suffering that they experienced from their accident date up until the present time.
They may be eligible to recover future pain and suffering compensation if a medical provider determines, to a reasonable degree of medical probability, that they suffered a permanent injury or impairment in their accident. In that scenario, they may be eligible to recover compensation for their anticipated pain and suffering going forward.
Likewise, truck accident victims may be eligible to pursue monetary compensation for their inconvenience, mental distress, loss of the ability to use a body part, loss of life enjoyment, permanent disfigurement, or loss of spousal companionship, depending upon the circumstances of their accident and injuries.
A knowledgeable truck accident lawyer in your area can determine which of these damages you can pursue and recover in your case. Your lawyer can also help you highlight the strengths of your case, downplay any case weaknesses, and work to maximize the compensation you recover for your injuries.
Speak to a Truck Accident Lawyer in Your Area as Soon as Possible
If you sustained injuries in a truck accident that resulted from mechanical failure, a truck accident lawyer in your area can review the facts and circumstances of your case with you and determine your claim-filing eligibility. If you are eligible to file a personal injury claim, your truck accident lawyer can assist you with every step of the process and zealously advocate on your behalf during insurance company negotiations.
If the insurance company does not fully and fairly compensate you for your truck-accident injuries, your lawyer can threaten the insurance company with litigation and, if necessary, actually file a lawsuit in court on your behalf. Sometimes people think their case is straightforward and they don’t need a lawyer. You should never do this.
Insurance companies will do everything possible to reduce your claim, including doubting the severity of your injuries. Your attorney understands your significant losses, and they will advocate for you to insurance adjusters. Your lawyer can help you navigate the litigation process when necessary to obtain the full compensation you need and deserve.
A truck accident attorney should have the experience and resources needed to take on complex trucking cases and stand up to corporate insurers. Seek a case evaluation to begin the legal process today.