Do not wait a moment longer than you must before hiring a truck accident attorney. You may need emergency medical care and speak with your doctors about the immediate recovery plan. Beyond these urgent responsibilities, hiring a truck accident lawyer should be the top priority.
Ideally, you will retain your Tampa truck accident lawyer within hours of your accident. Most will hire their lawyer within a handful of days. If you have already waited longer, you should still speak with truck accident attorneys serving your area as soon as possible.
Why "Right Now" Is the Time to Hire Your Truck Accident Attorney
It is no exaggeration to say that hiring a truck accident lawyer is an urgent matter. There are multiple reasons to act quickly in retaining an attorney, which include:
- The vulnerable nature of evidence: Evidence can be destroyed, thrown away, and affected in other ways that can negatively impact your case. In some cases, someone who possesses evidence (like a trucking company) may intentionally get rid of it. The sooner you hire a lawyer, the quicker they can obtain and protect all valuable evidence.
- Statutes of limitations for truck accident cases: Most states, including Florida, have legally-binding deadlines for filing personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits. Those who wait to hire a lawyer risk missing the statute of limitations. This can mean losing your chance to secure all the money you need for medical services, lost income, vehicle repairs, and other damages.
- Your need for protection: Executives at trucking companies are not typically dumb. The same is true of decision-makers at insurance companies. These parties will know, if they can coax you into making a mistake (including accepting a lowball settlement), they may save themselves a substantial sum of money. Your attorney will protect you immediately.
Your peace of mind is also worth consideration. Until you hire a lawyer, you may have to divide your attention between your health, personal life, and unresolved case. When you hire a lawyer to handle your case, your life will become significantly less complicated (and less stressful).
Considering Hiring a Lawyer? Here's Why You Should
For many victims, accidents involving commercial trucks are once-in-a-lifetime events. You may not know how to proceed, and hiring a lawyer can be an important first step that brings certainty and stability to a traumatic situation.
Some of the reasons why countless truck accident victims hire attorneys each year include:
- Lawyers' reliable, easy-to-follow advice: Truck accident victims often face post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), physical pain, and other challenges that throw their lives into chaos. Combined with the unfamiliarity of being hit by a truck, these hurdles can cause immense confusion. A lawyer's clear and simple roadmap should be a welcomed resource for you.
- Attorneys' ability to execute several case strategies: You should not be resigned to accept an insurance company's best offer (which may not be a good one). Truck accident lawyers can negotiate insurance settlements, file lawsuits, and go to trial if necessary. When you work with an attorney, the entire slate of case strategies becomes available.
- Law firms' substantial financial resources (and robust staff): Truck accidents are associated with serious injuries, including an outsize number of fatal injuries. Victims deserve fair financial recoveries, but successful truck accident cases often cost money. Your law firm will lend its financial resources, attorneys, and support staff to you—at no upfront or out-of-pocket cost.
- Time and health constraints so many accident victims endure: Even the toughest among us must care for themselves after a truck accident. If you do not place your full focus on recovery, your short- and long-term well-being may suffer. Let a lawyer handle your claim or lawsuit. This will benefit both your health and the quality of your case.
The benefits of hiring a lawyer can go on and on. Put in simple terms, there is no substitute for an attorney's law-school training, real-world experience, negotiation bona fides, and commitment to your financial recovery. We all need help from time to time, and you may feel a weight off your shoulders as soon as you retain your attorney.
Challenges Most Truck Accident Victims Face (and Can Avoid By Hiring an Attorney)
Getting fair compensation for a truck accident is usually not simple. You cannot merely exchange insurance information and expect to receive a check from the insurance company that fully covers your medical bills, professional losses, and other damages.
Truck accident cases are too complex and challenging to assume the right outcome will come without a fight. Some of the specific challenges you'll hire a lawyer to overcome include:
Dense, Detailed Insurance Policies for Commercial Trucks
Insurance companies are fond of complicated language and dense policies, but truck-specific policies take the complexity to another level. Fortunately, an experienced truck accident lawyer will:
- Be a skilled investigator of commercial truck insurance policies
- Have paralegals and other qualified team members helping them with your case (including analysis of relevant insurance policies)
- Know what specific details to note when analyzing policies related to your accident
Just as importantly, your lawyer will be comfortable dealing with insurance representatives.
Complicated Regulations Governing the Trucking Industry
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) holds trucking companies, truck drivers, and other parties to strict regulations. These rules govern everything from drive-time limits to vehicle inspection requirements and cargo weight limits, and the rules are not optional.
Your attorney will:
- Identify any FMCSA regulations a truck driver, trucking company, or other liable party broke in the course of causing your accident
- Tie the FMCSA rule violations into any other types of negligence that contributed to your collision
- Investigate the culture at the trucking company to determine if rule-breaking is commonplace (this can be relevant to your case)
Your case should detail every error and failure that contributed to the collision. Achieving this goal will require a strong understanding of FMCSA rules (and potential violations of those rules).
Critical Evidence in a Liable Trucking Company's Hands
You can probably guess how a trucking company will treat evidence that benefits your case. At the very least, they'll be less than eager to hand it over.
Your attorney can file a legal document known as a letter of spoliation, which may require the trucking company to provide:
- Black-box data (the black box is an in-truck computer that may provide critical info about the vehicle's movements)
- Video footage from the truck (which may have both inward- and out-facing cameras)
- The truck driver's work history, which may reveal a pattern of reckless behavior
- Any relevant incident reports
Allow your legal team to secure this evidence as soon as possible by hiring your lawyer as soon as possible.
Qualified Lawyers Defending the Trucking Company
Trucking companies must always be on the defensive. Because of the nature of their business, it's almost inevitable that trucking companies will be the subject of insurance claims and lawsuits.
Competent trucking companies generally:
- Have robust insurance policies (and, therefore, have at least one insurance company defending claims)
- Have multiple attorneys fighting any lawsuits against the trucking company
Because they are often large businesses, trucking companies may have well-paid lawyers on their side. It's in your interests to have a capable lawyer on your side, too.
A Lawyer's Fee Gets You Many Services
Your truck accident lawyer's fee is a percentage of any settlement or verdict they obtain for you. By accepting this fee agreement, you get many legal services in exchange. Your truck accident attorney, their team, and hired experts may:
Build Your Case with Evidence from the Accident
Your truck accident lawyer will help to recreate your accident using all available evidence, which may include:
- The evidence they secure from the trucking company (like black-box data and footage from onboard cameras)
- Video from traffic cameras and other video sources
- Photographs of damage to your vehicle and the truck involved in your accident
- Eyewitness testimony about the accident
Your attorney will also secure any police report, which may allude to witness testimony and statements made by those involved in the collision.
Document All Economic and Non-Economic Harm Resulting from the Collision
Your legal team will prove the details of your damages with:
- Medical images, which may include photos, X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans
- Medical records, which may include doctors' explicit diagnoses of your injuries, notes about your symptoms, and treatment plans
- Invoices, including bills for medical care, vehicle repairs, and temporary transportation
- Employment records, which may include bank statements proving lost income
An attorney can also arrange for you to see a mental health professional. That professional can diagnose any PTSD, depression, and other types of pain and suffering related to your accident.
Commission Expert Testimony and Reconstructions of the Collision
Experts can bring immense value to your case, and they may:
- Reconstruct your accident using the latest reconstructive technology
- Testify explicitly about why the truck accident happened and who is responsible for your accident-related losses
- Help document your accident-related damages (for instance, a mental health professional may diagnose your pain and suffering and prescribe a treatment course)
Truck accident attorneys hire experts as a standard feature of their representation. Your attorney will not charge you any extra fee when they hire one or more experts.
Calculate the Value of Your Current and Future Damages
Truck accident lawyers know that victims' damages can cost six figures and sometimes more. Your legal team will get hyper-specific, though, as they need to ensure you don't face any financial hardship because of the collision.
Your attorney's calculation of your case value will reflect:
- The cost of all medical care you've received and will need going forward
- The toll of your pain and suffering
- The cost of all mental health services you'll require because of the accident
- The cost of repairing or replacing all property damaged during the collision
If the liable parties' conduct was egregious, you could be entitled to punitive damages (though this is not always true in truck accident cases). Let your lawyer calculate your case value, as they have a financial stake in you obtaining the money you deserve.
Fight for You During Settlement Negotiations (and Review Offers with You)
Your lawyer will be your negotiator. This can be good news because:
- Negotiations are a critical feature of lawyers' education and training
- As lawyers handle more and more truck accident cases, they gain more and more experience as negotiators
- Attorneys have critical leverage in negotiations with a trucking company's insurance provider—if you don't receive a fair offer, your lawyer can file a lawsuit
Many truck accident victims receive fair compensation from insurance companies. However, the insurers don't typically make it easy. Your attorney will be ready for challenging negotiations, and they will rely on evidence, documentation, and their knowledge of your case as they fight for the money you deserve.
Lead You Through the Legal Process If You File a Lawsuit (and Possibly Go to Trial)
Your lawyer will review settlement offers with you. If you and your legal team choose to file a lawsuit against a trucking company or any other liable party, your attorney will lead the legal process for you.
Your case can go all the way to trial. Having a lawyer is particularly important if your insurance claim becomes a lawsuit.
Your Truck Accident Attorney Will Demand Total Financial Justice for You
Trust your lawyer to account for the full economic and non-economic cost of your accident, which may include:
- Vehicle repairs
- Temporary transportation
- Replacement of a totaled vehicle
- Medical expenses
- The cost of mental health services
- Pain and suffering
- Lost income
- Diminished earning capacity
When truck accident victims become disabled or lose their lives, reality becomes even more devastating and costly. An attorney will calculate the cost of your damages and fight to make you whole.
Hire Your Truck Accident Attorney Today
You now know when to hire your Tampa personal injury lawyer (right away). The sooner you find a highly qualified lawyer to plead your case, the sooner you can focus on your recovery while they fight for the money you deserve.
James Wayne Holliday
James Wayne Holliday has been practicing law since 1995. He has been named as a “Best Attorney” Lifetime Charter Member in Florida, an honor awarded to less than one percent of the nation’s lawyers.
Mr. Holliday has earned a reputation as a relentless trial lawyer because of his outstanding work ethic and thorough preparation of his cases for trial.
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