Truck Accident Cases and Damages By Chanfrau & Chanfrau on November 19, 2014

As devastating as any auto accident has the potential to be, no auto accident is as inherently dangerous as one involving a large commercial truck such as a big rig or an 18-wheeler. Trucking accidents are often among the most catastrophic of all accidents, creating overwhelming economic, emotional, and physical hardships for victims and their families. Their sheer size, weight, and difficulty to steer and brake alone make them hazardous for all but the most experienced and highly trained truckers to operate, and - tragically - far more likely to result in serious injury or death when a collision does occur.

At the law firm of Chanfrau & Chanfrau in Central Florida, truck accident cases and damages resulting from such cases are matters that our lawyers understand intimately well. Our personal injury attorneys have extensive experience in handling trucking accident cases and know how to use all of the resources at their disposal to build the strongest possible cases on behalf of their injured clients.

Trucking Accident Litigation versus Other Types of Auto Accident Cases

In general, trucking accident cases are more complex than other types of auto accident cases, requiring intensive investigation and accident reconstruction. Establishing liability can be particularly difficult in that multiple parties, including the trucker, the trucker’s employer, the manufacturer of a faulty part of the truck, the party responsible for training the trucker, the party responsible for the maintenance of the truck, and any number of other parties, may be at least partly at fault for the accident. For instance:

The operator of the truck may have committed a negligent act, such as driving while fatigued due to not having taken federally mandated rest breaks
The company that employed the driver may be partly at fault because it pushed the driver to meet unrealistic deadlines, essentially forcing him or her not to take federally mandated rest breaks.

In cases involving faulty brakes or other equipment, the manufacturer of the equipment may be exclusively responsible for the flaw, or the owner of the truck may share responsibility due to a failure to perform necessary safety inspections. Our personal injury attorneys have the resources, knowledge, and skills to make sense of these often convoluted elements of trucking accident cases and identify all liable parties.

Our attorneys are also highly skilled at collecting crucial evidence that can be altered or “accidentally misplaced,” such as driver’s logs and other important documents, in a timely manner.

Damages in Truck Accident Cases

While there are no guarantees of damages in any case, successful truck accident cases typically result in compensation for such losses and expenses as:

Hospital fees
Surgery costs
Medical bills
Rehabilitation expenses
Lost wages
Pain and suffering
Mental anguish

In the tragic event that you have lost a member of your family in a truck accident, you may also be entitled to compensation for funeral costs, loss of consortium, loss of future benefits, and other future losses.