Were you recently involved in an accident with a truck? If the accident was caused when something fell off the truck, you have the right to file a claim. However, in order to do this, you will first need to understand who to file the claim against. In accidents involving 18-wheelers, this can get complicated fast.
When cargo falling off a truck leads to injury or death, the people who could be held responsible for the accident may include the following:
- The truck’s driver
- The shipping company
- The trucking company
- The truck’s manufacturer
All of the above-named individuals could be held responsible for, and ultimately charged with, safety violations. You can report safety violations here. Chief among these possible violations would be their failure to properly secure the cargo in question. The exact extent of the charges that are possible to file will depend on the enormity of the actual accident.
You should note that the vast majority of truck drivers as well as the companies that sponsor them are fully insured. If you are injured in a truck accident, you have the right to collect a fair amount of damages from the company as well as the driver. An insurance policy will normally cover claims made against truck drivers and companies.
What Can You Do If You Are Injured?
If you or someone you love was injured, it may have been due to several reasons. The accident may have occurred as a result of the cargo being improperly secured. The load may have fallen off the truck and hit you, or it may have landed on the road, causing you to be unable to avoid hitting it. In 2015, there was even a case where a bicyclist was killed after a cargo container slid off a flatbed truck.
When this occurs, you will need to take action. Your best bet will be to engage the aid and counsel of an experienced truck accident lawyer. If the accident resulted in the loss of a loved one, you may also need to hire a lawyer in order to file and pursue a wrongful death claim. An attorney will weigh the evidence and identify the responsible party or parties.
Filing a claim is the right thing to do for many reasons. First and foremost is the fact that you will need to claim damages in order to cover your medical bills. You may have not only weeks of hospital time to pay for but also the cost of ongoing therapy and additional medications. These are costs that add up fast and need reimbursement.
Filing a Personal Injury Claim
The first thing you’ll need to do when you’re filing a claim is to determine your damages. This will include your medical bills, your lost work, funeral expenses when someone is killed, and any other expenses that are related to the accident. You can follow this link to learn more about recoverable damages in a personal injury case from truck accident attorneys who have recovered more than $250 million for their clients.
There is no reason why you should have to face the prospect of bankruptcy because someone else’s negligence upended your life. If you were not the cause of your accident, you should not have to be the one to foot the bill for it.
The time to get started on filing your truck accident claim is now, because the longer you wait, the greater your chances of missing the statute of limitations will become. The statute of limitations differs in each state, so you’ll want to ask your lawyer what the limit is in your state sooner rather than later.
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