What to Do After a Truck Accident

After a truck accident, make your health your utmost concern and seek medical attention immediately. Next, call a truck accident lawyer to obtain the compensation you deserve for medical treatment, pain and suffering, professional damages, and all other harm resulting from the truck accident.

Hiring a Tulsa truck accident lawyer is a common tactic for truck accident victims. Your attorney will focus on securing the money you are entitled to.

 

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First: Get Medical Attention

The size and weight of trucks make them more likely to cause serious injuries.

This figure also underscores the importance of seeking extensive medical care after your accident because:

• You may have serious injuries, even if you are not currently experiencing any symptoms.
• You will likely need money for accident-related damages, and documenting your injuries is the first step toward securing that compensation.
• Medical professionals and records will help you prove every type of harm that has resulted from your truck accident.

When you find a doctor to examine you, take care to:

• Tell the doctor about the experience of your accident, including the toll on your body during the collision.
• Tell the doctor about any abnormal pain and other symptoms you’re experiencing.
• Ask whether imaging services (like X-rays and MRIs) are necessary.
• Obtain and safeguard copies of medical bills, images of injuries, doctors’ notes, and any other documentation of your care.

Your attorney will also secure documentation of your injuries, diagnostic procedures, and treatments. However, you can obtain such documentation on your own and provide it to your lawyer.

Large trucks are overrepresented in fatal traffic collisions. If you lost a loved one in a truck crash, you should immediately contact a lawyer who can obtain records of their fatal injuries, connecting their tragedy to the truck crash.

Second: Hire a Truck Accident Attorney

Hiring an attorney may be your next priority once you have ensured you are not in immediate danger from your injuries.

Those who suffer injuries during truck accidents usually do not feel capable of securing the compensation they deserve, so they:

• Research truck accident attorneys serving their geographic area
• Evaluate those firms based on case results, client testimonials, and other criteria.
• Complete free consultations with prospective firms, learn more about those firms, and get a feel for each firm’s culture.
• Hire the law firm they believe is most capable of securing fair compensation for their accident-related damages.

You may follow this same process to find a truck accident lawyer for your own case.

What Happens if I Don’t Hire a ?

Hiring a truck accident lawyer is a choice, and for many, it is the right choice. To evaluate if hiring an attorney is the right decision for you, knowing the potential downsides of not hiring a lawyer is necessary.

Truck accident victims who choose not to work with an attorney may:

Suffer Mental Health Deficits

Only those who have been in a truck accident understand how psychologically and emotionally traumatic the event is. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common condition among traffic accident victims, and you may:

• Need to spend time in low-stress environments to decompress after your accident
• Seek mental health treatment, which may occupy a substantial amount of your time
• Have little tolerance for stress
• Be seriously harmed by overexposure to the traumatic details of your truck accident

Mental health is essential to your overall health. If you take on the responsibility of your insurance claim or lawsuit, your mental health may seriously suffer as a consequence.

Have to Take Time Away from Your Recovery

There is a finite amount of time in the day. Your personal life will not pause after the accident, and your recovery from injuries may take a substantial slice of your time as well. If you try to handle your own case, you will have less time for treatment and other aspects of your recovery.

Suffer Physical Health Problems

If you are handling your own case during your recovery, your physical health may suffer.

You may risk:

• Recovering more slowly than you might if you allowed a truck accident lawyer to handle your case
• Causing injuries that might have healed fully (with a proper recovery process) to become disabling or long-term injuries
• Developing new physical or psychological problems because you have not invested sufficient time to your recovery

These are not risks a truck accident victim should be willing to take. This is especially true because the worse your physical condition is, the less capable you may be of presenting a winning case.

Fail to Build a Successful Case

Completing a truck accident case can be even more difficult than other case types. Weigh carefully whether you have the time, physical strength, psychological stability, relevant experience, and other assets necessary to complete a winning case.

If you are not 100 percent confident that you can secure fair compensation for your accident-related damages (most people aren’t), the right decision is always to hire a truck accident attorney. Even injured lawyers hire other lawyers to represent them for the above reasons.

There Are Several Reasons to Hire an Attorney After Your Truck Accident

There are simply too many reasons to hire a truck accident lawyer to summarize them in a single sentence. Attorneys provide a wide range of services and benefits, and some of the clearest reasons to work with an attorney are:

Truck Accidents Are Often Complicated Events

Even before considering the complexities of an insurance claim or lawsuit, consider the complexity of a truck accident itself.

These collisions can result from:

• Mechanical failure
• Driver error
• Dangerous road conditions
• Weather conditions
• A range of other hazards

Your attorney will need to diagnose the cause of your accident. To do so, they may review and interpret evidence from the accident, consult experts in truck mechanics, and weigh all relevant facts to determine liability.

Injury victims lack the time, resources, and knowledge necessary to determine exactly why their accidents happened. This is why professional help is available.

Trucking Companies Often Have Legal Counsel on Retainer

The largest trucking companies in the United States pay tens of billions of dollars in fuel taxes alone. These companies are often multi-million-dollar entities that know that lawsuits are inevitable, so they keep experienced lawyers on retainer.

When you are seeking compensation for a truck accident, you may be dealing with insurers and lawyers who will pose a worthy fight against your case. It may be smart to have your own lawyer fighting for your interests.

A Trucking Company May Have Important Evidence It Refuses to Hand Over

Evidence of negligence will be a key asset for your lawyer.

The liable trucking company may possess some of that evidence, including:

• Employment history for a truck driver who caused your accident
• Incident reports detailing past negligence by the trucking company
• Data from the computer in the truck involved in your accident
• Details about truck components that may have malfunctioned in advance of your accident
• Photographs of the damaged truck

Trucking companies know when they have valuable evidence. Your attorney may need to file a letter of spoliation requiring the company to provide any accident-related evidence in its possession.

Your Case May Require a Trial

Though most civil cases do not go to trial, truck accident cases may be more likely to go to court than most. You may deserve a substantial sum of money for your damages, and insurers and trucking companies are not typically fond of paying large sums of money.

If you hire a truck accident lawyer, they will take your case to court if necessary. If liable parties recognize that your lawyer is willing to go to court, those liable parties may be motivated to settle your case fairly.

Services Your Attorney Will Perform on Your Behalf

Your truck accident lawyer will lead every step of your insurance claim or lawsuit, maintaining the goal that you obtain all of the compensation you need and deserve. Securing fair compensation for a truck accident victim typically requires:

Establishing Fault for Your Accident

Your lawyer will investigate your truck accident and identify why the collision happened.

Liable parties may include:

• A truck driver
• A trucking company
• A truck manufacturer
• A municipality
• Another party whose negligence contributed to the accident

Truck operators are often responsible for accidents, and their employers are usually financially liable as well. Truck drivers may be even more likely to cause serious injuries when they are fatigued, intoxicated, or not physically capable of handling a large truck.

Developing a Precise Strategy for Your Case

Your attorney will weigh all the evidence and details they collect during the investigation. They will identify liable parties and determine the most effective way to seek compensation for your damages.

In many cases, truck accident lawyers:

1. Begin by leading their client’s insurance claim
2. File a lawsuit if insurers cannot or will not cover the entire cost of accident-related damages

Strategies evolve as cases move forward. Your attorney will act with urgency and agility to resolve your case and pivot as necessary.

Documenting Your Accident-Related Damages

Your lawyer will work to prove the many ways in which your truck accident has affected your life.

Relevant documentation of your damages may include:

• Medical records, including images of your injuries
• Medical bills
• Mental health experts’ diagnoses of your pain and suffering
• Bills related to vehicle repairs, temporary transportation, and other accident-related property expenses
• Your own testimony about how the accident has negatively affected you
• Employment records that prove you have lost income after the truck accident

Each truck accident case presents attorneys with new clients, damages, and obligations. Your attorney will create a personalized detail of your damages and determine the financial cost of each damage.

Negotiating a Settlement for You

Your lawyer will build your case in preparation for settlement negotiations. Liable parties will speak with your attorney about your injuries, the financial cost of your accident, and how much money those liable parties owe you.

While settlements are common, liable parties must agree to settle for a settlement to occur. Your attorney will present the most compelling case they can, which may result in the settlement agreement you deserve.

Taking Your Case to Trial, When Necessary

Trial becomes a realistic strategy when settlement negotiations do not succeed.

Your attorney will:

• Organize evidence of negligence
• Organize documentation of your damages
• Resolve the pre-trial process
• Make oral arguments in favor of your case
• Handle every other aspect of the trial
• Implore the jury to award you fair compensation for your damages

Trials are complicated processes best handled by an experienced attorney. When you do choose to hire a truck accident lawyer, you know that the possibility of trial is on the table.

The Cost of Your Truck Accident May Be Massive

Any seasoned lawyer knows that truck accident victims suffer immensely.

Some of the most common damages to result from truck accidents are:

• Medical expenses
• Pain and suffering
• Lost income
• Lost earning power
• Mental health treatment costs
• Vehicle repair costs
• Temporary transportation costs

  

The more serious your injuries are, the more expensive your case-related damages may be. In the most tragic cases, the victim of a truck accident passes away. These cases demand a large financial recovery for pain and suffering, lost financial support, loss of consortium, funeral costs, and all other recoverable damages.

Can I Afford to Hire a Truck Accident Lawyer?

Every truck accident victim can afford to pay for a truck accident lawyer. Your attorney will likely use a contingency fee structure, which means their fee is part of the settlement or jury award they recover for their client. This way, you won’t have to pay directly for a lawyer.

Research truck accident lawyers in your area and hire one as soon as possible.