A truck accident may be catastrophic, and injured drivers are often left with various traumatic injuries. You deserve justice and compensation, and an attorney can help you take legal action.
Accidents with semi-trailer trucks are unfortunately common occurrences that stem from numerous causes. Traffic violations, fatigued drivers, and malfunctioning truck equipment are some of the more common reasons behind truck accidents. Liability for an accident often falls to the truck driver, although you might also be able to sue the trucker’s employer or other drivers who contributed to the crash. Damages in truck accident lawsuits tend to be significant and might encompass economic losses and non-economic injuries.
If you sustained injuries in a truck accident, our Hattiesburg, MS truck accident attorneys can assist you with a lawsuit for damages. For a free case evaluation, call Howe Law at (844) 876-4357.
How Truck Accidents Might Occur in Hattiesburg, MS
Trucks are incredibly complex pieces of machinery that rely on numerous pieces of equipment to operate safely. Numerous issues, from how the trucker is driving to equipment problems, can lead to severe truck accidents. Determining how your accident happened will help our Hattiesburg, MS truck accident lawyers figure out who should be named in your case and what kind of evidence we need.
Traffic Violations
Traffic violations are common causes of truck accidents. Even a minor traffic violation might lead to a serious accident when a large truck is involved. For example, failing to signal a turn or when the trucker is merging lanes is a severe violation because trucks have enormous blind spots. It is all too easy for several vehicles to be caught in a truck’s blind spot when the trucker turns or merges. Failing to use a signal or give other cars adequate time to get out of the way is a great way to cause a bad accident.
Similarly, speeding is often disregarded as a small violation, often chalked up to the excuse that everybody speeds at least a little. Remember, trucks are extremely large and heavy. A speeding semi-trailer cannot stop on a dime if another vehicle cuts them off, or the truck needs to avoid debris in the road. Often, speeding trucks have no choice but to swerve, and they might strike other vehicles.
Driver Fatigue
Tired drivers behind the wheel are a huge problem in the trucking industry. Since truckers often have to make very long trips on very tight deadlines, they tend to go without sleep for long stretches while driving. As a result, driver fatigue causes many truckers to doze off while driving, and these sleeping truckers often cause severe accidents.
Even though many trucking companies and the industry as a whole have imposed strict regulations about truckers getting enough rest, driver fatigue remains a huge problem. We can check the trucker’s driving records and logs to determine when they last took a rest or break. If the last break or rest period was quite a long time before the accident, we might be able to prove that driver fatigue caused your accident.
Equipment Failures
When pieces of truck equipment malfunction or break down, an accident could occur. For example, many trucks must have an underride bar that prevents smaller vehicles from being wedged under the truck. Since trucks are so high off the ground, becoming stuck under the truck is a serious and deadly risk in an accident. If the underride bar is not equipped or fails to work, someone might become stuck under the truck and suffer extreme injuries.
Other important pieces of equipment connect the large trailer to the truck. Trailer hitches, couplings, and various other equipment keep the trailer connected to the truck throughout the truck’s journey. If this equipment fails or comes undone, the trailer might disconnect from the truck. In such cases, trailers might fall over onto other vehicles and cause severe injuries. Our Hattiesburg, MS truck accident attorneys can help you determine what kind of equipment malfunction might have contributed to your accident.
Liability for a Hattiesburg, MS Truck Accident
When taking legal action for your injuries after a truck accident, numerous people might be involved in the case, and determining whom to sue might be difficult. Our Hattiesburg, MS truck accident lawyers have experience with these kinds of cases and can assist you in finding the appropriate defendants for your lawsuit.
Truck accidents do not happen on their own, and truckers are often the direct cause of accidents. As such, we should consider filing a lawsuit against the trucker in your case. Most causes of truck accidents, including traffic violations, driver fatigue, and even some equipment malfunctions, are within the trucker’s responsibility.
Under a legal doctrine known as respondeat superior, employers (i.e., trucking companies) can be held vicariously liable for the negligence of employees (i.e., truck drivers). The truck driver’s negligence must have occurred within the scope of their employment and in furtherance of their job duties for the trucking company to be vicariously liable. If this legal doctrine does not apply, we might instead investigate the legal theory of negligent hiring to hold the trucking company liable.
Other drivers on the road might also play a role in a truck accident. Truck accidents tend to affect multiple cars, and sometimes those other cars play a role in causing a crash. For example, if another driver cuts off the trucker, causing them to swerve into other cars, that other driver can be held liable.
Potential Damages in Hattiesburg, MS Truck Accidents
Damages in truck accidents are often very high, and our Hattiesburg, MS truck accident lawyers can assist you in your damages calculations. Economic damages in truck accidents may include medical bills, vehicle repair costs, and lost income from being unable to return to work. Economic losses tend to be very costly because they stem from catastrophic injuries. If you need long-term or indefinite medical care, you might also claim the value of anticipated future medical bills.
Non-economic damages are harder to pin down because they relate to subjective experiences rather than actual sums of money. Emotional suffering, physical pain, humiliation, and other negative experiences can be claimed as part of your non-economic damages. Although these experiences do not usually cost plaintiffs any money, they might be worth considerable financial compensation.
Contact Our Hattiesburg, MS Truck Accident Attorneys
Truck accidents can be disastrous to the point that plaintiffs’ lives are forever altered. Our Hattiesburg, MS truck accident lawyers can help you take legal action against those responsible. For a free evaluation of the case, call Howe Law at (844) 876-4357.
