Trucking Accident Attorney Macon

Each year, thousands of people are injured in trucking accidents. If you’ve ever witnessed the aftermath of an accident involving a tractor-trailer, then you can understand why the injuries sustained in trucking accidents tend to be so severe. Like with any other type of personal injury, you may be eligible for compensation for your injuries and other damages if you have been involved in an 18-wheeler accident.

If you have been injured in a truck accident, speak with a trucking accident lawyer Macon at the Ferguson Law Group as soon as possible to protect your rights and hold the at-fault parties responsible for your injuries and other losses.

How a Trucking Accident Lawyer Can Help

Being seriously injured in a truck accident is an event that can completely upend your life. Accident victims deserve to be compensated for medical expenses, lost wages, and other losses. Unfortunately, major insurance companies may be preventing you from receiving the money you need to move on with your life.

The legal team at the Ferguson Law Group is on your side. When a trucking accident occurs, several parties can be held liable, including the trucker, the truck driver’s employer, and its insurance company. The trucking company, insurance adjuster, and the trucking company’s legal counsel tend to do everything in their power to protect their interests and payout as little as possible. In most cases, the trucking company’s insurance carrier will immediately start an investigation to collect whatever evidence possible, including anything that may show the accident victim contributed to the accident.

However, our truck wreck lawyers are well versed in this area of law and know exactly how to fight insurance companies and prevent them from taking advantage of our clients. The legal team at the Ferguson Law Group has the knowledge, resources, and experience to protect the rights of our clients and fight for the fair compensation they deserve.

We will build a solid case against all at-fault parties by using:

• Truck driver logbooks
• Truck driver’s employment records
• Trucking company documents
• Photo evidence
• Medical records
• Police reports
• Accident reconstruction experts
• Expert testimony and analysis
• Eyewitness statements
• Any available video footage

Our attorneys will do everything in their power to secure the financial compensation an accident victim deserves after a trucking accident.

Truck Accident Liability

To receive compensation for your injuries, lost wages, and other losses after a truck accident, you need to meet with a truck wreck lawyer. An attorney can help you identify all avenues of compensation. Determining liability in these types of complex cases can be a challenge. The trucker may be at fault, however, so can the trucking company, the company responsible for loading the trailer’s cargo, the entity responsible for the truck’s routine maintenance and repairs, truck part manufacturers, trailer part manufacturers, and government entities responsible for road cleanup and maintenance.

A Macon commercial trucking attorney can determine and establish fault by using forms of evidence such as expert witness testimony and accident reconstruction.

In many cases, the investigation often focuses on common accident causes associated with:

Truck Driver

A truck driver can cause an accident for many reasons, ranging from distracted and drunk driving to lane swerving, driver fatigue, and other careless acts. Unless the truck driver is an independent contractor that is covered by their insurance carrier, a trucking company is usually responsible for accidents caused by their drivers. The trucking company is also responsible for the conduct of their employee.

Trucking Company

In addition to vicarious liability for truck driver negligence, a trucking company can be held at fault for negligent actions of their own. Some common factors can include poor training, negligent hiring practices, failure to maintain trucks, noncompliance with hours-of-service rules, circumventing commercial license or physical exam requirements for drivers, and other types of regulatory violations.

Claim Value

Because truck accidents often result in fatalities and catastrophic injuries, they can result in substantial verdicts or settlements for victims and their families. However, there’s no surefire way to accurately predict the value of a particular claim, especially early on and without an individualized assessment. This is due to many unique factors at play in a trucking accident case, such as:

• Severity of injuries
• Denials and disputes
• Available coverage
• Future losses

A victim who suffers minor cuts and bruises may still have real losses, however, these pale in comparison to the damages that are brought about by catastrophic and severe injuries such as an amputation or traumatic brain injury. Bone fractures, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and other types of serious injuries can result in expensive surgeries, long recovery times, and ongoing medical treatment for the foreseeable future. Additionally, the accident victim may spend significant time away from work.

All of these factors can increase the value of damages in a truck accident claim.

Future Losses

The victim of a preventable accident can seek compensation for past losses such as pain and suffering, lost income, medical bills, and other damages they incurred after the accident and up until the time the case is resolved. In some cases, especially accidents that involve death or serious injuries, an accident victim may continue to face losses in the future, due to the accident.

When an accident victim has damages that are related to future medical needs, lost earning potential or financial support, permanent disabilities, and other damages, this must be factored into the final case value.

Of course, these future losses are case-specific. A young accident victim who suffers permanent disabilities must account for years of medical care and lost income. An older accident victim, one who is already retired, will still be entitled to future damages when the losses are expected to persist and will have a settlement value calculation that looks different then the younger accident victim’s settlement value.

Our lawyers will work closely with medical experts who can provide insight and testimony regarding an accident victim’s prognosis, the scope of impairment or injury, recovery time, and expected future medical care needs.

Available Coverage

Not only must an accident victim prove liability and fault when bringing a claim against the defendant, but they must also ensure there’s sufficient coverage available. This can be problematic when the at-fault party is underinsured, or the accident victim has extensive damages that have exceeded available policy limits. A judge can award damages against the liable party, however, if there’s no money, a victim will be unable to recover compensation.

An experienced 18-wheeler accident attorney will be able to help their client explore all viable avenues to recover the full amount of compensation they deserve, whether it’s through trucking companies with larger commercial policies or multiple third-party defendants that have contributed to the accident.

Denials & Disputes

A case where an accident victim is not able to prove liability and fault ultimately has little value in terms of a verdict or settlement. Additionally, denials and disputes from the trucking company and insurance carrier can place any negotiated settlement or final damages award at risk. For example, the defendant can argue that the accident victim contributed to the accident in some way or that another party is at fault. Insurance companies and trucking companies will also want to minimize their losses to pay as little as possible.

Other Case-Specific Factors

Many other case-specific factors can impact the overall value of a claim. This can include:

• Remaining working years, income, age, and other financial matters that are unique to the accident victim
• Arguments from the at-fault party regarding the severity of the injuries and how the injuries impact the victim’s future expected costs
• The degree to which the accident victim is responsible for the accident
• Extent and nature of emotional suffering the accident victim and their family endured

Common Causes of Truck Accidents

While the majority of truck drivers are law-abiding employees who responsibly operate their vehicles, some truckers feel they are above the law and choose to not follow the rules. Unfortunately, the result is entirely preventable accidents.

Trucking accidents are commonly caused by:

Brake Failure

Semi-trucks have trouble braking due to their sheer size, making them incredibly dangerous on the road when the trucker fails to notice an oncoming hazard. When the truck’s brakes fail, a runaway truck can easily cause a catastrophic collision. Too often, this type of accident is the result of negligence on the part of the trucker or the trucking company.

Hours of Service Violations

Strict regulations are placed on trucking companies to prevent overtired and overworked truck drivers from remaining on the road. When a trucking company pressures their employee to break these rules and continue driving past their driving limit, or when a trucker chooses to keep driving beyond the hours the law allows, it places everyone on the road at risk. A trucker is required to keep a detailed log of their driving times and breaks. When these numbers don’t add up this can mean that the trucker violated their hours of service.

Improperly Loaded Trucks

Because of how much these trucks can haul at once, semi-trucks are very valuable to our economy. As long as the cargo is within the vehicle’s weight limit and is properly secured, the risk of an accident is significantly lower than when it’s not. Goods that are not properly secured can shift during transit, causing the unbalanced truck to flip over. An overloaded trailer can make it incredibly difficult for the trucker to brake in time to avoid a collision.

Tire Blowout

A tire blowout can cause a trucker to completely lose control of their big rig which can result in a serious accident. A tire manufacturer typically keeps data on what causes their tires to burst. Some causes that these manufacturers have identified as significant factors include dangerous or poor road conditions, general wear, and tear, overloading with cargo, underinflation, and overinflation. Most of these issues can be prevented with consistent maintenance. Failure to keep up to date with safety checks can often result in serious failures and potential accidents.

Truck Accident Attorneys Near Me

If you have been involved in a trucking accident, speaking with an experienced trucking accident attorney as soon as possible will be in your best interest. The knowledgeable team of trucking accident attorneys at the Ferguson Law Group have extensive experience working on these types of complicated cases. We also have a proven track record for success and will hold every at-fault party liable for your pain and suffering, medical bills, lost wages, and other damages. Contact our office today to schedule a consultation and meet with one of the top truck wreck lawyers in Macon, GA.