In terms of destructive capacity, truck accidents rank among the most damaging type of wrecks involving motor vehicles. Both the size and momentum of a semi-truck work against drivers’ ability to avoid wrecks, as do its glaring blind spots and strenuous working conditions for truck drivers.
Negligence ranging from distracted truck drivers to poorly manufactured truck accident parts leads to innocent motorists paying the price through no fault of their own. Injured truck accident victims may have to miss work to undergo painful and expensive treatments, only to be left with permanent deficits that require lifelong care. Seeking out an experienced Boca Raton truck accident lawyer is your best chance at recovering a fair settlement to recuperate these damages. A personal injury attorney is ready to prepare your claim.
If you have been injured in a truck accident caused by another party’s negligence, you have the right to recover your damages caused by the injuries in a truck accident lawsuit. You will need a relentless truck crash attorney in Boca Raton that does not balk at the prospect of taking a case to trial or going the extra mile with your case to provide the best opportunity to get you compensation for your losses.
At KMW Legal, we have successfully guided many injured clients through the complex process of filing a truck accident lawsuit against those whose negligence led to the accident occurring. We have a history of recovering maximum compensation for medical bills, lost wages, property damage, as well as pain and suffering. To give our clients a clear idea of the quality of service they can expect, KMW Legal provides access to a personalized strategy session with our team, free of charge.
Recent numbers from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles state that there were over 30,000 truck accidents within the span of a year. Many of these accidents were caused by unavoidable circumstances. However, a significant portion of these truck accidents occurred due to negligence of the truck driver or another party’s fault.
Some of the most common causes of truck accidents are attributable to driver error, but other factors like faulty truck parts or improperly secured cargo often play a role in a truck accident. These sources of negligence may go unnoticed without a thorough investigation by an experienced truck accident attorney in Boca Raton.
A truck driver who has been drinking before getting behind the wheel has turned their truck and cargo into a rolling catastrophe waiting to happen. Consuming alcohol interferes with the brain’s ability to communicate, which has the effect of compromising coordination, vision, and judgment.
Drunk drivers have an altered perception that often inhibits them from accurately anticipating other drivers’ actions, staying within the confines of a lane, or yielding to others utilizing the road like pedestrians or bicyclists.
Truck drivers are regularly subject to long, lonely shifts that span hundreds of miles. These conditions are primed to cause fatigue, which may seem relatively harmless and easy to remedy. However, turning up the radio or rolling down the windows is only a momentary fix. Drowsy driving has proven to be just as dangerous as drunk driving, which may cause tired drivers to violate traffic rules. For example, drowsy truck drivers might miss stop signs or forget to use turn signals before merging.
Truck drivers have to be on high alert for cars merging into their large blind spots, pedestrians stepping off the sidewalk, and traffic, as they require more room to stop and maneuver. However, like any other driver, they can be prone to distraction. In the 10 seconds it takes to do things like turn the AC up, reply to a text, or double-check an arrival time, a truck traveling at 60mph can travel about two and a half football fields, putting any motorist or road user in their proximity in grave danger.
Trucks require a significantly larger amount of space to come to a complete stop, merge into traffic, or make turns, making it all the more important for them to observe speed limits and check their blind spots. When drivers fail to accommodate their vehicle’s limitations due to impatience, ignorance, or distraction, they can be found negligent. In some cases, trucking companies can be held accountable for the negligence of a truck driver they employ.
Truck drivers with a record of negligent driving or a lack of proper training may slip through the cracks during a careless company’s hiring process, casting some liability onto the owner of the trucking company.
Many of us have put off seemingly minor car repairs until a more convenient time, but when it comes to large trucks, time is always of the essence. Replacing burned-out brake lights and pads, regularly changing the oil, and keeping abreast of other routine maintenance is critical to ensuring that semi-trucks do not become a road hazard.
When a truck loses its load because of defective or haphazardly applied restraints, it can jeopardize the safety of other drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists. In order to be able to safely navigate sharp turns or come to a timely stop, it is also important that the weight of the cargo is distributed correctly. In cases where a truck loses its load, it may release toxic fumes, flammable or corrosive substances, or create a pileup by blocking the path of traffic.
The way in which the accident unfolded can influence the type of damage sustained and the likelihood of an injured driver’s full recovery. For example, head-on collisions with semi-trucks pit the average 4,000-pound passenger vehicle up against a semi-truck that typically weighs at least 30,000-pounds, in a direct confrontation where their combined speed and weight creates the maximum amount of force in a collision. Common types of semi truck crashes include:
Even at low speeds or indirect collisions, the force of impact from a semi-truck can be enough to cause severe internal injuries, such as crush injuries resulting in organ damage, coup contrecoup brain injuries, and worse that carry a high likelihood of extensive medical care and costly bills.
Furthermore, the wreckage of the incapacitated truck can create an obstacle for other nearby drivers. They may become distracted by the accident scene, struggle to navigate around a lost cargo load, or get rear-ended when stopping to accommodate a jackknifed truck that takes up multiple lanes of traffic. An attorney in Boca Raton could determine the type of truck collision and who is to blame.
Due to driver error, mechanical failures, or unsecured cargo, drivers may lose control of their trucks or loads, causing a trail of destruction in their wake. Tragically, truck accidents are known for their capacity to severely injure, maim, and even kill. In many cases, truck drivers are able to walk away from the accident with only minor injuries, while other road users can be left debilitated. A person involved in a truck wreck could experience:
In many cases, severe injuries like these have lingering implications for the health of truck accident survivors. After being injured in a truck accident, burn victims may deal with daily shame and self-esteem issues as a result of being disfigured. Crush injuries can leave truck accident victims on a waitlist for a new organ, which entails invasive surgery and an increased risk of infection.
In addition to the emotional and physical toll major truck accident injuries take, the stress of paying for associated expenses out-of-pocket can be incredibly overwhelming. However, a truck accident attorney in Boca Raton can explain the variety of damages you may be eligible to reclaim in a truck accident lawsuit in order to offset the costs of medical expenses, lost wages, and emotional distress.
Oftentimes, people are quick to blame the truck driver for an accident, but this is not always the case. While truck drivers are certainly susceptible to becoming drowsy, making poor judgments, disobeying laws, or getting distracted, other parties can also contribute to negligence that leads to a truck accident occurring.
The key to proving that the negligent party is not only at fault but responsible for damages in a truck collision case rests on your Boca Raton attorney’s ability to establish that the negligent party owed you a duty of care. Additionally, they must connect the act of negligence directly to the accident that caused the injury and produced consequences.
The owners or operators of the truck company can also be held liable if they have failed to perform their duties. When a company allows a driver to operate a large truck without proper vetting or training, they are putting any motorist or road user in their path in danger. The owners of trucks or trucking companies are also expected to keep their fleet in good working condition so as to avoid accidents.
Semi-trucks are usually loaded by a party other than the driver. When that party fails to make sure the weight is distributed properly or the truck’s contents are fastened down securely, then they can potentially be held liable for damages if their actions cause a truck accident.
In some cases, our team has been able to trace the cause of an accident to defective truck accident parts. The designers, manufacturers, and retailers of defective truck parts that cause an accident can potentially be held liable for the damage their products cause.
The damage caused by a devastating truck accident is often measured by the number of fatalities or the cost of a hospital stay, but this does not accurately depict the reality of many injured truck accident victims. For many, the trajectory of their lives is altered for months or years, if not permanently. A person could seek compensation for several expenses, including:
After being injured in a serious truck accident, you may be unable to dress, drive, bathe, or eat independently while you recover, let alone return to work. Even if you are able to rely on friends and family for help, you are still incurring expenses as a result of someone else’s negligence, such as the money you spend on gas to attend doctors’ appointments.
Injured truck accident victims should be aware that filing an injury lawsuit is time-sensitive. The statute of limitations creates a limited time window of four years to claim damages, or you risk forfeiting your right to compensation. Reaching out to an expert truck accident lawyer in Boca Raton can save you the headache of mounting a lawsuit on your own while you focus on your recovery.
As discussed above, it can be difficult to determine liability in truck accident cases because there are often other parties who hold some degree of responsibility instead of or in addition to the truck driver. To feel confident that you are pursuing compensation from the appropriate source, you need an experienced truck accident attorney in Boca Raton with the work ethic to investigate all the potentially negligent parties.
Insurance carriers for trucking companies are well aware of what they stand to lose in profits if they are found liable, and they will fight to pay out the minimum amount of damages possible in a settlement. Facing a major trucking company’s insurance carrier on your own runs the risk of recovering pennies on the dollar compared to the compensation you are eligible for.
The prospect of negotiating with professional insurance claims adjusters may feel daunting. Seeking a capable lawyer to protect your right to recover damages can mean the difference between a paltry settlement and a settlement that covers all your losses.
In the middle of a crisis, you need a reliable source of counsel who is tough enough to withstand intimidation and savvy enough to navigate pitfalls disguised in dense legal jargon. KMW Legal is more than qualified, and we have shown the ability to continue to enhance our skills to better serve our clients in negotiations and at trial.
KMW Legal’s trial experience has proven to be an invaluable asset when negotiations with insurance companies reach a standstill, allowing us to recover large settlements where other law firms would have faltered. In addition to hashing out settlement specifics, we will evaluate evidence, be mindful of critical deadlines, draft statements, enumerate damages, and offer expert advice.
We know how taxing it can be to mentally and physically recover from an injury while the burdens of medical debt, lost wages, missed promotions, and other costs plague your mind. You can rest assured that our Boca Raton attorneys will not relent until we are satisfied that your damages have been properly compensated for your truck wreck injuries.
Boca Raton is a coastal city in Palm Beach County known as a preferred shopping destination with beautiful weather and a growing arts scene enjoyed by tourists and its 97,422 residents alike. With I-95 running through the middle of the city, trucks are a common presence on Boca Raton highways.
When a truck accident leaves an injured driver in deep medical debt, a pedestrian permanently disabled and unable to work, or a bicyclist emotionally scarred, they turn to a Boca Raton lawyer for help holding the negligent party liable for damages. KMW Legal has over a decade of experience successfully recovering maximum compensation for our truck accident clients.
Over the last decade, KMW Legal has acquired a broad client base through word-of-mouth recommendations that have allowed us to expand our practice to service both of Florida’s coasts. Our clients appreciate our attention to detail, open process, and carefully honed insight.
If you have been injured or lost a loved one in a truck accident, you do not have to cope with the fallout alone. For over a decade, Boca Raton residents have depended on KMW Legal’s reliable services to diligently pursue settlements that recognize the full scope of their losses, even when it means taking their truck accident lawsuit to trial.
The Boca Raton truck accident lawyers of Keller, Melchiorre & Walsh consistently set a high bar for ourselves, and our clients expect nothing less. Contact our team today to schedule a no-cost, no-commitment strategy session to discuss your options for compensation in a truck crash lawsuit.
