Texas Truck Accident Lawyer

 

No matter how it happens, the experience of a trucking accident can be earth-shattering. An 80,000-pound truck or a commercial vehicle carrying hazardous materials can, in fact, cause accidents so severe that you don’t even realize what’s happened until you wake up in the hospital after the fact. An experienced Texas Truck Accident Attorney will be familiar with the realities of recuperating after a truck accident injury.

When a trucking crash happens, you need someone on your side immediately. A lawyer you can trust to investigate the scene. From your hospital bed, there’s little you can or should do for your injury claim except for focus on healing and recovery. But who will help you with the legal aspects of your injury claim? A Texas trucking accident lawyer should be there for you from the moment you’re hurt to explore all possibilities for recovering compensation.

At Reyna Law Firm, we care about getting the legal work done and carrying out an exhaustive investigation right away so that no stone is unturned in the quest for compensation for your injuries. You could spend weeks in the hospital and then face a future of rehab and surgeries, all of which hamper your quality of life. As experienced Texas trucking accident lawyers, we’ve been there for years for victims just like you when you need support.

How Does a Texas Trucking Accident Claim Work?

Being empowered to file a legal claim to recover compensation after an accident is important, but it is difficult to feel this way when you are not sure of the stages involved. You need to file a crash report when an accident leads to injury or death in Texas, or in situations in which property damage to vehicles is more than $1000. If law enforcement does not come to the scene to file a report, you are responsible for managing this.

Trucking accidents often involve claims against drivers and companies responsible for the maintenance of dump trucks, 18-wheelers, semi-trucks, flatbed trucks, or any other heavyweight commercial vehicle. An injury claim can be filed when the conduct and action or action of a trucking company or truck driver causes a severe accident that leads to physical harm. If you have already found yourself in this situation, getting legal assistance as soon as possible is necessary.

An injury claim begins when you file a report with your own insurance company after an accident. You will also want to get the contact information for the driver of the truck, the company he or she drives for, and any relevant insurance information for that person as well. The trucking company or their insurance company may reach out to you directly to offer you a settlement offer early on in the case. However, it is rarely recommended that you take this without first consulting with a Texas trucking accident lawyer.

An experienced Texas trucking accident attorney will have years of experience evaluating medical reports, medical records, and determining how the severity of your injuries contributes to the type of compensation to which you may be entitled.

Do I Need a Texas Trucking Accident Attorney?

As is mentioned above, insurance companies and defense lawyers working for the trucking accident company often have extensive experience in this arena. This means that they may be more comfortable managing a trucking accident claim, and this could dis-empower you and make things more difficult for you as you move through the legal system.

You need to even the playing field by hiring an experienced Texas trucking accident lawyer who knows the landscape and who is willing to negotiate on your behalf. Your lawyer can tell you more about whether or not a settlement offer that’s been presented to you is fair, and can handle challenges that arise in your case, such as delays in your insurance, claim management or outright denials.

These steps can often be overwhelming for a person who is trying to do the claim on their own, and trucking accident companies and their relevant insurance companies and lawyers may use these tactics to discourage you from continuing to pursue the claim. However, a trucking accident lawyer who has handled these complex cases before will know what it takes to hold the trucking companies responsible and to protect your interest.

Types of Trucking Accidents and Injuries in Texas

Some of the most common causes of trucking accidents have to do with driver error. The driver of the truck is responsible for navigating the roads with a truck that could weigh as much as 80,000 pounds. Furthermore, the transportation of hazardous materials could enhance the risk that the driver takes when operating the truck. Drivers have to follow a strict set of rules and company procedures to minimize the chances of accidents. However, this does not always get followed to the letter.

Some of the most common causes of trucking accidents in Texas are the result of drowsy driving, drunk driving, driver aggressiveness, and inability to follow road laws. The injuries sustained in a trucking accident can be severe and can run the gamut from cuts and scrapes to debilitating medical conditions or traumatic brain injuries.

If you have been hurt due to broken bones, internal organ damage, TBIs, head injuries, whiplash, and other severe medical conditions because of a truck driver’s inability to safely cruise the road, you could be entitled to recover compensation with the help of a lawyer.

How Will a Texas Trucking Accident Lawyer Help Me?

Your attorney will begin by evaluating the strength of your claim to identify whether or not you are eligible to pursue personal injury compensation. Your lawyer can also help you if you have already received a settlement offer from the insurance company and you are not yet sure whether it is fair. Your lawyer will look at your medical records and the severity of the accident and resulting injuries to determine the potential value of your claim.

An attorney may be able to help you recover:

  • lost wages
  • pain and suffering
  • past and future medical bills
  • and other damages

How Does a Trucking Accident Claim Work?

Because there are potentially numerous parties involved in the management of a trucking accident claim, you will need a lawyer who can navigate all of these different complexities and keep you informed about the stage of your claim. He or she will have to work with the insurance companies, the other party’s lawyers, and other potential people who have liability in the accident.

A trucking injury claim begins with the filing of an insurance claim. However, your lawyer may also trigger litigation by filing lawsuit paperwork. If this is the case in your situation, you will want to remain focused on recovery and treatment for your medical conditions while your lawyer handles the legal aspects of your claim. At any point in time, the other side may present you with a settlement opportunity that your lawyer can review directly with you.

Texas Trucking Accident Statistics

  • It is estimated that there are 15.5 million trucks throughout the United States with 18-wheelers, big rigs, semi-trucks, and tractor-trailers accounting for 13% of these vehicles.
  • There are approximately 500,000 trucking accidents every single year in the United States.
  • The average cost of a commercial truck accident is $59,150. 98% of all the fatalities in trucking accidents affected the driver or another person in the passenger vehicle.
  • Trucking accidents cause an estimated 130,000 injuries every year across the country.
  • In Texas, there were more than 513 fatal truck accidents in 2020 alone, and more than 32,562 commercial truck accidents that same year. (TxDOT)

Texas Insurance Laws Regarding Trucking Accidents

You have been hurt in a trucking accident, you have a responsibility to determine who is liable for your injuries. The right lawyer may be turned to at this stage in time to protect you. The laws in Texas are essentially just injury and wrongful death cases. There is no unique aspect of the law known as truck accident law in Texas. Injury law is based on numerous different principles including general personal injury and insurance laws, enabling you to sue someone when they are negligent.

If you can successfully illustrate that the defendant was responsible for the injuries you have sustained, you may be able to pursue a claim against him or her. You must be prepared to communicate with the defendant and let them know that you intend to bring a claim against them, to collect evidence associated with the accident, to identify what caused it, to calculate the cost of your losses and future expenses, and give a sample presentation of the evidence that you believe a jury would use to require them to pay in your claim.

Why Choose Our Firm?

Reyna Law Firm has an extensive background in managing trucking accident cases and is prepared to do everything possible to recover the maximum amount of money for you. A careful evaluation of your claim can identify the potential value and your eligibility to file it under the Texas statute of limitations. If you wait too long, you could bar yourself from ever being able to pursue an injury claim against responsible individuals.

Given the statistics shared above about the number of people who are injured in Texas trucking accidents who are not in the truck at the time of the accident, the cost of your injuries can be catastrophic and could lead you to pursue disability or other challenges throughout your life. It is never easy to find yourself in the position of having to fight it with a car accident claim. However, the right lawyer can help you to identify the types of compensation to which you may be eligible.

COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT TEXAS TRUCK ACCIDENT CLAIMS

The Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.003.A allows you two years to bring your case to court before you exceed the statute of limitations. While there are some limited exceptions to this rule, this is why it is recommended that you consult with an injury lawyer in Texas sooner rather than later. As soon as you identify that you have sustained serious injuries because of a trucking accident, enabling your lawyer to conduct a comprehensive investigation while you get appropriate medical care is crucial.

Texas personal injury claims involve the determination of negligence or fault in the responsibilities at the time of the accident. In many of these cases, the driver may be the one responsible for the accident. However, if there was an overbearing company pressuring the driver to drive faster or to avoid taking breaks, or faulty mechanics were involved, you may also have a claim against them. The suit could end up including a number of different parties if you’ve been hurt in a trucking accident. The right lawyer can help you identify who may be responsible.

You should never accept a settlement until you have had the chance to work directly with a lawyer. Insurance adjusters often work for the trucking companies and may want you to settle for the lowest amount possible. This means that your personal injury attorney needs to be involved in these investigations.

It is difficult to determine how much you can value your trucking accident claim because of the numerous different factors involved. The overall negligence of the at-fault party, the amount of damage caused, and the injuries sustained can all contribute to the determination of the value of your claim. You could be eligible to recover lost wages, medical bills, and pain and suffering.

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