There are many semi-trailer truck crashes that cause many injuries and fatalities each year. After there are serious injuries, many victims can no longer work. As a result, this leads to increasing household and medical expenses. Besides, many people injured by negligent semi-trailer truck drivers usually wonder how they can file a compensation claim and how long it takes to receive it.
Remember that regardless of whether it’s a tire blowout or truck driver fatigue, every truck accident can involve specific injuries, insurance companies, and facts. Therefore, it can sometimes take longer to get compensation after a semi-trailer truck collision. This is the reason why you need experienced truck accident lawyers to help you determine a settlement time frame and many other things based on similar truck accident cases they handled. This article explains everything you should know about a semi-trailer truck collision.
Understanding semi-trailer truck accidents
It can be tricky to settle car accident cases, especially those involving semi-trailer trucks. There your attorney can decide to balance the actual value of the case when it comes to the direct damages and the value of the insurance policy considering your specific financial needs and injuries.
You should remember that you can control settlement decisions. Therefore, you need to review and even approve the potential settlements in semi-trailer truck accident cases. Also, you can choose to get a lower settlement if you want a faster claim resolution.
You can find experienced semi-trailer truck attorneys who can help you when it comes to estimating the settlement timeline in a truck accident case. Besides this, a lawyer can maximize your compensation claim.
The factors that can affect semi-trailer truck settlement timelines
It’s worth noting that there are several conditions that determine when and if you can receive a semi-trailer truck compensation. Many insurance companies can weigh one factor more than others to force them to agree on fair compensation. The good thing is that an experienced semi-trailer truck attorney can leverage any favorable factor to get a fair and quick settlement. Insurance adjusters and lawyers usually start the analysis of these cases by looking at the following factors involving a semi-trailer truck accident:
Liability
You should remember that it’s not every semi-trailer truck accident that can lead to a financial settlement. If you intend to file a lawsuit against a trucking company or its insurance company, then you need to demonstrate that either the truck company or the driver’s negligence caused the accident.
Some of the common mistakes that can lead to a semi-trailer truck accident include brake failures, truck driver fatigue, distraction, unbalanced cargo, speeding, and mechanical failures. Most semi-trailer truck accidents can lead to legal claims for reckless or negligent driving.
Remember that with negligence claims, you need to prove that the truck driver failed to follow a legal duty to safely drive the semi-trailer truck. Also, you need to prove that the reckless behavior led to your injuries. This same principle also applies to trucking owners, companies, and manufacturers, especially if there was a mechanical defect that contributed to the truck accident.
Depending on your case, you may also need to ask for compensation for recklessness of the truck driver. Reckless behavior includes driving a semi-trailer truck while drunk or even without considering the safety of other drivers. In such cases, your attorney can ask for a higher settlement award.
If you have good evidence showing that the other driver was negligent, many insurance companies usually accept liability. Some of the evidence you need to have include photographs, video footage, the police report, and witness testimony. But if the semi-trailer truck driver doesn’t accept liability, then it means it can be hard to prove negligence.
Likewise, it can take longer to determine fault in a multi-vehicle crash. Disputes concerning the exact cause of the accident and delays in investigations can prolong the settlement time frame. And, some lawyers and insurance adjusters can fail to agree on exactly how the semi-trailer truck accident happened, leading to extension of the settlement timeframe.
Soft tissue injuries
If you have actual damages like emotional or physical injuries or even property loss, then you are entitled to compensation from parties at fault. There are several types of injuries that can determine the time frame and settlement amount in a semi-trailer truck accident.
There are many semi-trailer truck accidents that involve rear-end crashes. Ideally, when a truck hits a small passenger car regardless of whether or not it was going at a low speed, it can send strong shock waves to affect the car occupants. Remember that this force tends to throw the car occupants forward or even cause airbags to snap them back.
These sudden forward and backward motions can strain your muscles and tendons, especially those in your neck and back. This is the reason why many injuries involving these accidents lead to whiplash and back pain. Most insurance companies and semi-trailer truck lawyers usually call muscle strains as soft-tissue injuries. These injuries can include whiplash, bruising and swelling, back sprains and strains, and shoulder strains and bruising.
The muscles in the spinal cord tend to weaken as you age, so many older and middle-aged car occupants can experience more serious injuries. Unfortunately, some drivers usually have small insurance policies for personal injuries to cover losses linked to soft-tissue injuries.
While some of these injuries can heal within a couple of weeks without requiring any intensive treatment, others can need a few months of physical therapy or even surgery. Regardless of the case you are experiencing, most semi-trailer truck accidents that cause soft tissue injuries can lead to small settlement offers within a couple of months.
With soft tissue injuries, you need to provide evidence of the treatment, such as lost wages and medical expenses. But it’s important to request for a delay in the settlement until the medical professionals clears you, meaning there should no longer be any pain.
Short-term disabling injuries
Besides the soft tissue injuries, you can also suffer from short-term disabling injuries. There is always the weight difference between a semi-trailer truck and passenger vehicles. As a result, most tailgating accidents lead to accident victims suffering from concussions, herniated discs, and fractures. Remember that these injuries can cause soft-tissue damage that may need surgery, extended physical therapy, and changes in your lifestyle after the accident.
There are some spinal damages like slipped and ruptured discs that need a series of physical therapy sessions before your physician can recommend surgery. But there are good chances that you can still experience nerve pains, loss of movements, and some other limitations even after going through surgery. Unfortunately, it can sometimes take you years before you experience improvement in your health or heal after the semi-trailer accident. There are also some severe fractures that may need surgery, and head trauma can lead to cognitive dysfunction.
No doubt, these injuries can cause financial problems because you may lose wages, making it hard to pay for household rehabilitation and help. The good thing is that many people usually recover from this type of injury within a couple of weeks. Semi-trailer truck insurance companies can make settlement offers while you are recovering, though accepting these settlement offers come with some risks.
It can sometimes take a few months or even years before your doctor can determine that you need another surgery. There are also good chances that you can no longer get back to work because of prolonged pain. Therefore, when you accept a settlement offer while going through a treatment process, it means you cannot ask for extra money for the future losses or medical expenses arising from the accident.
Semi-trailer truck lawyers usually ask occupation, economic, and medical experts to determine your case’s potential value. These estimates can include past damages as well as future potential medical costs and lost wages.
You may then have to request the insurance companies to either wait before settling a claim or settle it while receiving treatment. You can also decide to recover a lesser amount of money earlier in the treatment or simply wait until you have a confirmed prognosis to ask for a higher settlement.
In conclusion, there are various benefits you can have by hiring a Truck Accident Lawyer in Lawrenceville, GA. When you choose to handle the compensation claim yourself, there is a high chance that you may not get the maximum settlement after a semi-trailer truck accident.
Keep in mind that attorneys usually provide the necessary experience and expertise required in semi-truck accident cases. Sadly, there are some insurance adjusters out there who take advantage of accident victims, so they can lowball you, especially if you are struggling to pay for your living expenses. Other insurance adjusters can even unlawfully offer you legal advice about the value of your case.
This is why you should always get a semi-trailer truck attorney who knows commercial vehicle regulations. These lawyers can tell you everything about your case including how long it may take to settle your truck accident claim. Remember that there is no risk associated with consulting a semi-trailer truck lawyer because they work to optimize your settlement.