Accidents Involving Trucks: Important Information for Your Lawsuit

WHAT: A lawsuit involving a collision with a large truck that caused death or serious injury should not be handled like a "routine" car accident case.

WHY: There are many unique laws and regulations that apply to truck drivers, trucking companies, and the trucks themselves.  These laws are complex and cannot be learned over night. Whether they apply to a particular case is of great importance, and ignoring violations of these regulations results in lost opportunities to compensate injured people.

If a truck is involved in a collision, it is necessary to investigate whether the truck driver, trucking company, truck leasing company, or any other people or companies violated one or more of the many regulations designed to protect you.  These regulations dictate what knowledge and skills drivers must have, how many hours they can drive, and what type of background checks employers must do before putting a driver behind the wheel of a big rig. 

Truck drivers often violate rules limiting the amount of time that they can drive, ignore regulations requiring them to stop driving in bad weather, and drive with equipment that is dangerously unsafe.  You need an attorney who knows the regulations as well as or better than the trucking companies do to determine whether violations like these occurred.

It is also necessary to investigate whether the truck, trailer and other equipment, such as lights and brakes, worked properly and fully complied with the regulations.  Equipment violations can play a major part in causing deadly collisions with trucks.  You need a lawyer who can determine whether the equipment on a tractor-trailer meets the legal requirements or whether it violates the regulations.