Maison Law represents families who lose loved ones in heartbreaking accidents involving Visalia truck and delivery van collisions.
When a reckless truck driver causes a fatal collision, the victim’s family can seek full financial support to deal with immediate difficulties and hardships in the future.
Our wrongful death lawyers offer a free, confidential case consultation to all family members.
Schedule a case review to determine how much support an insurance company should provide to your family after a tragedy.
Do I Need a Lawyer After Losing Someone in a Fatal Truck Accident?
If a loved one is killed in a tragic accident caused by a truck driver’s mistake, families have the legal right to seek financial restitution. Families can seek support through a wrongful death claim filed with the truck driver’s insurance and the trucking company’s insurer. However, company lawyers and insurance adjusters will be trying to blame the victim for an accident and minimize the support they offer to families.
A California Wrongful Death Attorney safeguards the family’s rights and fights back against these unfair tactics. A skilled lawyer makes sure families are awarded all benefits available. A personal injury lawyer can help file a wrongful death claim and protect the family from the tactics insurance companies use. A lawyer also handles the frustrating negotiations with insurance companies while allowing as little disruption to a grieving family as possible.
Visalia Deadly Truck Accident Hazards
Drivers who are out on Visalia roads morning and night know about the constant flow of big rigs on local roads. Routes like Highway 99 and 198 carry loaded-down delivery trucks, tankers, and farm vehicles at all hours. And semi-trucks on smaller roads like Akers Street can take up more than one lane and be slow to stop for a red light. Loaded down delivery trucks can also pose a dangerous risk as employees race through local neighborhoods to make drop-offs.
The weight and size of trucks make them more likely to collide with smaller vehicles. When drivers get careless or reckless behind the wheel the chance of a devastating accident only multiplies.
California’s Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS) reports that in 2024, there were 100 truck accidents involving injuries on Tulare County roads. Those collisions led to at least 7 tragic deaths. According to the data, each year around 11 people lose their lives to truck accidents in and around Visalia.
- Of Tulare County’s 100 serious truck accidents in 2024, at least 10 of the incidents involved an overturned truck. One of those incidents caused a fatality.
- Of Tulare County’s truck accidents documented in 2024, 34 of them happened along Highway 99, leading to at least one death.
The risks are all around Visalia, and local families can get the worst news of all after a truck driver’s mistake. Families will deal with the emotional pain and financial toll after a tragedy. A Visalia truck accident lawyer gathers the evidence to make sure truck drivers and their employers can’t abandon a family at such a terrible time.
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim After a Truck Accident?
California law empowers a spouse or domestic partner, children of the victim, or the grandchildren of the victim to file a wrongful death claim, representing the rest of the family.
In some cases, the parents and siblings of the deceased may also be allowed to file a wrongful death claim to seek a settlement check. A Maison Law attorney can also compassionately represent all family members and file a truck accident wrongful death insurance claim on their behalf.
Truck insurance companies for at-fault drivers have gotten good at finding ways to pin the blame on other motorists. They even resort to this tactic when an innocent victim has been killed, hoping that shifting blame will help them save the company money. Your lawyer can collect powerful evidence that forces auto insurers to do the right thing.
Securing Evidence for a Wrongful Death Car Accident Case
When you are ready to seek justice and financial support from a truck driver or a trucking company, you need to build a strong case. It will need to stand up to an insurance company’s examination.
Insurers and trucking company lawyers can try to twist the facts to make it look like your loved one caused the accident. The commercial truck insurer may also claim that small details found in an insurance policy’s fine print mean they aren’t liable.
Gathering these details can help you force an insurer to accept blame and can also help your family settle the loved one’s estate:
- Collision Report. The responding officer at the scene of the accident will prepare a collision report. This is an official estimation of what the officer finds at the scene and who the officer finds at fault. Families may need to request a copy of an accident report from the Visalia Police or the CHP.
- Coroner’s Report and Death Certificate. A Death Certificate will be important to help with the settling of affairs for a loved one that’s passed on. A coroner’s report may be necessary to prove how the victim died. You can find information on obtaining these documents here.
- Receipts. When relatives meet with an attorney for a free consultation, it’s helpful to bring any receipts from medical treatment and ambulance fees. Bills for emergency response fees should also be included. Close relatives should keep invoices for anything pertaining to the accident and death. That can include funeral and burial costs.
- Paystubs. You’ll need to prove how much income and support have been lost since the death of a beloved family member. Bring the victim’s old pay stubs and W-2s to prove what they have provided to a spouse and children in the past. This affects the support families can expect for the years ahead.
- Photos and Surveillance Video. If you have any photos from the scene of the accident or from the hospital (if the victim didn’t die immediately), include them in your claim. Request any surveillance video that may have captured what exactly happened in the accident. If you hire a Maison Law attorney for a wrongful death case, you can rest assured that video will be identified and requested.
- Witness Statements. Turn over any contact information for witnesses to your attorney. Keep any written statements you receive from witnesses.
If your family later decides to trust the case to a Visalia Wrongful Death Lawyer, all of this evidence should be turned over to the lawyer. The lawyer would start a complete investigation into what happened and collect any details the family was unable to obtain.
Grief Counseling for Family Members Who Have Lost a Loved One in a Truck Accident
After a tragic accident, family members can suffer in silence as they struggle to cope with the loss of a spouse, parent, or sibling.
There are places in Visalia that mourning families can turn to for support and mental health care.
These are just a few of the options available for those in mourning:
- Kaweah Health Hospice Grief Support Services
- GriefShare – Grief Support Groups meet at several Visalia churches each month. The churches include Visalia United Methodist Church, Gateway Church of Visalia, and The Life Church Visalia
- The Dinner Table – A national resource that connects groups of young adults in mourning. Members from age 21 to 45 can meet with others experiencing grief in person or online.
Frequently Asked Questions
Close family members are encouraged to file a wrongful death claim to get help with funeral expenses and leftover medical bills. They must also receive help in replacing the income the deceased can no longer provide for a spouse and children in the future. The emotional trauma close relatives are put through and the guidance that’s been lost in the future should also earn support.
The truck driver will have commercial truck insurance that is in place to help the victims of accidents. The driver’s employer, like a trucking company or packing plant, may also carry insurance for its truck drivers. In some cases, a truck manufacturer could be held liable if a defect in the truck contributed to the accident.
Your family can still afford the protection of a Maison Law attorney. We don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then our fee comes out of the insurance settlement check paid to your family.
Contact a Visalia Fatal Truck Accident Attorney
Contact Maison Law to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with an actual Visalia truck accident lawyer.
We’re going to answer your family’s questions and make sure you are fully aware of every party that should be providing support at such a difficult time.
A truck driver and the company the driver works for could be fully responsible for supporting loved ones now and in the years ahead.
