Victims in the aftermath of a truck accident often need medical treatment for serious injuries, wounds, and disabilities. The cost of this treatment can add up and lead to expensive bills, but if your injury keeps you from work, you might not have the funds to pay it all off. Besides, if someone else caused your injuries, they should have to pay instead of you.
Our lawyers can help you if this is your reality. We can fight to get you compensation for the injuries you faced and hold the other driver, the trucking company, and other parties liable for your injuries, seeking insurance payouts and legal judgments against them.
For your free case review, call Howe Law’s Atlanta, GA truck accident attorneys at (844) 876-4357.
Who to Hold Responsible for a Truck Accident in McDonough, GA
In a car accident, you usually determine who is responsible by figuring out which driver made mistakes behind the wheel or committed traffic violations. If you can prove that a violation or unreasonable decision caused the crash, then a court can order that driver or their insurance to pay damages. With truck accidents, a driver can still be held directly responsible like this, but cases are often more complex.
Truckers
Often, the trucker will be directly at fault for causing a crash through traffic violations or other unsafe driving. For example, if they get behind the wheel drunk or they run a red light, they should be liable for the damages and injuries they cause. However, when they were doing their job and caused an accident, their employer might be held responsible instead.
If they were working for themselves as an independent contractor or for their own transportation company, there would be no employer involved. In that case, their insurance will usually cover your injuries if our truck accident lawyers can prove this trucker was at fault.
Other Drivers
Some truck crashes involve multiple vehicles, with the driver who set off the crash being just another driver in a car, truck, or SUV. In these cases, you and the trucker might both be victims, but the crash and the resulting injuries might still be more serious because a huge 18-wheeler was involved.
In these cases, you would file your insurance claim with the at-fault driver’s policy or file a lawsuit directly against the driver to be paid by their insurance.
Trucking Companies
As mentioned above, trucking companies can face liability for crashes their drivers cause while on duty. If the accident occurred within the scope of their employment as an employee of the trucking company or transportation company, then that company should be the one to pay damages instead of the individual trucker. This often allows you to get damages paid that an individual truck driver might not be able to afford but a trucking company can.
Trucking companies can also face liability for their own problems. As the owner of the truck, the company might be liable for problems with maintenance or repairs. It could also be partially liable for a crash if it negligently hired a dangerous truck driver or failed to fire a driver it knew had a record of crashes, truck weight violations, or speeding tickets.
Auto Manufacturers
Some crashes are caused by problems with the vehicle. If they can be traced back to a manufacturing issue or a design flaw, then the company that produced the auto part might be liable.
Governments Responsible for Roads
Depending on what roadway the crash occurred on, the local, state, or federal government might be responsible for road conditions and upkeep. Known issues that went unrepaired might be the government’s fault, allowing you to potentially sue them for at least part of the damages, subject to various caps on damages from the government.
Getting Medical Bills and Lost Wages from a Truck Accident Claim in McDonough
If you faced any trips to the hospital, time in the hospital, surgeries, X-rays, physical therapy, mental health therapy, or other medical care related to your injuries, then you have damages you can claim. Additionally, if you missed any time at work, then you have lost wages that you should also claim against the at-fault parties, especially if your injuries kept you from working for a prolonged period.
In some cases, you might have some first-party benefits on your car insurance policy that will help cover these costs, but these policies are not usually designed to cover the full damages. Instead, Georgia uses a fault-based system where the at-fault party’s insurance covers the victim’s damages.
These damages and other expenses related to the crash – like payments for vehicle repairs – should be claimed against the trucker and the trucking company’s insurance policies. If they refuse to pay, then we can take the claim to court instead.
Some of these bills and damages are simple to calculate, but others might require somewhat complex calculations.
Getting Pain and Suffering Covered for a McDonough, GA Truck Accident Claim
If you faced injuries, then you also faced the natural consequences of an injury: physical pain, mental suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress, and so on. These damages can be covered as well, even though they bear no financial cost or value.
Our lawyers can help calculate these damages through a few different methods. One uses a multiplier assigned based on the severity of the injury and multiplies it by your other economic damages to estimate a pain and suffering amount. The other uses a per diem value assigned to your pain and multiplies it by the number of days you experienced pain and suffering.
These damages should be paid by the at-fault parties as well, whether through their insurance or out of pocket.
Call Our McDonough, GA Truck Accident Lawyers Today
For your free case assessment, call (844) 876-4357 to speak with the truck accident attorneys from Howe Law.
