If you file a personal injury claim after being seriously hurt by a commercial truck, you may feel overwhelmed by the truck company’s underhanded tactics. Large trucking companies have significantly more resources at their disposal than you do and will use those resources trying to avoid paying the full amount you are owed. To protect yourself, you need an experienced truck accident attorney who can combat the unethical defense tactics used by trucking companies after a collision.
Why You Need a Skilled Missouri Truck Accident Attorney
The victims of Missouri big rig collisions often face catastrophic injuries, prolonged recovery times, and difficulty returning to work to earn a living. The damages you are owed by the liable party may be extremely high after all of your medical, income, and non-economic damages are taken into account.
Because it costs the trucking company (or their insurer) money when their own negligence or the negligent behavior of a driver leads to preventable injuries, they have a clear financial incentive to fight your claim and try to either deny it altogether or reduce it significantly.
To obtain fair compensation, an 18-wheeler accident victim needs a lawyer with extensive knowledge of commercial truck lawsuits. Someone who has already handled this type of case in the past can address your concerns and offer solutions to ensure you receive fair financial support. An attorney can also help in the following ways:
Avoid Loss of Crucial Evidence
Your attorney will likely need to send a demand letter to prevent the trucking company from throwing out or destroying crucial information found in employment records.
Gather and Analyze Evidence
Your legal counsel can go through accident scene photos, driver logs, hiring and training details, medical documents, repair and maintenance info, the truck’s black box data, and other sources to investigate the crash.
Use Evidence to Determine Liability
Sorting through evidence helps reveal which specific act of negligence caused the accident. This could be drowsy driving, improper training, or lack of proper maintenance and repair. Depending on the outcome of your lawyer’s investigation of the truck accident, you may need to pursue a claim against the truck company itself or another party such as the driver, a loading crew, or a repair shop.
Negotiate While Representing Your Best Interests
Let your lawyer handle this process to keep the trucking company or insurer from using irrelevant past medical conditions, your social media posts, or statements at the scene to reduce your payout. Skilled legal representation is necessary to ensure all your costs are considered in a settlement, from surgery and medication bills to loss of earning capacity.
Present Your Case in Court
This last step may become necessary if the trucking company or insurance provider is unwilling to offer a fair settlement for all damages.
Take These Steps to Protect Yourself After a Missouri Truck Crash
To help your attorney with as much detail about the crash as possible, you need to take several actions after the truck accident. If you aren’t immediately taken to the hospital, be sure to:
- Approach any witnesses to the truck crash and ask for their contact details.
- Acquire any evidence available at the scene by taking pictures of the crash and surrounding environmental factors that could have played a role in the accident.
- Head to the emergency room as quickly as you can. You may suffer from bone fractures, internal bleeding, or traumatic brain injuries that won’t show strong symptoms right away. Seeing a doctor also has the added benefit of establishing reliable documentation about your injury.
- Speak to a skilled Missouri truck accident attorney as soon as possible.
Have You Been Injured in a Missouri Commercial Truck Accident?
If you’ve been injured in a Missouri truck accident, you should speak with an experienced truck accident lawyer as soon as possible. Please feel free to contact us online or call our office directly at 314.470.4928 to schedule a free consultation. We help pedestrian accident victims throughout the state of Missouri including Columbia, Springfield, Kansas City, St. Louis, Florissant, Kirksville and Cape Girardeau.
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