Truck accidents are often severe, and you may suffer terrible injuries. Some of the most common ones are:
Many truck crash victims suffer whiplash, disc injuries, sprained muscles, and worse. Even a minor neck and back injury can make it difficult to work, enjoy life, and do daily activities you enjoy.
Trucks carry at least 100 gallons of fuel, and a crash can ignite it. Plus, many trucks carry huge quantities of fuel or hazardous chemicals. As a result, you could suffer severe burns that devastate you for life.
Blunt trauma from a truck crash can cause damage to the intestines, stomach, liver, pancreas, and kidneys.
A truck crash is powerful; many victims have broken arms, legs, hips, fingers, collarbones, and more.
Some accident victims suffer from concussions. Signs of a concussion include vision issues, confusion, and memory loss. Even if a concussion is minor, it can take months to recover.
While many rib injuries are not life-threatening, they are severely painful. For example, you may have months of pain from broken or fractured ribs. All suffered injuries in a truck accident case have to be studied by a Chicago truck accident lawyer.
If you were involved in a trucking accident in Chicago, it is essential that you contact a truck accident attorney immediately. Your attorney can ensure that no crucial evidence “disappears” following your accident and that you are not bullied by a large trucking corporation and its army of lawyers. Highly skilled truck accident attorneys can additionally do the following for the victims:
According to a recent study, there were 22,000 tractor-trailer accidents in Illinois in a recent year. Below are more startling truck accident statistics for the state and country-wide:
Also, The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that:
Some compensation you could receive includes
The amount of compensation you can receive in a truck crash case depends on the severity of the injuries. Therefore, selecting a skilled and experienced litigator to represent you is important. In addition, the threat of an expensive lawsuit can motivate many insurance companies to offer a fair settlement.
There are two types of damages in personal injury cases: economic and non-economic. Economic damages refer to your countable losses for:
Non-economic damages are for pain and suffering and mental anguish. Again, your attorney will know what a case is worth. Also, licensed attorneys can access settlement and verdict databases in your area to see what is being awarded in similar cases.
Some insurance companies may use a multiplier between 1-5 to pay pain and suffering damages. That number is multiplied by your economic damages. However, many insurance companies do not use this system anymore.
Winning a truck accident lawsuit means proving that the driver, his company, or another entity was negligent. This requires proving duty of care, the duty was violated, and you suffered injuries and damages.
Commercial trucking companies are required by state and federal law to keep extensive records that can be used to establish liability in court. For example, a truck company must keep updated maintenance records for every vehicle. They also must have records of alcohol or drug abuse by their truckers.
You will almost certainly hire an attorney to represent you after a truck crash. However, there are important actions you can take before your attorney gets involved:
The tractor-trailer driver may be blamed for the crash. But a unique aspect of commercial vehicle accidents is there may be other liable parties. For example, the truck company could be responsible if their training and maintenance were not good enough.
Your truck accident attorney may explore the driver’s history and logs. If he was driving too long against federal law, this could be the basis for a lawsuit. The attorney will need to show that the trucker was driving for the company at the time of the accident. The Chicago truck accident lawyer working on your case must look into the trucker’s contract and duties if the driver is independent.
Not long ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the rule that allows truck drivers to drive eleven hours at a stretch, as opposed to the ten hours that safety groups – as well as many drivers – advocated for. If you have ever taken a long trip, you know how difficult it is to remain alert after driving for eleven hours straight. Truck drivers do this on a daily basis. As a result, nearly half of all truck drivers admit to falling asleep behind the wheel at least once within the previous twelve months, and 65 percent admit to being chronically over-fatigued while driving. In light of the fact that approximately 4,000 people are killed annually in trucking accidents, with another 100,000 being seriously injured, many are questioning the Court’s decision to allow truckers to continue to drive such long, uninterrupted hours. Even with the allowable eleven-hour limits, tight deadlines and slim paychecks lead many drivers to exceed those rules. Since a large number of fatal truck accidents can be tied to an overly fatigued truck driver, it appears that the economic profits of the trucking industry are being given more importance than the safety of the American public. There are a number of causes of trucking accidents, however, some of the more common causes include:
Read more: Why choose Malman Law
Answers to some of the most common personal injury questions we’re asked.
It is understandable if you are reluctant to hire an attorney when you’re hurt in a truck accident. Our truck crash attorneys operate on a contingency fee basis, meaning you won’t pay unless you receive a settlement or award at trial. You will not have to pay money upfront to engage our services.
Many vehicle accident cases end in a settlement. Your attorney will not recommend you settle unless a fair offer is on the table. Truck accidents usually involve severe injuries. You could have months of recovery in front of you. Therefore, it’s important that you receive enough money in a settlement to get back on your feet.
Drivers of 18-wheelers and most other large trucks are required to take special training courses in order to operate their trucks. Whether or not the trucking company could be named as a defendant in a Chicago truck accident will largely depend on:
Compensation for a truck accident in Chicago can vary from case to case. This is because each case has its own specific facts. What happened, how it happened, and how you were affected all play important factors in determining compensation. Truck accidents in Chicago fall under personal injury law, which is based on negligence. You may be eligible to receive compensatory damages, money for your medical expenses, money for future medical expenses, and lost wages. There are other types of monetary damages that you may be able to receive, but as noted, every case is different. To have your case evaluated, call Malman Law now for your free consultation.
You may be entitled to economic and non-economic damages from your tractor-trailer accident. Economic damages include:
Non-economic damages usually refer to the pain and suffering from the accident. How much should you get for pain and suffering? Unfortunately, there is no precise formula to decide how much you should receive.