Catastrophic Truck Accident Lawyers for Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura
Catastrophic Truck Accident Attorneys Helping Victims Get the Compensation they Deserve.
Truck accidents are often devastating, resulting in severe injuries, property damage, and even loss of life. If you or a loved one has been involved in a truck accident, understanding your rights and legal options is crucial. What is more, when a truck accident occurs, there are several important steps you should take immediately. First, you should take care of your health, visit a licensed medical professional, and get the medical care you need. Not only will this help detect any underlying health problems, but it will also provide you with solid supporting evidence for if you wish to bring a personal injury claim. Next, you should collect all the information you can regarding your accident. This may include collecting witness’ names and contact information, taking photographs of the scene of the accident, writing down notes, and getting your injuries officially documented and examined by a doctor. Prior to speaking with the trucking company’s representative or their insurance company, you need to consult with a lawyer of your own so that your rights and best interests are strongly protected. The trucking company and the insurance company will want to pay you as little as possible, which is why calling an experienced truck accident attorney is a good idea. If law enforcement officers were called to the scene of the accident, you should request a copy of their police report and do not say anything to them that could be considered incriminating. Each situation is vastly different from the rest and you should contact a lawyer to discuss your specific case. The Akopyan Law Firm, A.P.C. offers complimentary case evaluations to all prospective clients.
Common Causes of Truck Accidents
Truck accidents can be caused by various factors such as driver fatigue, distracted driving, impaired driving, speeding, poor maintenance, and improper loading.
Types of Damages in Truck Accident Cases
Truck accident victims may suffer various types of damages, including:
Medical Expenses: Costs associated with hospitalization, surgeries, medication, rehabilitation, and ongoing medical care.
Lost Income: Compensation for wages lost due to injury-related inability to work, including future earning potential.
Property Damage: Repair or replacement costs for damaged vehicles or other property.
Pain and Suffering: Compensation for physical pain, emotional distress, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life.
Wrongful Death: Damages for the loss of a loved one, including funeral expenses, loss of companionship, and loss of financial support for dependents.
Legal Process for Truck Accident Cases
Navigating the legal process after a truck accident involves several steps:
Consultation: Schedule a consultation with an experienced truck accident attorney to discuss your case. During this meeting, your attorney will review the details of the accident and assess the strength of your claim.
Investigation: Your attorney will conduct a thorough investigation into the accident, gathering evidence such as police reports, witness statements, and electronic data from the truck’s onboard systems (e.g., black box data). This investigation aims to establish liability and identify all potentially responsible parties.
Reporting a Claim: Your attorney will file a claim with the insurance company representing the at-fault party or parties. This claim will outline the damages you are seeking and the basis for your claim.
Negotiation: The insurance company will review your claim and may offer a settlement. Your attorney will negotiate with the insurance adjusters to seek fair compensation for your damages. This negotiation process may involve back-and-forth discussions to reach a settlement that adequately compensates you for your losses.
Litigation: If a settlement cannot be reached through negotiation, your case may proceed to litigation. Your attorney will file a lawsuit on your behalf, initiating the formal legal process. Discovery, where both sides exchange evidence and information, will take place, followed by pre-trial motions and possibly a trial.
Settlement or Verdict: In many cases, a settlement is reached before trial. However, if your case goes to trial, your attorney will represent you in court, presenting evidence and arguments to support your claim. The judge or jury will then determine the outcome, either through a verdict or a settlement reached during trial proceedings.
Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Truck Accidents
I was hurt in an accident with a tractor-trailer, but the negligent driver of the truck was only an independent contractor. Do I have any rights against the shipping company?
Yes. Operating a tractor and semitrailer to transport freight is attended with very considerable risk and is highly regulated to protect public safety. Thus, a highway common carrier (“for hire” motor carrier) franchised by the California Public Utilities Commission or Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is liable for the negligence of its independent contractor truckers who cause a traffic accident.
What should I do if I get a call from the trucking company or its insurance company?
You are not legally obligated to speak with the insurance company or trucking company and we highly recommend that you do not speak with either until you have consulted a lawyer. Both companies will try to pay you as little as possible, if at all. Instead, you should politely decline by informing them your attorney will contact them and get their contact information as well. By doing so, you will not be able to incriminate yourself, thereby protecting your rights and best interests.
The truck company’s insurance adjuster is asking for my recorded statement, what should I do?
You are not legally obligated to give any sort of statement to the insurance company or trucking company, recorded or otherwise. Oftentimes, insurance companies will ask accident victims to give recorded statements while asking tricky questions that are intended to cause you to hurt your case. In doing so, they may be able to push fault onto you, causing you to receive less compensation than you would have had you not given a statement. Speak with a knowledgeable truck accident attorney before giving any type of statement.
If I think the accident between my car and the truck was my fault, should I say so?
No. You should not offer any information regarding who was at fault for the accident. While you may believe it was your fault, the other driver could have been even more to blame than you realize. Truck drivers are often prone to negligence due to their long drives and short rests. Truck driver fatigue, intoxication, and distraction are all very real possibilities in your case, among other factors. You should cooperate with law enforcement officers as much as possible but just remember that everything that you and the truck driver say can be used against you in the future.
Featured Truck Accident Case:
The wife of an automobile driver who died in rear-end collision with a parked tractor–trailer sued the tractor–trailer driver’s employer for negligence. The Superior Court entered judgment assessing 10 percent responsibility to the tractor–trailer driver and awarding damages. The Court of Appeal reversed and remanded with directions. The wife petitioned for review. The California Supreme Court granted review, superseding the opinion of the Court of Appeal and held that: (1) there is no categorical rule exempting those parking alongside freeways from the duty of ordinary care; (2) tractor–trailer driver’s negligence in parking alongside freeway was not too indirect and attenuated for negligence liability; and (3) evidence supported finding that tractor–trailer driver’s act of parking alongside freeway caused automobile driver’s collision with tractor–trailer. The Supreme Court’s opinion provides in part as follows:
“In the generalized sense of foreseeability pertinent to the duty question, that a vehicle parked by the side of a freeway may be struck by another vehicle leaving the freeway, resulting in injury to either vehicle’s occupants, is clearly foreseeable. Drivers are supposed to control their vehicles and keep them on the traveled roadway, but common experience shows they do not always do so. Freeway drivers may be intoxicated, distracted, blinded by the weather or sun, sleepy or sick, and for any of these reasons or others may drive off the roadway. Mechanical problems with their vehicles can also force motorists to suddenly leave the freeway. If they do so at freeway speeds and collide with another vehicle parked alongside the road, they are likely to be injured or injure other occupants of the vehicles, or both. This general foreseeability is reflected in the Official Reports, in that numerous decisions have involved collisions between vehicles leaving a highway and vehicles or other obstacles on the roadside. As we observed in Bigbee v. Pacific Tel. & Tel. Co. (1983) 34 Cal.3d 49, 58, 192 Cal.Rptr. 857, 665 P.2d 947 (albeit in discussing an issue of breach, not duty), “it is not uncommon for speeding and/or intoxicated drivers to lose control of their cars and crash into poles, buildings or whatever else may be standing alongside the road they travel—no matter how straight and level that road may be.”The Court observed that “the evidence at trial showed Horn stopped his tractor–trailer at a location where the freeway was bordered with a dirt area, and there was no evidence the spot he chose entailed danger beyond the normal risk posed by parking on the shoulder of a freeway. These circumstances probably played a role in the jury’s decision to assign Horn and Ralphs only a minimal share of responsibility for the collision, but they do not show lack of foreseeability for the entire category of negligent conduct at issue here. (Ballard v. Uribe, supra, 41 Cal.3d at p. 573, fn. 6, 224 Cal.Rptr. 664, 715 P.2d 624.) As discussed earlier, the foreseeability question for duty purposes is not whether Horn could reasonably have foreseen an accident at that exact spot along the highway, but whether it is generally foreseeable that a vehicle stopped alongside a freeway may be hit by one departing, out of control, from the road.” Cabral v. Ralphs Grocery Co., 51 Cal. 4th 764, 775, 248 P.3d 1170, 1177 (2011)
Areas Served:
The litigation and trial attorneys of the Akopyan Law Firm, A.P.C. provide services throughout Southern California including but not limited to Adelanto, Agoura Hills, Alhambra, Aliso Viejo, Altadena, Anaheim, Apple Valley, Arcadia, Arleta, Atwater Village, Azuza, Bakersfield, Baldwin Park, Banning, Beaumont, Bell, Bell Gardens, Bellflower, Beverly Hills, Blythe, Boyle Heights, Brea, Brentwood, Buena Park, Burbank, Calabasas, Calimesa, Camarillo, Canoga Park, Canyon Lake, Carson, Cathedral City, Cerritos, Chatsworth, Chino Hills, Chino, Claremont, Coachella, Colton, Compton, Costa Mesa, Corona, Covina, Culver City, Cypress, Dana Point, Desert Hot Springs, Diamond Bar, Downey, Duarte, Eagle Rock, East Hollywood, East Los Angeles, Eastvale, Echo Park, El Monte, El Segundo, El Sereno, Encino, Fontana, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Gardena, Garden Grove, Glassell Park, Glendale, Glendora, Granada Hills, Hacienda Heights, Hawthorne, Hemet, Hesperia, Highland Park, Highland, Hollywood, Hollywood Hills, Huntington Beach, Huntington Park, Indian Wells, Indio, Inglewood, Irvine, Jurupa Valley, La Canada Flintridge, La-Crescenta Montrose, La Habra, La Mirada, La Palma, La Puente, La Quinta, La Verne, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lakewood, Lake Balboa, Lake Elsinore, Lake Forest, Lancaster, Lawndale, Lincoln Heights, Loma Linda, Long Beach, Los Alamitos, Los Angeles, Los Feliz, Lynwood, Manhattan Beach, Mar Vista, Maywood, Menifee, Mission Hills, Mission Viejo, Monrovia, Montclair, Montebello, Monterey Park, Moorpark, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Newbury Park, Newhall, Newport Beach, Norco, North Hills, North Hollywood, Northridge, Norwalk, Ontario, Orange, Oxnard, Pacific Palisades, Pacoima, Palos Verdes, Palmdale, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Panorama City, Paramount, Pasadena, Perris, Pico Rivera, Placentia, Pomona, Porter Ranch, Rancho Cucamonga, Rancho Mirage, Rancho Santa Margarita, Redondo Beach, Reseda, Rialto, Riverside, Rosemead, Rowland Heights, San Bernardino, San Clemente, San Dimas, San Gabriel, San Fernando, San Jacinto, San Juan Capistrano, San Pedro, Santa Ana, Santa Clarita, Santa Monica, Sawtelle, Seal Beach, Shadow Hills, Sherman Oaks, Silver Lake, Simi Valley, South El Monte, South Gate, South Pasadena, South Whittier, Stanton, Studio City, Sun Valley, Sunland, Sylmar, Tarzana, Temecula, Temple City, Thousand Oaks, Toluca Lake, Torrance, Tujunga, Tustin, Twentynine Palms, Upland, Valencia, Valley Glen, Valley Village, Van Nuys, Ventura, Victorville, Walnut, West Covina, West Hills, West Hollywood, West Puente alley, Westchester, Westminster, Westwood, Whittier, Wildomar, Winnetka, Woodland Hills, Yorba Linda
Call the Akopyan Law Firm today at (818) 509-9975 or contact us online to learn more about our truck accident attorneys in Los Angeles and how we can help you get compensation. Call now for a complimentary case evaluation.