When Should You Get a Lawyer for a Truck Accident in 2024?

There are very few people on Earth who drive their whole life and never make a single mistake or have a single accident. This is nothing out of the ordinary. We are all people and thus we all make mistakes.

Somehow a truck accident always seems a lot scarier and a lot more problematic than a car accident. Truckers are people who spend a lot of time on the road and behind a wheel and they see a lot of things. Some good some bad but that is in their job description. A simple calculation will tell you that when on road for that much, as an average trucker, you must have been in at least a few accidents if not more.

The article today will tell you a bit about those and tell you when you need to hire a lawyer, like sutliffstout.com, if you have been in a truck accident. God willing, if you end up in a truck accident that everyone will come out of it OK, but in every case, you have to have someone to stand up for you if a situation like this occurs. A lawyer is always a good option when it comes to any kind of accident. What seems simple in these situations tend to complicate over time and where you think you will not be at fault you probably will get into some trouble; the only question is how big will the damage be?!

1. Immediately after a crash

Believe it or not throughout our research many of the lawyers that have represented their parties in truck accidents told us that there is a certain situation that happens right after the accident, given that everyone is OK. As we managed to find out the first thing that the truckers do is call their company to notify them about the accident and to ask either for advice or to ask them to act on this information as much as they can. Now, what is a natural thing is that these trucking companies have big insurance companies behind them and as soon as an accident has happened, you can be perfectly sure that the truck company is calling the insurance. What happens next, which made us freeze, is that those insurance companies then send their own “crash investigators” to try and figure out what has happened. What most of the lawyers told us is that these “investigators” tend to snoop around the scene a lot and tend to move or destroy evidence. Now, this info alone is enough for you to know that you should immediately inform your lawyer about this and try and remember as much of the fine details of the crash as possible because the police will make a detailed record that will be a subject of a hearing if it comes to the court.

2. If you have been injured or someone you love got injured or died

Now, this is a bit of a tough situation and a lawyer is a must here. When it comes to these things critical information alongside the critical evidence could get lost, destroyed or moved around. This is not just tied to the “crash investigators” from the insurance companies it is also tied to the duration in which these pieces of evidence have been collected, the conditions they were collected in. Crime scene evidence, evidence from the crash site, the information contained on the data module recorder of the truck can be recorded over and the logbook can be thrown away by the company. These are all the things you alone cant remember the yet alone fight against which is why you must have a lawyer that will stand up for your benefit. Believe it or not, the trucking company has to keep the data module information until the truck rolls again and the logbook has to be kept only for six months. These elements can be critical in proving your case and only a good lawyer can fight all of those insurance companies and trucking company lawyers that are there to make your life more difficult than it already is.

3. Trucking accidents are tough

Any accident including this one has to be decided on who is at fault. If you are having trouble proving that the trucker is at fault then you need a good lawyer to do this for you. There were situations where an accident occurs but it is really hard to prove fault. The trucker has been following the speed limits, he/she didn’t change lanes erratically or doing anything else there is a slim chance that you will win. Most likely you won’t, but if you have a lawyer who knows what to look for, like witnesses, you can prove that the situation you found yourself in isn’t your fault. Trucking accidents are generally tough to win because of the things we previously mentioned and one of those are good lawyers that protect the company and insurance investigators and lawyers in the insurance company who will win every time if you don’t have someone behind you. This is mostly due to these guys playing as rough as it can be and they are not afraid to make you look bad to protect their client.

4. Not just any lawyer

When you find yourself in a truck-involved accident you have to have a lawyer, just like in any other accident you might find yourself involved. the most important thing to remember here is that the lawyer you get has to be specialized in trucking accidents to help you achieve a successful settlement of the case. When you find one like that you should know that your attorney will, first of all, investigate thoroughly to find out what exactly happened and how it came to the accident. A good lawyer will know how to defeat another thing that is highly difficult to find out when it comes to trucking accidents and that is who is at fault and why. This is a complicated process and it usually takes a long time to unravel the truth. This is why having a skilled and truck accident specialized lawyer with a team is very important for you. They will use all their power to investigate the entire matter critically and prepare all of the evidence to support your claim.