If you get into a traffic accident that involves a commercial truck or tractor-trailer in Georgia, it is important to fully understand your rights as a crash victim. Otherwise, you may accept less than your case is worth from an insurance company – hurting your family’s ability to pay for the medical care and vehicle repairs that you need. The best way to protect yourself is by hiring a truck accident attorney in Atlanta.
Powerful Adversaries
Trucking companies make powerful opponents during insurance claims. They have the resources and aggressive legal teams to dispute liability. Refuting fault is important for a trucking company, as its standing with the Department of Transportation could be on the line. They also have powerful insurance corporations with years of experience devaluing claims and protecting their own profits. The best way to even the playing field during a truck accident lawsuit is by hiring an attorney to represent you.
Catastrophic Injuries and High-Value Claims
Collisions involving 18-wheelers and tractor-trailers are often catastrophic for victims. They can inflict injuries that a survivor will have for life, such as spinal cord injuries, paralysis and brain damage. Catastrophic injuries can result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lifetime medical care and ongoing expenses – not to mention the value of lost wages, property damage, and non-economic damage.
Insurance companies are for-profit organizations that often put their bottom lines before their clients. If you do not hire an attorney to represent you during a serious injury claim, you may be taken advantage of by an insurance company. Settling for less than your injuries deserve can be detrimental to your family’s ability to pay for future medical care, including physical therapy and rehabilitation. A lawyer will help you fight for maximum financial compensation.
Complicated State and Federal Laws
Unlike typical car accident claims, truck accident cases involve unique federal and state laws that only apply to the commercial trucking industry. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration imposes hundreds of special laws and rules for trucking companies and their drivers, including hours-of-service regulations, cargo load securement rules and weight limits. You may need an attorney’s assistance navigating these laws and understanding how they apply to your truck accident case.
Unique Types of Evidence and Rapid Response Teams
A truck accident attorney can be invaluable for preserving and collecting the evidence that you need to prove your lawsuit against a trucking company. You will most likely be too injured to collect evidence yourself at the scene of the truck accident. The trucking company, on the other hand, will deploy a rapid response team to the scene of the crash immediately – sometimes, even before the police arrive. This team of experts and investigators will go to work on collecting evidence against you right away.
There are unique types of evidence involved in a truck accident case, such as the truck’s black box and employment and maintenance records held by the trucking company. If you hire an attorney, he or she can make the phone calls and file the subpoenas that are necessary to protect and collect key evidence to build your claim. A lawyer can gather evidence right away, before the trucking company has the chance to alter or destroy anything.
Insurance Bad Faith
Finally, a truck accident lawyer can be instrumental if you encounter insurance bad faith tactics during claims processing. Bad faith means that an insurance company is not treating your claim in a good faith attempt to resolve the legal issue at hand. Instead, the company is engaging in tactics such as wrongfully rejecting your claim or delaying an investigation, most likely to save money on your payout. A lawyer can help you file an insurance bad faith lawsuit against the company to hold it accountable and seek fair financial compensation for your losses.
If you are wondering if hiring a truck accident attorney is worth it in your particular case, contact Bross, McAllister & Williams, LLC to request a free case review.
