San Antonio Truck Accident Lawyer: South Texas Accident Injury Law Firm
Experience Matters in a San Antonio Truck Accident Case
Plenty of lawyers in San Antonio and South Texas would instantly accept your truck accident case, but there are very few among that group that have decades of experience litigating truck and other commercial vehicle accident cases.
One firm stands out, though. The truck accident lawyers at our Law Firm have been handling truck accident cases for 20 years now and have succeeded in countless cases, including those for clients residing in San Antonio and South Texas.
What many don’t know is that there are many different types of commercial vehicles. We’ve prevailed in personal injury and/or wrongful death claims that have dealt with such things as rock haulers, dump trucks, all manner of construction vehicles, moving vans, buses, tankers and other kinds and types of commercial vehicles. There are multiple types of commercial vehicles, but these types of cases have some similarities:
They’re considerably bigger and cause far more damage than normal vehicles
Different laws apply to them compared to those involving regular cars.
The last, but most important, factor is that they’re owned by successful corporations that will form strong defenses that aim to deny plaintiffs from getting the compensation they’re seeking.
Fighting fire with fire is our specialty. If you want to give your San Antonio truck accident case its best chance at success, you need to hire a lawyer that combined experience, talent, mental awareness and an extensive track record at defeating the opposition in trial or getting them to take a fair settlement they’d normally spend plenty of time and energy not paying.
If you elect to hire our Law Firm to work your San Antonio truck accident case, you’re obtaining 20 years of experience from veteran attorneys who have won countless truck accident cases (and thousands of personal injury cases altogether) throughout our firm’s history.
We’re providing this information so you can obtain more knowledge about how the case-flow process is involved in a commercial vehicle accident case, and discover some of the key problems you’ll encounter in getting a successful recovery. HOW TRUCK ACCIDENT CASES WORK
Overcoming any accident isn’t easy, and few accidents can compared to the catastrophic damage created by truck accidents. Commercial trucks in San Antonio and South Texas can weigh upwards of 80,000 pounds, so serious damage occurs when they’re involved in accidents. Since truckers receive an hourly salary, they tend to work brutal hours with very few breaks, but this creates additional problems involving concentration and being able to stay awake, plus more accidents, property damage, and even fatalities.
In the last two decades since our firm opened, the South Texas truck accident lawyers at our Law Firm have handled personal injury cases including trucks, and we know that victims will be tackling a litany of medical and legal questions they’re needing answers for after they’ve been injured or had a loved one die in a South Texas truck accident. What’s critical in this instance is seeing to it that you’re examined by a doctor after your accident. You’re not needing to just to get your injuries treated, but also getting them documented officially as well. If you currently have no insurance or just the absolute minimum, we can work to connect you with a physician who will factor in your financial standing and form a payment arrangement that’s best suited for your budget.
Once your injuries have been looked at, you need to think about your legal options and develop a game plan so you can receive compensation for your harm. No laws have been made stating that negligent parties have to immediately provide you with any sum of money for your injuries. The victim, known as the plaintiff in the legal world, has the duty to show they must get assistance. Only an experienced San Antonio truck accident lawyer gives you the best odds at receiving the compensation you deserve. Before that, however, our San Antonio attorneys want to make sure you’re aware of your legal options so you’re able to make the best choices for your family. The first step is to discuss the different facets of truck accident law:
Reasons to file a lawsuit
People who most often cause truck accidents
Why it’s critical to conduct a swift, in-depth investigation
Issues that will harm claims of those who choose to go with self-representation
Why a San Antonio truck accident lawyer can be of assistance
This article is intended to provide additional insight into this subject. Don’t use it as a cheap replacement for the legal expertise you’d receive from a skilled, talented lawyer when it concerns the specifics of your case. To learn about how the law exactly applies to your particular case, call us immediately at (210) 820-3434 (toll free) to get answers for the specific questions you have.Why You Should File a Truck Accident Injury Lawsuit
Our San Antonio lawyers have seen firsthand what kind of emotional and physical trauma is cause by San Antonio truck accidents. Because of our extensive experience, we’ve seen that several truck accident victims are weary about taking legal action since they don’t like the notion of determining a price for their injuries and this just makes them relive the awful tragedy in their mind. Filing a claim isn’t pleasant, but we’ll discover later in this article that swift action is essential for your claim’s success so you’ll have to move immediately after the accident unfolds.
Two objectives can be reached when you seek a lawsuit to help with the injuries stemming from a South Texas truck accident; the first is that it allows the injured party to heal from the financial and emotional pain caused by the wreck and it also serves as a tool to make sure those responsible for your accident are held accountable for their actions. No amount of money can take away the damages created by your accident or remove the harm from your conscience, but the truth is that you have to deal with serious financial burdens that still exist. The only way to see to it that your family gets back on the right path following these tragedies is to get compensation from who was responsible. Chances are you’ve probably been unable to work for an extended time due to your injuries, so handling your medical and repair bills can be impossible unless you determine the individual or parties accountable for your injuries.
The other goal for a South Texas truck accident lawsuit is that it provides an opening to decrease the chances of further negligence by making sure those responsible for your accident face some form of punishment. People who have lost considerable sums of money in South Texas truck accidents usually don’t make the same choices twice. If you’re hoping to get someone’s attention, you need to attack their wallet.Common Negligent Causes of Truck Accidents
If you’re hoping to determine who you should sue, the first part in the process is figuring out how the accident unfolded and then who caused it. Many people are involved in transporting goods by truck, so in numerous South Texas truck accident cases for instance, more than one individual may have exhibited negligent behavior that led to, or played a role in, a South Texas truck accident. A veteran South Texas truck accident lawyer can look back to previous truck accident cases from over time to adequately figure out how an accident happened and who was at fault. Any amount of negligent parties could have played a role in a truck accident: the trucker, the trucking company, the manufacturer, the company that mapped the route, the company that loaded the truck and various other third parties. For example:
Truckers
Truckers devote countless hours, day after day, traveling through our highways and interstates in America, and in the bulk of San Antonio truck accident cases, they are ruled liable either partially or completely for the injuries that unfold. Truckers cause accidents with negligent actions like driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, ignoring speed limits, running stop signs, and dangerous swerving. On other occasions, truck accidents in South Texas occur when the trucker is just simply exhausted. Federal laws have attempted to answer this by establishing required rest breaks, but the majority of truckers ignore this so they can meet company deadlines. Studies report that the chances of a trucker being involved in an accident increase after eight consecutive hours of driving, and 20 percent of truckers admit to falling asleep behind the wheel more than once in the month prior to being surveyed. Whether on accident or purposefully, if a trucker’s negligence caused an accident that led to you being injured, then you can seek a lawsuit against that individual.
Trucking Companies
Texas follows a concept known as respondeat superior, which basically says that employers can be found liable and be punished for the behavior of its employees. If a trucker’s negligence caused your accident, then the trucking company could eventually face some manner of punishment. So if it’s unearthed that a trucker had a string of previous DUI convictions, and was found liable for an accident while intoxicated, then the trucking company would be ruled responsible too for the injuries that resulted from the accident.
It’s also critical to mention here that the trucking company doesn’t have to behave negligently on its own to be found responsible for the negligence of its workers. Once the trucker behaves in a negligent fashion, then a lawsuit can be filed seeking damages from the trucking company. Many times the trucking company is the preferred defendant anyway since they have access to considerably more resources than the truckers.
Manufacturers
Peer inside any truck or trailer and you’ll discover they’re composed of wires, screws and other parts, all fastened seamlessly together to ensure the vehicle operates in a safe and proper fashion. If any of these parts don’t work right when the truck is traveling somewhere, then an accident may follow. If this defect was a result of a design flaw or a manufacturing error and an accident occurred, then anyone harmed in a South Texas truck accident has the option to seek compensation from the manufacturer.
The Company that Mapped the Route
If you travel plenty, you likely have noticed that many roads and neighborhoods aren’t constructed to accomidate other manner of commercial vehicles. Bridges also have specific height and weight restrictions established, too. To ensure that everything remains safe, some trucking companies will turn to other businesses to map out safe routes for trucks to use. If this particular business plans a route that is later deemed unsafe and potentially harmful for trucks, then a lawsuit can be filed against that company.
The Company that Loaded the Cargo
In some situations, the company responsible for the cargo is able to put it on the trailer in a safe fashion, but there are other occasions when they rely on another company for this. If the company that loaded the cargo did so in an unsafe manner, this can lead to an accident that causes numerous injuries that this company would be responsible for. Cargo in trucks can weigh upwards of 80,000 pounds, but many companies try to skirt this loading additional goods at a smaller cost, which helps them avoid this rule. Weight limits are set in place for a purpose since overloaded trucks have a far greater chance to topple and create tremendous damage when an accident happens.
When the company that loads the cargo does so in an unsafe fashion, the cargo can loosen during travel, resulting in a load shift that will overturn the trailer and cause an accident with other vehicles. If you’re talking about flatbeds, cargo that isn’t loaded properly can fall onto the road and cause an immediate disaster – and panic – for all the motorists and vehicles behind the truck.
Other Drivers
Trucks may have been involved in accidents, but that doesn’t mean you should immediately assume that the truck or its drivers were the cause of the wreck. Sometimes other drivers disregard their responsibility to keep other motorists safe on the roads, and a truck accident occurs, causing further damage and injuries to other motorists. When this takes place, victims can seek damages from third parties such as these.
These parties, or combinations of these groups, could have played a role – whether big or small – in causing a South Texas truck accident that led to you being injured. You need the help of an experienced South Texas truck accident lawyer who can determine the cause and all of the necessary defendants, so you’re able to receive the compensation you deserve from all the individuals who harmed you with their negligent actions.Prompt Investigation is Key
If you’re trying to obtain all the necessary evidence, figure out who’s at fault and have a way to prove your case in a South Texas truck accident, then it will be key to do a speedy, thorough investigation. Because numerous parties could have behaved in a negligent fashion and played a role in the accident that harmed you, a detailed investigation is required to figure out who all of the main parties are and their degree of negligence. It will be essential to obtain evidence to get a jury to be persuaded to rule for you, and evidence will start vanishing immediately after any accident. You need to retain a San Antonio truck accident lawyer and allow him to begin searching for evidence immediately. Every day you hesitate and don’t get a lawyer you believe in you’re doing even further damage to your case because the evidence you need is disappearing – witnesses can move to other cities or states or have foggy memories, videos get tossed or deleted, and the accident scene will physically be altered.
Our San Antonio truck accident lawyers at our Law Firm have spent two decades discovering how to improve on investigating accident cases. The second we’re hired we quickly get to the accident scene, at no cost to you our clients, so we can locate any pertinent evidence that will help our client’s case. We’ll do what’s needed – and within ethical boundaries – to determine the truth – sequestering any pertinent vehicles involved in the accident, taking photos, looking for key video evidence, searching through police reports, taking measurements of the distance between skid marks and points of impact, doing forensic tests, searching for witnesses and locking down any other key evidence that can later help us in court.
Chances are, you’re probably well behind the work and efforts being done on the part of the defense. Many times what occurs is the trucking or insurance company will send its investigators promptly to the accident scene as soon as the trucker reports it. The defense investigators could care less with discovering how the accident happened; they’re just wanting to obtain evidence that backs up the notion that your injuries were a result of your own negligence. If you don’t already have your own San Antonio attorneys there conducting their own investigation, you’ll have no idea if there was any evidence tampering that occurred, or if the defense did a proper investigation. If they locate any evidence that backs up your alleged negligence, then they can get your claim rejected if they can prove you were totally at fault. Or your damages can be lessened if they can prove your negligence was a contributing factor.
One case we dealt with recently in San Antonio illustrates the need for a prompt, thorough investigation. What happened in this instance was that our firm was retained by a driver of car following a latenight wreck with a truck. The trucking company was attempting to say our client was driving without headlights when the accident took place. Once we were retained to represent the victim, our client’s totaled car had already been taken from the accident scene and to a salvage yard nearby. When our San Antonio attorneys first saw the car there, they immediately noticed it was without headlights. Our first worry was trying to make sure our client got proper compensation, but our investigators noticed there was a surveillance camera mounted in the salvage yard, so they managed to secure some video footage. This particular system was designed to record over its memory every 48 hours and we were able to get to it right before it was taped over. Upon watching it, we saw a worker from the trucking company illegally removing the headlights and leaving the yard with them in tow. Once the trial began, the trucking company’s defense team attempted to say our client had been without any headlights when the wreck occurred. At that moment, we had the physical proof to show their deceit and get compensation for our client. If our client had hesitated any longer to hire us for legal representation, the video would have been useless, any opportunity to get restitution would have disappeared and the trucking company would have been able to commit felonious evidence tampering and not get caught.
Our San Antonio attorneys have encountered plenty of lies and deception often when dealing with truck accident cases, so you need to hire a lawyer and allow them to begin conducting a swift, detailed investigation as quickly as you can. Sometimes our investigators can still get the required proof long after the accident happened, but the faster we start investigating the better our chances of getting the proof we need to get the compensation you’re owed. Don’t wait any longer in discussing your case with a San Antonio truck accident lawyer.
Common Obstacles that Plaintiffs Must Overcome
You’ve probably filed a regular insurance claim after a normal car accident, but that doesn’t mean you’re instantly able to handle a truck accident claim by yourself. Trucking insurance policies are valued at 50 times more than your normal auto insurance policy. Due to the enormous size of truck insurance policies, litigation to handle truck accidents is considerably more complex than what you’ll find with your everyday car accident case. Plaintiffs who’ve tried to save money on lawyer’s fees by handling their own case just hurt themselves with compensation that is either dramatically smaller or completely denied. People with no legal background, and lawyers fresh from graduate school become frustrated and confused when attempting to file lawsuits after truck accidents because of a variety of issues: showing the burden of proof, the size of insurance policies, self-insured trucking companies and truckers who resort to lying.Burden of Proof
There’s nowhere in the law that says the defendant or defendants have to pay you a dime after you’ve been injured in a truck accident unless you, being the plaintiff, can manage to show they have to. If you want to receive proper compensation for your injuries, you’ll have to submit credible evidence for your case. Other types of negotiation may be used for your claim, but evidence must be located to get the defense or insurance to work in good faith. You’ll need to show proof for each of these four parts of a truck accident case:
Duty
The first part of this lengthy process is being able to show the defendant owed you an obligation to keep you safe by acting in a proper manner. The law has established legal duties for specific matters and for each particular party, all contingent on their relationships. When dealing with truck accident cases, reaching this point isn’t difficult, since every motorist has to drive their car in a way that keeps other drivers, pedestrians and passengers safe on the roads.
Breach
If you’re hoping to prove your case, the next step is showing that the defendant or defendants ignored the duty of care you deserved. This usually happens when the defendant harmed others in a way that most people wouldn’t or by choosing to do nothing when most people would be expecting to do something. You’ll have to get evidence that proves the defendant violated his or her legal duty of care via action or inaction if you want to show this duty had been broken. Plus, you’ll also have to hire a South Texas truck accident lawyer who can use this evidence and convince a jury to agree that the defendant or defendants acted in an improper manner.
Causation
Besides showing that the defendant or defendants broke the legal duty that resulted in your harm, you’ll also have to prove your injuries were a direct result of this duty being violated. Because several parties could have been involved or played a role in causing a San Antonio truck accident, it takes credible evidence to help a jury see a causal relationship was present with the defendant’s violation of their duty to you and the harm it created. If this doesn’t take place, the defendant can destroy your case by moving the blame elsewhere for your injuries. Many times, the defendant or defendant’s best way to dodge blame is simply by switching straight to the victim for causing their own injuries with their own poor choices.
Damages
Once you’ve managed to show the first three parts required for a credible truck accident lawsuit, you then have to prove the damages the defendant owed for the injuries you’ve incurred. When dealing with damages in the legal world, you’re not talking just about injuries or property damage, but are focused on the compensation the defendant owes for the harm they’re liable for. The plaintiff can seek damages for issues such as medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, lost earning capacity, damaged property and other losses involved in the accident.
The toughest part here is that you can’t just ask the court to give you the compensation you’re rightfully owed and believe you’ll get it. You’ve got to submit evidence that doesn’t just show your losses, but also how you discovered the monetary value for these damages. Many times defendants will debate over the total amount of compensation asked for by the plaintiff and counter with their own amount for damages owed that will likely shrink the overall amount of harm the plaintiff is seeking. If you’re attempting to show the defendant actually attempt to shortchange their estimate, you’ve got to provide strong proof that shows your amounts are absolutely accurate.
What’s my case’s real value? Because damages like pain and suffering, or loss of earning capacity, tend to be so subjective and open for debate, adding up damages can be very complicated for anyone who normally doesn’t do it. it’s tough to figure out a price for such issues as pain and suffering or attempt to determine lost earning capacity by adding up potential raises and inflation. In court, you’ve got one chance to add up the amount of compensation you’re wanting. In the two decades of our firm’s existence, our South Texas truck accident lawyers have been compiling damages, and we have become comfortable enough with damages like yours to determine all your losses and come to an estimation on compensation that adequately gives you the restitution you’re seeking.
When you’re unable to show any of these parts, that means you won’t be able to get compensation for the harm you’ve dealt with. You need the help of a San Antonio truck accident lawyer – especially if you wind up in court. Our years of handling truck accident cases has allowed our lawyers to grow in developing a strong legal gameplan that meets the burden of proof and allows the jury to rule on your behalf.Enormous Insurance Policies
Federal regulations state that trucking companies have to purchase huge insurance policies as a way of protecting themselves against possible accidents, injuries and deaths that occur when being involved in business with trucks. Due to this, lots falsely believe they’ll be compensated quickly and not face any problems. Lots of times, that’s just untrue. Since insurance policies are valued at 50 times those of regular passenger cars, the insurance companies usually spend 50 times the effort and energy to guard their trucking policies.
With everything at stake, insurance companies tend to rely on their savviest and most experienced adjusters to handle settlement negotiations. You’ve probably not had tons of experience handling truck accident claims, but these workers are the top in their field and work these claims consistently. They have a knack of being able to connect with accident victims, who are still overwhelmed by shock and who have a tendency to trust their local insurance agent, then use the details against them to have their claim thrown out. What happens is they give off a fake type of friendship and try to convince the victim they’re seeking to help them obtain compensation – but first they need to answer some simple questions. The truth is they don’t want to help out; they’re just seeking to increase company profits by making sure your claim is turned down. Following that, they bombard you with nonstop questions that simply take the same statements, and reword them over and over in hopes of getting you to make a mistake and confess that it was your fault for the accident happening. Once they get you to take the blame and say you were liable, your claim will be rejected. It’s best not to communicate at all with insurance adjusters, so hire an experienced South Texas truck accident lawyer and allow your legal team to deal with all the harassing questions being thrown around by insurance adjusters. We usually tell our clients not to talk with any workers from insurance companies without a lawyer there to oversee your best interests. If you hire our firm, our lawyers will take care of all the conversations pertaining to the insurance company and protect you from possibly admitting you were responsible.
Many times aggressive insurance adjusters will try to get accident victims to waive their rights to seek a lawsuit in turn for taking a tiny settlement. You don’t want to have to deal with the stress and uncertainties that come with a jury trial, but you also don’t want to accept a settlement that doesn’t adequately assist you with the harm you’ve sustained. Only a lawyer with an extensive track record of success can get the insurance company to accept a fair settlement, since they’re already concerned about losing more money in court.
The insurance company will also attempt to dodge liability for your injuries by turning to an experienced defense team that will search for any legal loopholes and procedural hurdles they could benefit from, and in turn use that to make sure plaintiffs damage their chance at receiving compensation. You need the assistance of an experienced San Antonio truck accident lawyer who can match any attacks developed by the defense. Our attorneys have been granted millions from every well known insurance company throughout the country, and we’ve learned how to anticipate every potential trick they could use.Self-Insured Companies can Be More Treacherous
Instead of obtaining a regular insurance policy, lots of trucking companies will set aside a portion of their assets for insurance purposes whenever accidents happen. The federal government oversees the insurance agency, and mandates that all businesses be registered, adjusters be licensed and ethical standards are followed. Self-insured companies, however, don’t have to deal with these rules and guidelines. For that reason, self-insured companies have earned a reputation for acting unethical and being impossible in negotiations. Many times when you’re trying to handle settlements with self-insured companies, you’ll have to deal with someone from the company’s headquarters. Since this worker likely gets a portion of their income from some manner of profit sharing, they have lots of incentive to get your claim tossed. This officer would essentially be forking over some of their income if they let you get the restitution you’re seeking. With their income on the line, self-insured companies tend to put their own interests ahead of the plaintiff’s and will rely on such awful behavior as bullying, evidence tampering and occasionally threatening victims.
If a self-insured company has attempted to bully you or get pushy in any way, then you can get this to cease with the assistance of a South Texas truck accident lawyer. Once we’re hired, our attorneys can make self-insured companies operate in good faith, and even threaten them with legal action if we have to.Truckers Can’t be Trusted
We always try to believe people are basically good and upstanding, but the trucker who hurt you with their negligence has plenty of incentive to lie. If the trucker is believed to have hurt other individuals while driving in a negligent fashion, then that individual is going to be pink slipped in a matter of time, if they haven’t been let go already. A trucker who’s been ruled negligent will also find out it’s pretty much impossible to obtain another job like that with that kind of mark on their record. When you factor in the job market and the state of the economy, many basically honest and well-meaning truckers will choose to lie so they can keep their jobs and be able to provide for their families. To get the compensation you’re wanting, you’ve got to prove the trucker was engaged in lying.
Our South Texas truck accident lawyers have improved in their ability to investigate and discover the key facts that show the trucker was engaged in lying. We’ll take their credibility apart with all the key facts we’ve obtained and expose their lies to everyone involved in the case.
Like insurance adjusters, who seek to get victims to admit their negligence with a barrage of questions, our attorneys will try to form some questions to be included in the deposition that will try to trick the trucker into confessing their own lie. The South Texas truck accident lawyers at our Law Firm have deposed thousands of witnesses over 20 years, and we’re able to form questions that expose the trucker’s lies.How We can Help
If you’ve been hurt or a family member has been lost in a truck accident in San Antonio of South Texas, then you need to hire a truck accident lawyer who will guard your legal rights and make sure you get the restitution you’re seeking. From our initial documents we get to the final decision from the court, our attorneys handle every facet of your case and make sure you’re updated on a consistent basis. Other services we provide include the following:
Investigating to determine how the accident happened
Figuring out who all the key parties are and developing comprehensive claims and lawsuits against each of them.
Spotting all the key evidence that will assist you with your burden of proof
Relying on our successful reputation, which will put pressure on the defendants
Guarding victims from the incessant telephone calls and questions from insurance adjusters.
Forming a strong investigation and deposition strategy that exposes the trucker’s lies
Forming a strong gameplan to convince the jury to rule on behalf of our clients
Applying pressure on self-insured companies to behave properly and negotiate in good faith
Making sure our clients receive proper medical attention
Chances are the defense has already concluded its investigation and case against you. The more you wait to hire a lawyer, the more problems you create in your chances of getting the restitution you’re seeking. Call us soon at (210) 820-3434 for a free consultation and discover how we can assist you like countless others throughout Texas.