MG Truck Accidents (8k) 10/4/19 – gtg for website

Flatbed Truck Accident attorney on Texas Falling Cargo Accidents

As dangerous as accidents involving massive 18-wheeler trucks can be, accidents involving flatbed trailers can be even more devastating. The cargo carried by flatbed trailers is usually extremely large and bulky; so much so that it cannot be carried by the typical trailer of a regular truck.

The flatbed trailers traveling on the major roads in and around Texas can haul all kinds of huge, odd-shaped objects. They can include manufactured homes, extremely long pipes and even windmill blades. All of these objects hauled by flatbed trailers can pose a significant risk to other motorists on the road if they are loaded in an improper fashion.

If you have suffered an injury in an accident involving either a flatbed trailer or the cargo that is was hauling, then you will probably be able to pursue restitution for the injuries you have incurred. You should contact a flatbed trailer accident attorney to fully comprehend your rights. This article is designed to provide you information as to the parties you can take legal action against in a flatbed trailer accident case, the common obstacles that will block your path to securing compensation, and how a  flatbed trailer accident attorney can help you. This article, however, is not designed to replace the counsel of an actual lawyer.

Who is Liable for the Injuries you have Suffered?
In an accident involving a flatbed trailer, there may be more than one party that might be responsible for the injuries you have suffered. You were only injured once, of course, but you can take legal action against each and every person or entity that in some way contributed to the accident, and sue each of them for the same amount of damages. A  flatbed trailer accident attorney will launch a thorough investigation of the accident scene, and all of the circumstances surrounding the accident, in order to determine who was to blame for your injuries.

The most obvious responsible party is, of course, the driver of the truck that caused your accident. Many truckers, in order to make a living, are required to drive an incredible number of miles and meet rigid deadlines. Although the law requires them to take rest stops on a regular basis, many of them ignore that requirement and drive on without proper rest. And when a distracted or exhausted driver is behind the wheel of one of these immense flatbeds, then a devastating accident can occur that can result in debilitating injuries or death.

If you sue the driver, however, that is just the first of what could potentially be several legal actions you take. Almost every time that it is determined that a careless driver causes an accident, the injury victim can also sue the company that hired that driver as well. This can be a significant benefit to you, as trucking companies normally have extensive cash reserves that can lead to you obtaining just compensation for the injuries you have suffered. Personal injury law in Texas subscribes to the doctrine known as respondeat superior. This theory mandates that an employer is legally liable for any injuries that its employee causes while on the job. What this means, basically, is that even if the employer did nothing wrong, you can still sue the company for the negligence of its employee because of the theory of respondeat superior.

There can also be several other parties that in some way contribute to a flatbed trailer accident. For instance, the company responsible for planning the route of the truck, the company that manufactured the straps used to secure the cargo, the company responsible for securing that cargo and others could be held liable for your injuries. Consider a scenario where a truck is hauling a piece of a modular home that is extremely tall. Say that truck travels under a low bridge, and part of the home is knocked off, strikes your car, and you suffer an injury as a result. You can more than likely sue the company that planned the route that led the truck to go under that bridge. There are other times where the cargo on a flatbed trailer can become loose, even thought that truck was not pushed or hit by anything else. In this case, the straps holding that cargo could have been defective, or the company charged with securing that cargo could have been negligent in the performance of its duties. When this takes place, you might be able to pursue legal action against either one of those companies, or both of them.

Challenges Encountered by Unrepresented Accident Victims
If you fail to secure the help of an experienced flatbed trailer accident attorney, there are several hurdles that you will have to surmount in order to obtain the just compensation that you deserve. A seasoned attorney is familiar with what needs to be done in order for you to overcome the obstacles that can put your case at risk. Some of the issues that you will need to be aware of concerning litigation involving a flatbed trailer accident include:

Determining the source of the cargo.
Did You Know?
Our Texas attorneys have won hundreds of 18 wheeler accident cases. Call us today to discuss your case.
Dealing with truck drivers who lie. 
The policies of big insurance companies. 
Trucking companies that are self-insured. 
The burden of proof the plaintiff bears. 
Here is some detailed information on each of these potential hurdles.

Determining the source of the cargo
It is possible that the cause of your accident was cargo that was left lying in the road long after the truck that was hauling it had left the scene. When this takes place, it can be incredibly challenging for inexperienced attorneys to determine the source of the cargo, and basically impossible for someone with no legal background. In order to determine the source of that cargo, or to identify who to take legal action against, you have to first be able to track down the truck that dropped the cargo.

These kinds of cases occur frequently. Cargo often comes loose from a flatbed trailer without a driver even knowing what happened. There are other times that the driver is well aware that the cargo has fallen, but chose not to take the time nor make the effort to try and make sure the cargo was cleaned up, either by calling the police or taking some other action. A  flatbed trailer accident attorney, however, can help you determine the source of the cargo that caused the accident that injured you.

Dealing with Truck Drivers who Lie
Truck drivers who lie concerning the cause of an accident can be just as formidable a threat to your case as flatbed trailers can be to other motorists on the road. If a driver is found to have caused a flatbed trailer accident, he or she will likely be fired. And with that kind of black mark on his or her record, that driver will find it very difficult to find another job. Considering the state of the economy, it is easy to see why an otherwise trustworthy person would stoop to this kind of desperate act. However, this lie, if successful, will come at the expense of your case, because the blame will shift from the driver to you.

But there are many ways that a seasoned and skilled flatbed trailer accident attorney can uncover the lies of a truck driver and ensure that your case is saved. The first way is through collecting vital evidence that can prove the trucker is lying. For instance, in one of our recent cases we were able to secure surveillance footage from a nearby business’ security camera in order to prove our client, contrary to what the trucker claimed, was driving with his headlights on. Secondly, our attorneys can often reveal the truth through a deposition. In a deposition, an attorney is allowed to ask questions of the other side’s witnesses prior to the trial commencing. A skilled attorney can, by asking the correct questions, compel a witness to tell the truth, or expose a witnesses’ attempt at telling a lie. The  flatbed trailer accident attorneys with our Law Offices have taken thousands of depositions. We will do whatever is necessary to ensure that the judge, jury and insurance company completely know your side of the story.

The policies of big insurance companies
When you possess something that is valuable, you will tend to do whatever you can to protect it, as compared to what you would do to protect things that might not be worth as much. For instance, many of us have insurance on our house, but we wouldn’t insure, say, that 20-year-old lawnmower in the garage. The insurance business works under a similar philosophy. A typical car insurance policy is akin to the old lawnmower, while a flatbed trailer policy is more like a house. As such, insurance providers will often go to extremes in order to protect a flatbed trailer policy, because it can be several times more expensive than the typical automobile policy. If you have suffered an injury due to an accident involving a flatbed trailer, the insurance carrier is well aware that you may be due a substantially higher amount of compensation that you would get if you had been injured in a typical car accident. Therefore, the insurance provider will do whatever it can in order to either pressure you into accepting much less than you have coming in terms of a settlement, or deny your claim flat-out.

Because flatbed trailer policies are so expensive, insurers will dispatch their best adjusters to defend the claim. They will also send a team of expert defense lawyers who are intimately familiar with each and every technicality involving insurance law. This defense team will immediately investigate an accident scene in order to start collecting evidence they will use to attempt to prove the accident was your responsibility. Their adjusters will descend upon you immediately after the accident as well. These aren’t the friendly agents you may encounter after a regular fender-bender. They are, instead, licensed pros who are the very best their profession has to offer. They got to where they are by proving to be very adept at denying claims on a regular basis. These adjusters will make it their mission to make sure your claim is denied as well.

It can be very, very troubling to deal with an insurance company by yourself. The adjuster will constantly badger you in an attempt to admit that the responsibility for the accident lies with you alone. Either that, or they will try to trick you into admitting that you’re not really as hurt as you’re letting on. And when they have a conversation with you, they will record your words and twist those words to suit their purposes by damaging your case and having your claim denied. The  flatbed trailer accident attorneys with our Law Offices, however, know how to deal with insurance company representatives, and have been doing so successfully over the last two decades. In fact, we have defeated nearly every major insurance carrier in the nation. As a result, they are very familiar with our track record of success, and we can use that reputation to pressure them into making our client a fair settlement offer.

Trucking companies that are self-insured
It can be bad enough dealing with the harassing and sometimes intimidating tactics that insurance adjusters employ. Again, they will constantly call you and try to trick you into admitting you were completely responsible for the flatbed trailer accident, or to admit that you really aren’t hurt that badly. But dealing with a representative of a self-insured trucking company can be even worse if you don’t have a seasoned flatbed trailer accident attorney by your side protecting your rights.

Trucking companies, by law, are required to carry insurance on their trucks. But rather than pay the often exorbitant rates necessary to carry insurance through a traditional provider, some trucking companies opt to insure themselves. They do so by putting aside a portion of their revenues to protect them from lawsuits when an accident takes place. Of course, this is perfectly legal.

If you are involved in an accident with a truck that is owned by a self-insured trucking company, you will probably encounter a company officer and not a professional insurance adjuster. That officer is probably part of his or her company’s profit-sharing plan. If the trucking company loses the case, then its profits are reduced. Therefore, that officer will be personally losing money if his or her company loses its case. So you can see the motivation that officer will have to make sure your claim is denied, or that you win as little money as possible. Also, these officers are not licensed as are insurance adjusters, who have to adhere to a code of ethics in order to maintain that license. Self-insured trucking company officers, however, are under no such obligation. Therefore, while an adjuster can be aggressive, a self-insured trucking company officer can be downright harassing. Some officers are not above tampering with evidence or threatening accident witnesses, and even injury victims. But the flatbed trailer accident attorneys with our Law Offices know how to put an abrupt start to those underhanded tactics, and we know how to protect our clients from the harassment of self-insured trucking company officers.

The Burden of Proof a Plaintiff Bears
There is another formidable hurdle that the plaintiff in a flatbed trailer accident case has to surmount, and that is bearing his or her burden of proof. As unfair as this may sound, the law in Texas is under the presumption that a defendant owes nothing to a victim. The injury victim has to bear the burden of proof, which means he or she has to provide necessary evidence to prove that he or she should receive damages. Should that plaintiff fail to produce that evidence, then he or she will not collect a thing. In every flatbed trailer accident case, the plaintiff needs to prove four elements in order to win a case. These elements are duty, breach, causation and damages.

Duty
The first burden the plaintiff has to prove is that the defendant in the case owed the plaintiff a duty of care. This is typically a pretty straightforward element. Every person owes every other person a duty to act in a manner that a reasonable person would act in order to make sure they do not injure another person. In the event of a flatbed trailer accident, the driver of the flatbed owes all other motorists sharing the road the duty of care to drive as a reasonable person would drive. As we mentioned previously, there could be other parties that owe you a duty of care as well, such as the trucking company that hired the driver, the company that loaded the cargo, the company the planned the route the truck took, etc.

Breach
Next, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant breached that duty of care owed to the plaintiff. The plaintiff has to produce evidence that establishes that the defendant acted in a manner that was unreasonable, and harm was caused as a result. Say the driver of the flatbed trailer involved in your accident ran a red light, and you suffered harm as a result. In this case, the driver’s actions would probably be considered unreasonable.

Causation
In order to prove the third element, causation, the plaintiff has to prove that the actions of inaction of a negligent party were the cause of the injury the plaintiff suffered. For example, if your flatbed trailer accident took place because the cargo on the trailer became loose, then you could possibly show duty and breach in that the company that loaded the truck did not properly secure the cargo. However, if that cargo remained in place through the entirety of the accident, then the people who loaded that truck would probably not be to blame for causing your injury, and thus you will not be able to prove causation in this instance.

Damages
The final element you must prove is that you are owed a certain monetary amount of damages that will properly compensate you for the injury that you suffered. The damages you can receive depend upon the “price tag,” so to speak, associated with the injury that you incurred. Of course, you will have to produce proof of this as well. You can’t just tell the judge or jury that, since the accident, you have been in constant pain – in order to prove damages, you have to provide medical proof of that pain, and how much your previous and future medical care will cost. Should you not be able to get back to work, then you will have to accurately calculate how much you have lost in wages, and how much you will lose in potential future earnings. And then you have to calculate the non-tangible damages such as pain and suffering, loss of consortium and others. Can you put a price tag on emotional trauma? If you want to get the maximum compensation that you have coming to you, you had better figure it out, and that can be incredibly difficult without experienced legal representative. If you have an inexperienced attorney, or you try to do this yourself, it will be just about impossible. But the  flatbed trailer accident attorneys with our Law Offices are very familiar with how to calculate damages, whether they are objective or subjective. Over our 20 years of litigating these kinds of cases, we have more than likely seen several that are quite similar to yours. Once we hear the specific circumstances surrounding your flatbed trailer accident case, we will be able to accurately ascertain the amount of damages that you are entitled to so you get the just compensation you deserve.

It is imperative that you have a skilled and seasoned attorney by your side, whether or not your case goes to trial. The attorneys with our Law Offices are extremely adept at collecting evidence and preparing it in a manner that will satisfy all four elements of your flatbed trailer accident case.

How a  Flatbed Trailer Accident Attorney Can Help You
If you have suffered an injury due to a flatbed trailer accident, the attorneys with our Law Offices can fight for you and protect your rights. We take care of every single component of your case, from the start to the finish, and keep you completely up to date on how your case is progressing. These are but a few of the services that we provide our clients to help win their case and help them obtain the fair restitution they deserve.

No matter what caused the flatbed trailer accident that led to your injury, whether it was the trucking company’s negligence, the company that planned the route, the company that failed to secure the cargo, or some other reason, please call the  flatbed trailer accident attorneys with our Law Offices as soon as you can. We will give you a confidential and free consultation; listening to all the specific circumstances surrounding your case, answering any questions you may have, and evaluating the strength of your case.

===========================gtg

=======================gtg

Our attorney Explains Your Rights after a Dump Truck Accident

All around Texas construction is booming. We know that by seeing all the construction vehicles on our highways today. This large number of trucks on the road has lead to an increasingly large number of dump truck accidents each year; these accidents leave their victims with serious medical injuries as well as considerable physical property damages. 

When you look at the size of a dump truck next to a typical passenger car you will realize that the occupants in the family sedan have little chance of surviving a crash without receiving serious injuries. This situation is further compounded by the inherent difficulty that a victim will face in successfully getting fair compensation from a big insurance company. Many victims fail to realize this until it is too late. A  dump truck accident attorney can definitely help a victim at this juncture. The attorneys from our Law Offices have prepared this brief article to explain some of your rights and to discuss the obstacles that you will be facing.

Insurance Adjusters and Insurance Companies
The commercial insurance policies that protect dump trucks and tractor-trailers and other large commercial vehicles are very different from the policies that are used for passenger cars. Since commercial policies are worth about 50 times as much as personal policies the insurance companies have a huge incentive to see your case dismissed or substantially reduced. They will consequently fight vehemently to defend themselves while also trying to put the blame of the accident on you. 

These huge insurance companies employ exceptionally aggressive defense attorneys and insurance adjusters. The adjusters can be particularly ruthless since they are paid by how many cases they can either dismiss or at least substantially reduce. Since this is their livelihood a victim should expect no mercy; these wily adjusters have plenty of tricks up their sleeves which they will employ to try to discredit your case. They frequently will call you after your accident and appear very friendly, even concerned for your welfare. They will then ask you a series of questions, which they will generally record. They will attempt to have you say that you are not as seriously injured as had been stated, or even that you were partially responsible for your own accident. Whatever you say will be taken out of context and used later on to incriminate you and harm your case. These tactics are, unfortunately, frequently effective against victims who do not have legal counsel. This is yet another reason to retain an experience dump truck accident attorney.

Accident Recreation Specialists and Defense Attorneys
The huge insurance companies have as staff employees a small army of defense attorneys and accident recreation specialists, who will immediately be sent to the scene of a dump truck accident. Once there they will start building up the insurance company’s case against you. They will scour the site for evidence, and will collect testimonies from any witness that might be used against you. They will try to speak with you, under the guise of being merely friendly, and will twist around whatever you tell them to suit their own case. 

These adjusters and attorneys will also work with the dump truck driver, their defendant; often the dump truck driver will turn against you as well. These drivers depend for their livelihood on their driving jobs; if they are held liable they probably will lose those jobs. Consequently, they have a financially based vested interest in seeing you lose your case. We have seen cases where drivers will actually destroy evidence and resort to outright lying in order to protect themselves from the consequences of the accident that they indeed caused. Of course the insurance companies themselves will not attempt to correct or control this shoddy type of behavior. Their goals, after all, are driven solely by their bottom lines; the welfare of an injured motorist is not of interest to them.

Let our Law Offices Help You
Our legal colleagues have been working with truck accident victims for over two decades. We have seen all the types of tricks that the big insurance companies will attempt, over that period of time. We know the true nature of their defense attorneys, the insurance adjusters and the accident recreation specialists that labor for the big insurers. As a victim, you need someone like this on your side, both to protect you from corporate underhandedness and to ensure that you receive every penny to which you are entitled.

The attorneys at our Law Offices have successfully litigated personal injury cases like these for over 20 years. During this time we have won millions of dollars in settlements for our many Texas clients from most major American insurance companies. The big insurance companies are very well aware of our stellar reputation and often will come to us to settle out of court, rather than face our aggressive and tenacious lawyers in front of a jury at trial. This can be very helpful to you, allowing you to spend considerably less time involved in the complex legal process and to generally receive a settlement payment more rapidly. Consequently, you will be able to return more smoothly to your regular way of life, with no financial stress.

If you or a family member has been injured in an accident with a dump truck or another large commercial vehicle then do contact our Law Offices. We are available 24 hours a day. We are pleased to be able to offer a complimentary consultation and stand by ready to answer all your questions and to discuss the specifics of your case with you.

=============================gtg

No comments yet Categories: Blog

Leave a Reply