Our truck accident lawyers refuse to back down when trucking companies and insurance companies tell us no. We fight for our clients and work to see every dollar they lost because of a dangerous truck accident repaid, plus additional damages for pain and suffering.
Trucking companies and their insurance put strong legal teams in place to protect themselves, so you need a strong legal team on your side. We are not afraid to take trucking companies and drivers to court when your case demands it.
Contact The Reiff Law Firm at (215) 709-6940 for a free case review with our truck accident lawyers.
Can You Sue Trucking Companies?
Trucking companies are often at fault for truck accidents, but their fault can come in two different forms:
Direct Liability
If the trucking company did something itself to cause the crash, then it can be held liable. This covers situations where the business practices and decisions directly cause the crash, such as
- Negligent hiring of a driver they should have known was dangerous
- Negligent vehicle maintenance that put a dangerous truck on the road
- Violations of trucking regulations, including requiring drivers to drive beyond hours of service limits.
Vicarious Liability
Companies only act through the people that make up the company, and so companies can also be held responsible for what their workers do. This means you can often sue a trucking company because their driver – their employee – was the one to cause the crash.
To do this, you need to prove a few elements:
- The driver was negligent – they were the one to actually cause the crash.
- The driver was an employee at the trucking company, not an independent contractor or self-employed driver.
- The driver’s negligence occurred within the scope of their job duties, i.e., not during personal errands in the truck.
Can You Sue Truck Drivers Directly?
You can sue any driver who was at fault for a crash, but the driver may not be able to pay like their employer can.
Fault
You need to prove the driver was at fault before you can win a case against them. This means showing that they caused the crash through negligence.
This requires either objectively unreasonable driving or some kind of specific violation that caused the crash. For example, drunk driving, speeding, or texting while driving would suffice.
Employer Usually Pays
When a trucker causes an accident while on the job, their employer can typically be held responsible in their place. This allows you to sue a company that can potentially pay much higher damages than an individual driver.
Typically, insurance covers the crash either way, but if the damages are serious enough, you may need to get out-of-pocket damages from the trucking company, instead of insurance payments alone.
What if Someone Else Caused the Crash?
As noted, any driver who causes a crash can typically be held responsible. If this was the trucker, our truck accident lawyers can pursue damages from them, their insurance, and their employer.
If the at-fault driver was someone else, we can seek damages from them and their insurance instead. This might even mean holding multiple drivers responsible for their share of the fault, especially in multi-car pileups.
What Damages Can You Get in a Truck Accident Case?
Truck accident claims can involve damages for any harms you suffer in the accident, typically including these:
Medical Bills
The cost of medical care can be very high in truck accidents, since injuries are often severe. This can include things like physical rehabilitation and even mental health care for PTSD from the crash.
Lost Wages
If you cannot work because of the injuries from the crash, the person who caused the crash is responsible for your lost wages. This includes lost future earning capacity if you are now disabled.
Pain and Suffering
Your intangible harms, like emotional distress and physical pain, can also be paid for, even though they are “non-economic damages” with no hard values or receipts.
Property Damage
The cost of repairing your vehicle is not as important as the cost of repairing your body, but this is still an expensive area of damages we can claim in an injury case.
What Should You Do After a Truck Accident?
After a truck accident, take the following steps:
- Report the accident by calling 911.
- Also ask for an ambulance, and get any medical care you need to treat your injuries.
- Gather evidence at the scene.
- Exchange contact and insurance info with other drivers.
- Call a lawyer.
- File insurance claims and report the crash to your own insurance company.
- Negotiate through your lawyer for proper damages.
- Go to court, if needed.
What Evidence Should You Collect at the Scene?
In an accident case, there are usually a few important pieces of evidence at the scene that you need to collect:
- Take photos of any damage or injuries if you can.
- Get the other driver’s contact and insurance info.
- Get any witness contact info.
- Note the weather, lighting, and roadway conditions.
- Note any traffic signs or signals in the area.
- See if you can spot any traffic cameras, security cameras, or dash cams that might have caught the accident on video.
- Get medical care to start creating medical records.
Your lawyers can help collect the rest of the evidence needed for your case.
Do You Need a Lawyer?
Yes. You can technically pursue damages through insurance or a lawsuit without a lawyer, but you never should. The defendant gets a lawyer covered through their insurance, so you should have one, too.
On top of that, we can negotiate with the defense and use our ample experience at trial if needed to get your damages paid in full.
What Does Your Own Insurance Cover?
In Pennsylvania, your insurance is required to cover at least $5,000 worth of injuries. This usually is not enough.
We use a system where you can choose between cheaper “limited tort” insurance and more expensive “full tort” coverage. Limited tort coverage limits your ability to sue, and so many drivers with limited tort coverage have more first-party benefits, so you may also have things like
- Additional medical coverage
- Collision coverage
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.
In any case, most damages should be paid by the defendant.
Call Our Truck Accident Lawyers in Wayne Today
Call The Reiff Law Firm’s truck accident lawyers for a free case evaluation at (215) 709-6940.
