Trucking Accidents: 3 Elements that Can Affect Your Case

Trucking accidents can have devastating results. Every truck accident is unique, however, and many factors can influence the outcome of your case.

Here are three of the most common elements that can affect your trucking accident case and compensation.

Your Injuries

The biggest factor that will affect your case is your injury. Your injury compensation is based on three components:

  • Current and future medical expenses
  • Current and future lost income
  • Pain and suffering

All of these will increase or decrease based on your injuries. Severe injuries, like a brain injury, can leave you with a permanent disability. These injuries are associated with greater medical expenses, can cost you more in lost income, and cause a greater degree of pain and suffering.

The Cause of the Trucking Accident

The cause of the trucking accident will affect the outcome of your case. If the truck driver did not cause the accident, the trucking company will not be liable for the resulting injuries and property damage.

On the other hand, if the truck driver broke a traffic law or took unnecessary risks, the driver may have been negligent and caused the accident. This would place liability firmly on the truck driver’s employer. This will produce a good outcome because U.S. law requires freight carriers to have thousands of dollars in insurance policies.

But the best outcomes occur when an accident has multiple causes. Suppose that the shipper loaded the trailer improperly so that it was imbalanced. And suppose that the accident happened when the truck driver took a turn too fast and tipped the trailer over. In this case, liability falls on both the shipper and the trucking company. This gives you greater resources to target for the compensation that you deserve.

Size of the Accident

A trucking accident that injures or kills multiple people may use up all of the resources for compensation. A trucking accident that only injures one or two people will leave greater resources available for each injured person to receive full compensation.

For example, under federal law, a trucking company that uses small trucks and does not carry hazardous materials must have $750,000 in “financial responsibility” from insurance policies, surety policies, and cash reserves. But an accident that injures 19 people and kills one person will mean that 20 people will need to share that $750,000 or file a lawsuit to force the company to pay for damages out-of-pocket.

The Role of a Trucking Accident Attorney

Fortunately, you do not need to evaluate your trucking accident case by yourself. An injury lawyer has the knowledge to identify all of the parties who bear responsibility for a trucking accident and the resources that you can target for the compensation that you deserve.

Contact us to discuss your trucking accident case with one of the experienced personal injury attorneys at Harlan Law. We also serve Portland, OR!