Indiana Truck Accident Lawyers

A truck accident is unlike any other vehicle accident on the road. Trucks are probably the largest vehicles on the road, and an ordinary car could easily be crushed by a toppling truck. Truck accidents could also injure multiple other drivers and leave them with extreme or even fatal injuries.

Recovering from a truck accident can take a very long time and can be an extremely painful process. While you recover, you may rack up numerous costly medical bills. Injured drivers are often unable to return to work and have no means of funding their physical recoveries. You can file a claim against whoever is responsible for the truck accident and get financial compensation for your injuries. Our experienced attorneys can help you determine whom you can seek compensation against and on what grounds while calculating your deserved financial recovery.

For help with your case from our Indiana truck accident lawyers, call Wruck Paupore today at (219) 322-1166.

The Differences Between Truck Accidents and Other Car Crashes in Indiana

Large trucks are very common sights on our roads and highways, and drivers tend to treat them with the same caution as any other vehicle. What people do not often think about is how disastrous an accident with a truck could be. Being hit by a truck is much more serious than being hit by a car. Trucks are much larger and heavier. While your vehicle could be totaled and you might suffer terrible injuries, the truck is more likely to have only minor damage.

Truck accidents also have somewhat different causes compared to ordinary car accidents. Trucks are built differently, requiring a different level of caution from truck drivers than many other drivers. For example, because the trailer behind a truck is so wide and long, a truck has very large blind spots. The mirrors on either side of the truck are crucial to safety. If you are behind a truck and cannot see the mirrors, you are in a blind spot, and the truck driver cannot see you. Trying to pass a truck driver while they turn or change lanes can be extremely dangerous as you might not be visible to the truck driver. Truck drivers should be aware of their larger blind spots, particularly when merging or changing lanes, as failing to do so is a top cause of sideswipe and underride accidents involving sizeable trucks.

A truck's weight and cargo might also play a role in an accident. Trucks are extremely heavy and cannot just stop on a dime. Truck drivers who speed or follow other vehicles too closely might not be able to stop in time, leading to rear-end accidents. Though rear-end collisions are often considered one of the least serious accidents, that is typically not true when a massive truck strikes a smaller passenger car, especially at high speeds. If a truck does not rear-end a passenger car, it might swerve into other cars or even topple over because it is too heavy to stop so quickly. Multi-vehicle truck accidents can be especially devastating and confusing for victims to sort out, and our lawyers can help such victims identify who among the involved parties is liable.

Parties Who May Be Liable for Truck Accidents in Indiana

A few different parties could share responsibility for your recent truck accident. Generally speaking, the truck driver is the first person our lawyers will look at for liability. Truck drivers are the primary people in charge of truck safety. While other drivers on the highway could potentially cause an accident, truckers must be hyper-vigilant for any dangers, including other negligent drivers. A common cause of truck accidents is driver error. If a truck driver fails to check their blind spots, signal when turning, or drive at a safe speed for the road conditions, disaster could strike.

While truckers are often the first person we want to blame, there could be others. The truck driver's employer may also be held responsible for the accident. Under the legal doctrine of respondeat superior, an employer may be liable for an employee's negligent behavior if that behavior occurred within the scope of the employee's job. This means a trucking company could be liable for an accident caused by one of its truckers. Alternatively, you could sue under a theory of negligent hiring. This theory would apply if the truckers were so inexperienced or incompetent at their job that the trucking company should have known better than to hire them in the first place.

Besides the truck driver, other drivers sharing the road are just as capable of causing a serious truck accident. As mentioned, trucks are too heavy to make quick stops if a vehicle cuts them off. If this happens, the truck might swerve into traffic or fall over. The reckless or careless driving of other smaller vehicles could easily cause a truck driver to lose control of their vehicle. In short, while it might seem as though the truck driver is at fault initially, further investigation may reveal that multiple parties are liable, which could maximize your financial recovery after a crash.

Proving Liability for an Indiana Truck Accident

The steps we must take to prove liability will vary based on who we want to hold liable. The evidence we need also depends on our overall theory of the case. Many car and truck accidents are based on theories of negligence. Proving negligence requires proving the defendant owed the victim a duty of care and that violating that duty caused the accident and the victim’s damages.

In cases where you also wish to hold the trucking company liable, you must prove additional factors. For example, you must prove the trucking company employed the trucker and that the trucker acted within their employment scope during the crash. Our truck accident attorneys can help you prove such elements of your case after confirming the driver’s employment status and who owns the vehicle in question.

In most cases, certain types of evidence are required regardless of what our theory is. For example, any physical evidence from the crash scene, witness testimony, medical records about your injuries, and photos and videos from the accident scene are paramount to your success. We can prioritize preserving and collecting this vital evidence in the days and weeks after your crash so your recovery is not jeopardized.

Identifying Compensable Losses from Indiana Truck Accidents

There are many compensable losses from truck accidents, beginning with victims’ medical costs. In addition to being held liable for all necessary hospital expenses due to negligence, at-fault parties may be made to compensate victims for their lost wages, intangible damages, and other losses.

Hospital Expenses

Medical expenses from truck accidents are often high, as victims’ injuries may require long-term treatment from specialists and other physicians. Emergency room visits could cost hundreds or thousands of dollars depending on the immediate care victims need, and ensuing treatments with physical therapists or upcoming surgeries could add to victims’ economic losses. Our truck accident lawyers can collect hospital bills immediately after the collision to track these damages. In doing this, we can keep a running tally of all medical expenses, prescription medications, hospital stays, surgeries, rehabilitative therapy, mobility accommodation devices, and any other costs related to your injuries.

Often, truck accident injuries are so devastating that victims must continue treatments after their claims against liable parties end. To ensure your recovery compensates you for future medical damages, our lawyers may get physicians who have treated you and other experts to give statements.

Missed Wages

After suffering broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, burn injuries, or any of the other common injuries sustained during truck accidents, victims may have to take extended time away from work. This could lead to a lack of income, which our lawyers can connect to the defendant’s negligence to show their liability for your missed wages. We must prove your previous income and difference in earning capacity after the accident to calculate your lost wages. This may require us to refer to information from your employer, such as paychecks and tax returns. Like future medical damages, future lost wages can also be covered by truck accident claims, and we can have medical experts give statements explaining when you might be able to return to work at the same earning level, if ever.

Miscellaneous Expenses

Victims often incur many other economic damages from negligent truck drivers, such as property damage to their vehicles. Smaller passenger cars could get totaled by larger trucks, and we can get property damage assessed when calculating your claim’s total value. Preserving property damage is also vital for other reasons since collision reconstruction experts can use photos of impact points to determine an accident’s ultimate cause. In addition to property damage costs, victims can seek compensation for transportation accommodations, necessary home modifications, and any newly incurred expenses we can trace back to the accident.

Physical Pain and Mental Suffering

The most elusive damages to injury victims are typically non-economic damages for physical pain and mental suffering. Pain and suffering damages compensate victims for their intangible losses, which we can quantify based on various factors. For example, suffering a permanent injury as a young adult could be particularly distressing, especially if the injury prevents them from ever working again or engaging in daily tasks. Underestimating your non-economic losses could lead you to accept an unfair settlement, and we can ensure this does not happen by carefully calculating all damages from a truck accident in Indiana.

Call Our Indiana Attorneys to Discuss Your Truck Accident Case Today

Get a free case assessment from our truck accident lawyers by calling Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166.