If you have experienced a truck accident, you may have questions about when to hire a truck accident lawyer. No magic moment is the perfect time to hire a truck accident lawyer—but the sooner the better
With that said, we have a few suggestions:
Immediately after the accident: Benefits include working with your truck accident lawyer while you contact your insurance company.
Once you heal from your injuries: It’s easier to understand how much your case might be worth once some of your treatment concludes.
If other insurance companies try to contact you: You don’t have to talk to insurance companies that are not your own; if they insist on talking with you, a lawyer can handle it on your behalf.
If you have any questions about your accident: A free consultation with a truck accident lawyer may answer your questions.
When Should Someone Hire a Truck Accident Attorney?
We receive lots of questions about when to hire a truck accident attorney. Usually, people shift towards hiring a lawyer after similar experiences.
They experienced exceptional injuries.
Any injury is worthy of medical treatment— and any injury may warrant legal action. Some injuries, however, are medically categorized as severe.
If any of the above apply to you, it’s time to reach out to a qualified truck accident lawyer. They may pursue compensation to account for some of your emotional and financial losses.
Their accident proved expensive.
Just as an expensive injury is a good reason to contact a truck accident attorney, so are other monetary issues.
These include things like:
Damages to your vehicle or possessions
Long-term costs (like physical therapy)
Their insurance company is not offering you enough compensation.
All too often, insurance companies try to lowball accident survivors. Many people find that the offers from their insurance companies do not cover nearly the amount of financial, emotional, and physical damage they have experienced.
Lawyers have a lot of knowledge when it comes to these companies. A skilled truck accident lawyer understands how to approach an insurance company and demands an appropriate amount of compensation.
Here’s a good tip: even if it seems like the insurance company is offering you a lot, you should still consult with a truck accident attorney before you sign anything. The total financial impact of a truck accident may surprise you.
What Should I Do if I Can’t Work After a Truck Accident?
If you find yourself unable to work after a truck accident, you should reach out to a truck accident lawyer as soon as possible. They can help you navigate the confusing world of things at your job and prove that the accident caused your inability to work.
What Should I Do After a Truck Accident?
If you’re in a truck accident, you might have lots of questions, including:
What should I do after a truck accident?
What happens after a truck accident?
Should I call the police after a truck accident?
Protect your personal and legal health after a crash and take these steps after a truck accident.
Stay at the truck accident scene.
Did you know leaving an accident scene can be a violation of law?
Instead of making that decision, you should stay on-scene after a crash. If you’re in a truck accident, talk to other people who may have been hurt and consult with the police before leaving.
Wondering whether you can leave the scene yet?
Check in with yourself:
Have you sought and received medical care?
Have you filed a police report?
Have you collected important information about the crash?
Make sure you are physically safe.
You can’t do a whole lot if you’re hurt. Make sure your neck, back, and head aren’t causing you too much pain before you move. Stay still if they are.
Otherwise, move yourself to somewhere safe from oncoming traffic. You should also maintain a distance from vehicles involved in the truck accident. They may explode or otherwise harm you.
Make sure anyone else hurt in the truck accident is safe.
Making sure you’re safe is priority number one. Priority number two is helping whoever else was in the accident. No matter who they are, make sure they’re safe and tend to their injuries.
Get in touch with emergency services.
Most of the time, it’s a good idea to dial 911 after a truck accident. You can also call your local non-emergency line. This can prove helpful in the case of a minor accident, but since most truck accidents can cause severe injuries, more likely than not, you’ll be calling 911.
The emergency operator will help direct you (if needed) and will send out the appropriate help. EMS may come to help with injuries; the police will help collect and document evidence. Firefighters may also come.
I don’t need emergency services— what should I do?
Yes, you do. Everyone in your truck accident needs prompt medical attention. Some injuries may be difficult to detect; just because you can’t see them, it doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
Depending on the trajectory of your case, you’ll also probably find that you’re very grateful to have a police report handy after the accident. It helps to have a third-party observation of the crash available.
Collect information from the truck driver
You should collect information from other drivers involved after any vehicle accident. Getting this information from truck drivers presents some unique challenges, though.
You don’t just need a truck driver’s personal information. You’ll also need information about their employer, their insurance provider, etc.
Here’s an idea of what to collect:
Name
Contact information
License plate
Driver’s license information
Employer information and contact details
Insurance information and contact details
Fleet manager information and contact details
Talk to witnesses
It is not your job to collect all the witness information relating to your truck accident. The police should do that.
If you can, however, take a few minutes to get some basic details from people who may have seen the crash:
Get potential witnesses’ names
Collect their phone numbers, too
Share this information with your attorney (once you choose one)
Seek medical care
Seek medical care as soon as possible after your accident. Even if you received care at the truck accident scene, schedule an appointment with your physician ASAP.
Follow-up with your care provider
Regardless of whether you spent months in the hospital or just dipped in for a quick post-accident doctor appointment, follow up with your doctor.
An appointment after a long hospital stay will get your doctor up-to-speed on your condition.
An appointment following another basic appointment allows your physician to ensure improvement and assess you for delayed symptoms.
Contact your insurance provider.
We’d all like to avoid calling our insurance providers, but sometimes we have to do it. If you want to make the conversation easy, take some notes on what you want to say.
Some people choose to hire a truck accident attorney before working with insurance companies. This can help.
Do not exchange information with the other driver’s (or drivers’) insurance company (or companies).
Even though you need to share details about the crash with your insurance company, it doesn’t mean you need to talk to other insurance companies. Many people make the mistake of believing they owe information or details to outside insurance agencies. They do not!
Meet with a qualified truck accident attorney.
If you meet with a qualified truck accident attorney, they can help you assess your current legal standing and protect your wellbeing. It may take some time to find the right lawyer, but they should try to move mountains for you.
The Dangers of Large Trucks
Large trucks are dangerous— there’s no denying it. They present lots of unique dangers on the road.
There are lots of reasons truck drivers suffer from fatigue, including:
Long work hours
Abnormal work hours
Nighttime work hours
Short breaks
Poor truck maintenance
Many semi-trucks and other large vehicles are poorly maintained. Whether it’s one person in the chain of command’s fault or another’s, the result is always the same: an unsafe truck. Trucks need lots of special maintenance to remain safe.
Inadequate training
Safe truck driving is the result of stringent practice. However, not every truck driver is properly trained for the job. These improperly trained drivers create huge risks on roadways.
Your Truck Accident Attorney Can Help You Recover Damages After an Accident
When you partner with a truck accident lawyer, they may help you pursue compensation for damages caused by the crash. Remember: every case is different. No one can predict your case’s value. The best way to determine that would be to consult with a qualified attorney.
Medical bills
Past, present, and projected medical bills are potentially compensable through the legal process. It’s very common for truck accidents to cause serious injuries— because of the large nature of trucks, many truck accident survivors find they have hefty medical bills.
If you suspect you may be paying medical bills for injuries that resulted from your truck accident well into the future, you can work with your attorney to pursue damages for future costs.
Lost wages
Missing time at work because of an accident is very common. Whether it’s a few hours to get yourself away from the scene and on your way to the office, or you’re out of the job for months, you will want to recover the money you would’ve earned during that time.
Even losing out on those few hours of pay can make a big impact on your financial health. Don’t ignore the time that should’ve been spent at work; instead, lay out the information for your truck accident attorney. They’ll get to business to help you achieve compensation.
Diminished earning capacity
Losing money because you missed time at work is one thing— but it’s something else to have your ability to earn money permanently impaired because of an accident. If this has happened to you, ask your lawyer about pursuing damages for diminished earning capacity.
Pain and suffering
Your pain and suffering after your truck accident do not need to go unnoticed. There are specific damages designed to account for the physical experience of surviving a crash. Your injuries do not need to be severe for you to qualify for pain and suffering damages.
Mental anguish
The mental pain of accident survivorship can parallel— and even exceed— the physical pain we commonly expect after a truck crash. It’s common for truck accident survivors to feel hopeless, anxious, and alienated after their experiences. Attorneys understand how critical mental health is— they want to help their clients seek justice when accidents hurt their emotional wellbeing.
What if Someone I Love Died in a Truck Accident?
If someone you love died in a truck accident, you may be entitled to compensation. A truck accident lawyer could help you pursue justice on behalf of your loved one.
End-of-life medical costs are potentially recoverable through the legal process. Even though no monetary sum will ever make up for the loss of somebody close to you, a qualified truck accident lawyer can help you take every step possible to ensure justice.
Contact a lawyer with both truck accident and wrongful death experience. You will find that many truck accident attorneys also know how to pursue wrongful death claims.
Perenich Law injury Attorneys
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CLEARWATER OFFICE 25749 US Hwy 19 N Suite 200Clearwater,
FL 33763Get Directions
(727) 669-2828
