Truck accidents are often much more serious and complex than a typical car accident, which is why it can be a good idea to work with a truck accident lawyer who understands the law surrounding these crashes. The trucking company’s insurance carrier will have a team of lawyers ready to defend it and do everything they can to pay you as little money as possible.
If you suffered injuries in a truck accident in Titusville, FL, the lawyers at The Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine can help you recover compensation. Our Titusville personal injury lawyers do not charge upfront legal fees for truck accident cases. Our fees come out of the settlement or award at the end.
Damages Available In Truck Accident Cases In Titusville, Florida
The damages you seek in your injury claim will depend on the facts of your situation. Your injuries might be different from another person in the same collision, even in the same vehicle. Here are some common categories of damages in truck accidents:
- Medical expenses: You will likely require medical care to treat the injuries you sustained, including the costs of the ambulance, emergency room, hospital, surgery, doctors, x-rays, lab work, prescription drugs, and physical therapy.
- Rehabilitation center: People often need to go to a rehabilitation center for several months or longer after suffering debilitating injuries in a truck accident.
- Long-term care: You may require ongoing medical treatment if you experienced catastrophic injuries that leave you in need of daily help with medical treatments and personal care.
- Lost income: If you took time off work to heal, we can seek awards to replace the wages, salary, self-employment, and other income that you missed because of the accident and your recuperation time.
- Diminished earning capacity: If your injuries left you unable to make as much money as you could before the crash, we can seek awards to offset it.
- Disability: We can also seek awards if you cannot support yourself through gainful employment because of the harm you suffered.
- Pain and suffering: We can go after awards to compensate you for the pain and emotional distress you endured.
- Other intangible losses: Other accident-related losses may apply, such as disfigurement, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), long-term emotional harm like depression or anxiety, loss of enjoyment of life, etc.
Elements Of Liability In A Truck Accident
A truck accident lawyer in Titusville, FL, will have to prove all four of these factors to hold the negligent party responsible for your losses in a truck accident in Titusville, Florida:
- The legal duty of care. The defendant must have owed you a legal duty of care. All drivers have a responsibility to obey traffic laws and to drive in a careful, prudent manner.
- Breach of the duty of care. When a person fails to uphold their legal duty of care, it is negligence. Consider this: a truck driver is traveling in the wrong direction on the highway due to fatigue after violating hours of service regulations. Driving on the wrong side of the highway and violating hours of service regulations are both examples of negligence.
- Causation. The driver’s negligence must be the thing that caused the harm. Following the example above: the truck driver hits you while traveling the wrong way. Their negligence caused the accident to occur. You have satisfied this criterion. It is important to note that you must also have suffered damages in the crash.
- Damages. Finally, we must work to prove that the accident caused your injuries and financial losses.
Potentially Liable Parties In A Truck Accident
Aside from a negligent truck driver, other parties may share liability for a truck accident. For example, the trucking company may bear vicarious liability for the actions of its driver. This would only apply when the driver is on the clock, though.
Other potentially liable parties include:
- A manufacturer if a defective truck part leads or contributes to an accident
- A third-party driver if they contribute to the accident, such as by violating a traffic law
- A government entity if a hazardous, unmaintained road leads to an accident
Our Titusville personal injury attorneys can make sure to identify each liable party and work to hold them accountable for their portion of your accident-related losses.
How Truck Accidents Are Different From Car Accidents
Truck accidents usually are more complicated than your standard collision for these reasons:
- Truck accident injuries are often more serious than those that occur in car crashes.
- Truck accidents can involve more insurance companies than a typical collision because the driver and trucking company can both be liable.
- Truck drivers and freight companies must follow state and federal regulations that do not apply to drivers of cars.
- Trucks are not always able to behave the same way as cars in an emergency situation because of their length, height, proportions, load, and weight. Sometimes we work with accident reconstruction experts to determine what led up to the crash.
Pitfalls To Avoid After A Truck Accident In Titusville, Florida
You should take great care to avoid doing anything that can devalue the amount of your claim after a truck accident. Here are some of the common tactics the insurance company may use to try to pay you less money than you deserve:
- Pointing out a delay in seeking medical attention. If you do not go to the doctor, urgent care center, or emergency room right after the wreck, the insurance adjuster may claim that your injuries came from some other event, not the truck accident. Your medical records will serve to document your injuries when you received them, and what caused them.
- Pointing out that you did not finish your medical treatment. Once you start to feel better, it can be tempting to skip appointments. You have already missed more work than you can afford, and you just want to get back to your normal life. The insurance company can argue that you would have recovered more fully if you had completed all your treatment. The company can try to use this allegation as an excuse to pay you less money for your claim.
- Trying to persuade you against hiring a lawyer. Although Florida does not require that you have a truck accident lawyer help you with your injury claim, it can be a good idea to do so. The insurance company has teams of lawyers ready to jump on your case and look for any way to attack your claim for compensation. If you have a lawyer, the insurance company is not allowed to harass you. Also, having an injury lawyer on board can reduce the risk of the insurance company trying shady tactics.
- Asking for a recorded statement. The insurance company might ask you for a recorded statement, but you should refer them to your lawyer instead. A recorded statement only helps the insurance company, and it could hurt your case. The insurance adjuster can twist your words or take them out of context to try to devalue your compensation plan. Another trick that adjusters use is to offer a lowball settlement early on before you know how much medical treatment you will need.
Get Help From A Truck Accident Lawyer In Titusville, FL
You do not have to go it alone if you suffered injuries in a truck accident. Call the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine for your free consultation to learn more about how a truck accident lawyer in Titusville, FL, can help. Act quickly, as you have only two years to file a lawsuit after an accident, according to Florida Statutes § 95.11(3)(a).
We Can Help.
