Houston Truck Accident Attorneys Advocating for Our Clients Every Step of the Way

Large semi-trucks present an inherent risk while driving on the road. Large commercial trucks across the country can be very intimidating to drive next to on the road. Because of their massive size and weight, semi-truck crashes can be especially costly to other motor vehicle drivers on the road. If you get hit by a tractor-trailer or semi-truck, there’s a good chance you’ll sustain significant personal injury, property damage, or both. Truck accident injuries have the potential to be severe, with some leaving long-lasting consequences on truck accident victims. Some of the common truck accident injuries you can sustain in a trucking accident include:

• Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) – Traumatic brain injuries can be incredibly damaging. Concussions are one of the most common types of traumatic brain injuries. Because the brain is one of the most vital parts of your life, any damage to it, minor or severe, can create a lot of health complications going forward.
• Neck injuries – Neck injuries can vary in severity but even the smallest neck injury can keep you from living your life as you normally would. A minor neck injury may impact your ability to work or enjoy any leisurely activities you enjoy. A serious neck injury can effectively end your career if it is bad enough and can create serious health problems in the present and in the future.
• Spinal cord injuries – Spinal cord injuries tend to be very impactful for those suffering them. While physical therapy and other medical treatment can help you recover, the process can be long and grueling – not to mention, very expensive.
• Back injuries (such as herniated disks) – Back injuries are very common in trucking accidents. Even a minor truck accident can subject you to days, months, and weeks of serious pain. Major back injuries can put you out of work for a long time, affecting your finances in the process.
• Bumps, bruises, and scrapes – While seemingly less significant than other injuries, bumps, bruises, and scrapes can still be a detriment to your life, especially if they affect your ability to work or your emotional well-being.
• Broken bones – Broken bones can be painful and difficult to manage. Broken bones require time off from strenuous activities to ensure you achieve a full and complete recovery.
• Burns – Burns, depending on the severity, can leave a long-lasting mark on your life. It is possible that your burns can disfigure you permanently, potentially affecting the way you feel about yourself for the rest of your life.
• Ligament damage and strains – Very common in a semi-truck accident, ligament damage and strains can impact your daily life and require a lot of medical visits which can pile up the bills you already need to pay.
• Death – For some, an 18-wheeler accident can lead to death. If you are the loved one of someone who has died in a semi-truck accident, you may be able to file a wrongful death lawsuit to bring justice to your loved one.

No matter how impactful your injuries are to your everyday life, a truck accident lawyer from our Houston law firm can work with you to see if you have a personal injury case on your hands. Filing a personal injury case with the help of our experienced truck accident lawyers can put you one step closer to getting your life back to how it was before the truck wreck. A seasoned truck crash lawyer knows what steps to take to ensure you get the justice you deserve for your injuries.

The troubling reality about truck accidents is that many of them are caused by negligence on the part of the truck driver or trucking company. The trucking company has the obligation to ensure its workforce is following the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration sets forth regulations on trucking companies and their commercial trucks to meet certain safety standards including truck maintenance and a truck driver’s schedule. Ensuring that these regulations are met is key to preventing as many accidents as possible. However, truck accidents still happen for various reasons. A Houston truck accident attorney can help you with your commercial vehicle accident if your truck accident was caused for any of the following reasons:

Distracted driving

Large commercial truck drivers are not immune to the allure of distractions every type of driver is accustomed to. Whether that be eating while operating their truck, checking the scores of the football game, texting back their friends and family, or browsing through social media on their phones, truck drivers can be just as distracted as regular motor vehicle drivers. Unfortunately, for Texas truck accident victims, a distracted driver operating a large commercial vehicle can lead to catastrophic injuries. When you hire a truck accident lawyer to take on your case, you are hiring someone who will advocate for you and your rights every step of the way. As a truck accident victim, you should do whatever it takes to ensure you get the justice you deserve. Contact our law firm today to get started on your truck accident injury claim.

Long hours and exhaustion

Commercial motor vehicles are integral to making sure all of your mail and packages are delivered in a timely manner. Especially during peak seasons such as holidays like Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and more, commercial trucks are more prevalent on the road. Trucking companies are required to adhere to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and their guidelines. Unfortunately, trucking companies might look the other way in order to meet tight deadlines some of these holidays bring. Truck drivers are only supposed to drive a certain amount of time per day, with allotted breaks in between. With long-haul trips and tight deadlines, many truck drivers end up becoming exhausted while driving. This exhaustion can lead to serious mistakes behind the wheel that can cause a truck crash that can put victims in a bad situation. We hold trucking companies and their drivers accountable for their negligence. Contact an experienced truck accident attorney from our law firm as soon as possible to get started on your truck accident claim today.

Driving while intoxicated

Because of the demanding work schedule a truck driver faces, some truck drivers resort to drinking and driving. While this is not the case with every truck driver, some truck drivers find that there is no downtime while operating commercial vehicles. Drinking might be a way to pass the time or ease the chronic pain some of these truck drivers face. On top of drinking and driving, truck drivers may also take pills or other narcotics that cause side effects and impair their ability to drive on the open road. This can be dangerous for other motor vehicle motorists on the road. We can analyze the specific details of your case and ensure truck drivers and their truck companies are held accountable for any negligence they have shown.

Improper truck maintenance

An 18-wheeler is a serious piece of machinery. With its heft and size, an 18-wheeler must be consistently maintained in order to not only function properly but safely on the road. However, with increasingly tight deadlines, truck companies may overlook certain safety checks on their fleet of tractor-trailers. This means that they are not only putting their driver’s safety in jeopardy but also the safety of other motorists on the road. If there is a loose part in a truck that causes the 18-wheeler to lose control, smashing into another car, the serious injuries the victim can sustain can be devastating. Let us take charge of your truck accident claim to help you get the most compensation possible for your case.

No matter how or why you have been injured in a trucking accident, our team of truck accident attorneys can take care of your case with honesty and compassion. An experienced truck accident lawyer like the ones at our law firm knows where to begin when it comes to investigating trucking accidents and how to deal with insurance companies that represent the trucking companies. We will do whatever it takes to make sure you are treated fairly throughout your entire truck accident case. Contact our law firm today to get started as soon as possible.

Do I Have to Prove Negligence in my Truck Accident Case?

Proving negligence in a truck accident case is critical to ensuring you get the compensation and justice you deserve for your injuries. On top of proving negligence, you will also have to prove the extent of damages you sustained as a result of your truck accident. Truck accident cases typically hinge on the proof of these two factors. Our truck accident attorneys can assist you in proving negligence and the damages you sustained. We can do so by analyzing any evidence that was collected at the truck accident scene. We can look over any pictures, video, police reports, accident reports, and eyewitness testimony to put together the overall picture of your trucking accident.

In some cases, the black box on board the truck during your accident can also be incredibly helpful towards proving negligence in your case. A black box is essentially a recording system that shows how a truck driver is driving. A black box can reveal that a truck driver was distracted or driving negligently when your accident occurred. Other means of proving negligence stems from videos captured by traffic cameras or even personal video recording systems known as dashboard cams that you may have had at the time of your accident. In order to effectively prove negligence in your case, we can also use expert witnesses that can help recreate the specifics of your accident. They can analyze skid marks, speed metrics, and more to successfully prove negligence on the part of the trucking company or truck driver. Hiring one of our truck accident attorneys can help you improve the chances that you end up with a successful injury claim. A tractor-trailer accident can impact you for a long time going forward. Seek the help you need today with our Houston-based injury law firm.

Proving negligence is not the only proof that needs to be shown in an effective truck accident liability case. Proving the damages you sustained and the extent of those damages can ultimately determine the financial reward you may receive from the insurance company. Damages such as medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering require proof in order to correctly gauge just how much compensation you deserve. When it comes to proving medical expenses, holding onto your receipts, invoices, and medical bills can go a long way towards tallying the actual out-of-pocket costs you had to pay for your medical treatment. For lost income, we may need to analyze your paystubs, your annual salary rate, and come up with a figure that accurately depicts just how much income you lost as a result of your commercial vehicle accident.

Non-economic damages can be challenging to prove because there is no hard evidence that can prove the state of mind you are in. However, our team of experienced truck accident lawyers can use testimony from you, those close to you, including your spouse, and testimony from healthcare professionals and experts to get a sense of the emotional pain and suffering you have gone through. If you have sought out professional mental help, having invoices and records from those sessions can further illustrate the extent of your emotional pain and suffering. Because many of these damages aren’t just limited to the price you have had to pay, we can recover compensation on your behalf for any future damages you may incur.

Call our law firm today to get started on your truck accident claim with the help of our truck accident lawyers.

What Damages Can I Claim in my Truck Accident Case?

A semi-truck crash is something that can take a lot of time, money, and effort to recover from. While every semi-truck crash case is different, truck accident victims can claim a variety of damages through their 18-wheeler accident claim.

For starters, claiming medical expenses as a damage is one of the most common claims in a truck accident liability case. Because minor and serious injuries can both require medical treatment, you may need to pay money out of your own pocket to receive the healthcare you deserve to treat your injuries. Although your own health insurance can cover some portion of your injuries, you may still have to pay for other types of treatments including rehabilitation, surgeries, and physical therapy out of your own pocket. Medical expenses can pile up quickly after a collision with a large commercial truck. Even though a lot of medical bills can be expensive, medical treatment following your semi-truck crash might be completely necessary. Truck accident lawsuits are a way to recoup medical expenses incurred by your or that were paid on your behalf.

Another damage that you can claim in truck accident lawsuits is lost wages. Because getting hit by an 18-wheeler can lead to catastrophic injuries, many victims of an 18-wheeler accidents may find themselves missing work in order to recover from their injuries. This can be a time-consuming process that can take days, weeks, or even months to fully heal. While work benefits such as sick days or paid time off can help curb the damage of lost wages, many workers do not have those kinds of benefits or do not have enough of those benefits to cover the duration of their recovery process.

While economic damages are prevalent damages claimed in truck accident claims, non-economic damages such as emotional pain and suffering can also be demanded in truck accident claims. Pain and suffering is a damage claim related to the subjective emotional pain and suffering experienced by a victim in a truck crash. Pain and suffering can mean many aspects of a person’s emotional and mental health have been affected by simply dealing with the trials and tribulations that come with being an accident victim. Some truck accident victims are traumatized following the events of their truck crashes. Non-economic damages allow you to seek compensation for intangible damages that may be just as impactful to your life as the economic damages you have sustained.

At our law firm, we take all types of damage very seriously. We can assist you with recovering all sorts of damages for your 18-wheeler accident case. Our law firm understands how much physical pain and mental anguish you may have suffered following your truck accident. We want to bring the trucking company to justice by supporting you and your case every step of the way. Reach out to our law firm today to get started with your personal injury claim.

Will I Be Offered a Truck Accident Settlement for my Injuries?

Part of the job of a truck accident attorney is to keep insurance companies, like the insurance company tasked with handling your case, in check. The trucking company on the other side of your case is most likely represented by an insurance company that is acting in its best interest. This means that the insurance adjuster assigned to your case will likely do everything in their power to minimize the financial impact of your case, leading to low ball settlement offers being given to you.

Insurance companies also like to drag out these types of accident claims to put themselves in a position of leverage. The longer they withhold from paying out a settlement, the more money they’ll have in their immediate pockets and the bigger stranglehold they’ll have on your own pocketbook. Many accident victims like yourself are in need of a payout. Theoretically, the longer an insurance company holds out, the likelier, in general, that you would be willing to accept a payout lower than what you deserve. That is where a trucking accident attorney comes in. We can negotiate with insurance companies to assure you get the best possible payout for your case. Our law firm wants to ensure you get a fair settlement that can cover medical treatment, lost income, and other damages you have incurred.

Is It Essential to Have a Truck Accident Lawyer for a Truck Accident Case?

Having a personal injury lawyer fighting for your rights and for proper justice can be critical in the potential outcome of your case. While a typical car accident may be harmful to your well-being, commercial vehicle accidents can be much more severe. Commercial vehicles like semi-trucks and tractor-trailers can leave a nasty accident scene on the open road. Hire an experienced personal injury attorney like the ones from our Houston-based accident law firm today so we can look over the specifics of your case, investigate the accident scene, and assist you in recovering damages for your injuries. Give us a call at (888) 407-1810 to learn more about how we can help you today.