Accident victims hurt by reckless truck drivers can seek help with their medical expenses and their lost income. When a trucking employee is involved, that support may come from the employee or the driver’s employer.
Maison Law of McKinleyville fights on behalf of injured truck accident victims to make sure they receive everything they need to heal and get back on their feet. We offer a free, no-obligation consultation to all Humboldt County victims. It’s a no-risk way for victims to determine the level of support they may need to recover and how to make sure a trucking company is held fully responsible.
Do I Need a Lawyer When Filing an Accident Claim Against a Trucking Company?
A trucking company or a national corporation should be fully responsible for the employees they send out on the road. If a truck driver causes an accident and injury, you should be able to count on help from the truck driver’s employer.
Unfortunately, a major transportation company or a local business may instead send its lawyers after you, looking to push the responsibility on you. They can resort to other tactics meant to leave you with very little in support or nothing at all.
A McKinleyville truck accident lawyer can help you fight back, protect your case, and demand the most available for your recovery.
A Maison Law attorney provides these benefits and more when you must take on a giant company to get help:
- Your lawyer fully investigates your accident, the driver’s past, and the employer’s safety record
- Gathers all evidence to build a strong case
- Fights back if an insurer tries to blame you for a collision
- Gathers your medical charts and works with your doctors to prevent insurers from downplaying your injuries
- Files your claim and handles the frustrating negotiation process, allowing you to focus on getting better
- Makes sure a settlement offer covers your needs now and in the future
- If a settlement offer is too small, your lawyer rejects it and demands more
- If an insurance company won’t accept full blame for what happened, your lawyer is prepared to file a lawsuit and take the insurer to court
You likely won’t feel like taking on a major trucking company or a giant corporation like Amazon while you are still trying to heal. Maison Law has experience in standing up to big businesses and insurance companies to get our clients the help they need. Our lawyers can often win much more in compensation than you could by taking on a trucking company yourself.
Who Can I Sue After a Truck Accident in Humboldt County?
While dealing with a major injury, it’s the worst time to be jumping through insurance hoops set in place to keep you from earning what’s fair in support. As medical bills pile up in the mailbox, you shouldn’t have to worry about your finances more than getting better.
You also can’t waste a lot of time trying to determine who should be responsible for your pain and financial losses. YOU NEED SUPPORT FOR YOUR INJURIES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
A skilled attorney assists you in identifying those at-fault parties, and in some cases, multiple parties that should be providing help to you:
- Owner/Operator Truck drivers who work for themselves will have commercial truck accident insurance.
- Trucking Companies. A regional trucking company may be supplying drivers and trucks to haul for many different types of businesses. These companies should have insurance for their drivers.
- National Retailers and E-Commerce Companies. These companies and corporations, like the Safeway grocery chain, are responsible for their truck drivers and the mistakes they can make. Amazon should be fully liable for the big rigs they use, as well as the big vans they send into neighborhoods each day.
- Farm Owners and Agricultural Companies. Truck drivers who work for local orchards or packing plants also send a number of semi-trucks out each day. Farms might also have huge tractors and other machinery on narrow roads. Farm owners are responsible for backing their employees with truck accident insurance.
- The manufacturers of trucks might also face serious blame in an accident caused by a defective part or a structural problem. This might provide another source of injury compensation for you and your family.
No matter who is slapped with the blame, victims will need support as soon as possible. Especially while they are falling behind on medical bills and your normal monthly bills, like rent. Victims should allow a skilled McKinleyville Attorney to take over their cases, target those who were at fault, and begin working to get them the compensation they need.
Truck Accident Dangers in McKinleyville
Trucks seem to be everywhere in Northern California. You can see a loaded-down FedEx truck barreling through your neighborhood. You might see a tractor in the lane out by local farms. These giant vehicles can carry more weight and force into a collision. The trucks that sit up high can also leave victims stuck underneath a tractor-trailer.
Distracted truck drivers might cause rear-end collisions in congested areas, like along Central Avenue. They can go too fast for conditions when they aren’t used to the up-and-down of the Redwood Highway.
Careful drivers will give big rigs plenty of room. Sadly, trucks can be so big, they prove hard to avoid. The California Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS) recorded 17 truck accidents involving injury in Humboldt County in 2024.
Those accidents also caused at least two fatalities. Over the past 5 years, Highway 101 through Humboldt County was the scene of 27 serious truck accidents, along with 3 tragic deaths.
These are just a few of the types of risks that local truck drivers and their employers might cause that can lead to accidents:
- Truck drivers who don’t get enough breaks and become fatigued
- Truck drivers who use drugs or alcohol while behind the wheel
- Truck drivers distracted by their cell phones, computers, or communications from their companies
- Going too fast on steep grades on some sections of Highway 101
- Unbalanced loads
- Truck and truck part breakdowns that cause drivers to lose control
- Lack of training and lack of safety testing for drivers
- Lack of proper background checks that allow a driver with a bad record to get hired
These are all reasons that a trucking company or a national retailer might be fully to blame for an accident. But don’t expect these employers to automatically provide support. It’s often up to a skilled lawyer to supply powerful evidence that forces a company to take responsibility for a serious collision.
Finding Support for McKinleyville Truck Accident Victims
A Maison Law legal representative creates a complete list of all of your hardships due to injury.
This should include all of your financial damages, such as your current medical bills and those that may come in the future. But your claim must also include the non-financial losses that almost every victim experiences. That includes the pain victims are left with and the emotional trauma caused by such a frightening incident.
Your attorney demands support for all of your hardships, including a few you may not have known could earn you more:
- The totals on your medical bills and the cost of care expected in the future.
- All costs anticipated if you suffer a permanent physical disability. Lifelong support from an insurance provider.
- Support for your emotional distress, such as depression and anxiety, while you manage a difficult and painful recovery. The loss of enjoyment of your life.
- Support to help you afford care for your PTSD symptoms left over from the moment of impact with a truck.
- Support for the pain you will experience and may continue to experience.
- Loss of enjoyment of life. You may not be able to participate in family activities or take part in your favorite hobbies.
- Lost wages and benefits while you are unable to work.
- Money for vehicle repairs or a new vehicle.
The families of victims who are tragically killed in big rig accidents can also seek financial support from truck drivers and their employers. A wrongful death claim seeks to earn assistance with funeral expenses and also helps the family cope with the loss of the weekly income the deceased will no longer provide.
Contact a McKinleyville Truck Accident Lawyer
Major trucking businesses might provide good coverage for their drivers, but they’ll also have more resources to contest any claim you make. Their lawyers might try to shift the blame to you in an accident or question what a doctor says about how severe your injury is. You’ll want to have a legal representative on your side to even the field.
Take advantage of a free case review with a real lawyer at Maison Law. This evaluation comes with no obligation to you or your family. Find out what your injury is worth and how to make insurance companies pay what’s fair.
And if you need our help to hold trucking companies liable, you don’t have to worry about finding the money to pay a lawyer. We understand that finding that money at such a difficult time will be hard for most people. It’s why we work on a contingency basis. It means we don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then, our fee comes out of the settlement check that an insurance company must write for you.
