When you’ve been injured as a result of a trucking accident, you’re likely to be in a world of confusion. While getting treated for your injuries should always be your first priority, it’s also important, once the dust settles and you’re on the road to treatment and recovery, to think about holding those responsible for your injuries accountable.
Recovering damages in trucking accident cases involves a myriad of factors and chief among them is determining those at fault. Often, trucking accidents involve commercial entities of some sort. Whether it’s a sole proprietor or a large conglomerate, typically when a commercial truck is on the road, it’s representing a business entity.
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Sometimes the truck driver responsible has an employment relationship with a trucking or shipping company. If that is the case, under personal injury law, the company may in fact be liable for the driver’s negligence. The question is whether or not the accident happened while the driver was driving on behalf of the company in question and in the course of their employment relationship. It’s also important to establish what level of oversight and control the company had over the driver at the time.
Another thing to consider is how many different potential defendants are liable for your injuries. In many trucking accident cases, drivers, insurers, contractors, and employers may all be responsible for compensating you for your losses.
Keeping in mind that each case is different, from the driver to the driver’s employer to even contractors, each entity involved in getting a shipment from point A to point B may have different levels of insurance coverage, and it’s important to establish fault and from there, the level of liability each entity bears for your injuries in your case.
In some cases, when hazardous materials are involved, the manufacturer of those materials may be held liable when the shipment has made injuries worse (depending on what level of warning, if any, the manufacturer gave the trucking company).
If you’ve suffered injuries as a result of a trucking accident where the driver was at fault, you may be entitled to damages for medical treatment, pain and suffering, emotional and even financial losses resulting from the accident.
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It’s always important to seek the advice of an experienced trucking accident personal injury attorney in these kinds of cases. Often, commercial entities have insurance companies at the ready to limit the financial loss associated with any accidents resulting from their commercial enterprise. These insurers will sometimes make a quick settlement offer when liability is clear in an effort to limit damages. An experienced personal injury attorney understands the wide range of damages to which you may be entitled in these cases. Sometimes the full extent of physical injuries cannot adequately be determined at the outset of an accident. Spinal injuries, and head and neck injuries often present symptoms days or sometimes months after the actual injury.
A quick settlement could not take those injuries into consideration fully and may leave you holding the bag should that occur. An experienced trucking accident attorney would be able to consider all potential damages and advise a course of action that would account for them.
If you’ve been injured as a result of a trucking accident and would like to discuss your case with the experienced personal injury attorneys of Bizzieri Law Offices in Chicago, give us a call at 773.881.9000. We can help you get the compensation you deserve.
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