We represent Visalia truck accident victims who may need help paying their hospital bills and making up the important paychecks they’ve lost while down with an injury. Careless truck drivers and the companies that put them on Visalia highways should cover every hardship the victim faces.
You can contact Maison Law of Visalia for a free case consultation to talk over your options and how to get complete compensation as quickly as possible. This no-risk, informational meeting comes with no obligation and is an easy way to figure out what your injury may be worth.
Deciding If You Need a Lawyer for Your Truck Accident Case
If a truck accident only causes very minor injuries or just leaves behind a crumpled vehicle, you may get fair results by filing a claim on your own. But with the size and weight of the trucks that travel local roads, victims in collisions often suffer much more severe injuries.
If you come away with a serious injury, and you must seek support from a truck driver and a trucking company, a lawyer may be a necessary safeguard for your case. With something like a bone fracture, a neck or back injury, or a head injury, the medical bills will surge, leaving insurers looking for an escape plan. They might try to blame you for the accident or attempt to convince you that your injuries are not that bad.
A skilled Visalia truck accident attorney can turn the tables on unhelpful insurers. Your lawyer would fully investigate what happened, collecting physical evidence to fix the blame on the right driver and business. Medical evidence collected from doctors would show how badly you were hurt and how long you’ll require support.
Your lawyer then demands the maximum in compensation for you. You always have the right to file claims on your own, but an experienced attorney can often secure thousands of dollars more for you and your family.
Getting Answers in a Free Consultation with a Real Visalia Truck Accident Attorney
An accident caused by a delivery driver or a driver in a semi truck can be confusing. You might wonder if the driver’s commercial truck insurance will cover your damages, and if a delivery company or a Tulare County agricultural company should be helping.
We offer a free, confidential review with no obligation. It’s a quick way to determine who should cover your bills and how to hold them fully accountable.
The Support Victims Should Demand After a Serious Truck Accident
Truck accident victims can face much more serious injuries than victims in a normal car vs. car collision. They should be covered for the best medical possible and be able to count on support for as long as recovery takes.
A skilled attorney creates a complete list of the client’s damages, making sure that commercial truck insurance companies can’t ignore any hardships caused by a reckless accident.
Maison Law would demand support for economic and non-economic damages, and for a few factors, victims may not realize can earn additional compensation.
- All current hospital expenses and those expected in the future.
- All surgeons’ fees.
- All physical therapy costs.
- The lifelong expenses associated with a permanent disability.
- Compensation for the physical pain suffered and perhaps chronic pain for a lifetime.
- Compensation for emotional trauma caused by a frightening truck collision.
- Support for PTSD symptoms for victims who constantly flash back to the moment of impact in their minds.
- Travel costs incurred while injured patients must attend doctors’ appointments and therapist sessions, and journey to consult with out-of-area specialists.
- Support for the anxiety and depression that may arise during a long, difficult recovery.
- Compensation for the loss of enjoyment of life due to an injury.
- The costs of repairing a damaged vehicle or replacing it.
- All income and benefits lost at work while the patient is unable to perform job duties.
The Added Dangers in Visalia Truck Accidents
Visalia is a crossroads for many different businesses and many daily activities. Produce trucks, tanker trucks, brown delivery vans, and other trucks are encountered while residents head to work or school or back home.
Big rigs can be found on the busiest highways and the narrowest streets, and any accidents they are involved in can lead to more devastating consequences.
The weight that blue delivery vans and produce trucks carry will lead to more powerful impacts. The extra tonnage is likely to cause much more harm to people inside cars and SUVS. Victims on motorcycles, on foot, and on bicycles will face extreme danger.
Truck drivers who carelessly allow their speeds to build on highways like SR99 and 198 only increase the danger for other motorists. They’ll have less time to react to traffic slowdowns or red lights and a harder time braking with the weight that’s behind them. Impacts become even more damaging.
The shape of big rigs coming from packing plants and local factories can also lead to higher risks. Victims in cars and SUVs can end up in need of rescue from crushed vehicles and even extraction from under tractor-trailers. The same risk exists with tractors and harvesting equipment that are sometimes on the roads around Tulare County orchards, ranches, and farms.
Figuring Out Who Is Liable for Truck Accidents in Visalia
Visalia is home to many retail stores, manufacturing plants, and agricultural sites. A truck driver who causes an accident could be working for any business in the area. That includes delivery drivers working for corporations like Amazon and FedEx.
Victims will have to determine who they can seek compensation from. Fortunately, a Maison Law truck accident lawyer can help them with this task. In some cases, our lawyers could find that more than one party should be turning over support for victims. Multiple injury claims would be filed against multiple insurers to the benefit of the victim.
These and other parties could be financially responsible for a serious truck accident:
- The truck driver’s insurance: Drivers may be on the road working for themselves. They’ll have to have commercial truck insurance. But a one-person operation may not have as big an insurance policy as drivers working for companies or corporations.
- Trucking companies: A trucking company may employ hundreds of drivers who haul many different payloads. These trucking companies would have insurance for when their drivers caused accidents. Companies would also be liable for any maintenance on trucks that was neglected, which might cause an accident, such as worn-out brakes or tires.
- Other businesses: Grocery store, restaurant, and gas station chains have supply trucks arriving each day from distribution centers. These companies and businesses would have insurance for their employees on the roads. Delivery companies like UPS would also have to insure their drivers in vans.
- Farms and agricultural companies: The Central Valley is home to many farms. Farm owners or agribusinesses send out produce and livestock trucks. Their goods can be shipped out of packing and canning plants. The truck drivers would usually be backed by the business’s commercial liability insurance.
- Truck manufacturers. The makers of trucks and delivery vehicles could also face liability if a part on a truck failed and caused a collision. A design flaw that should have prompted the recall of an unsafe truck could also leave a manufacturer liable.
Companies and corporations may maintain insurance policies with higher limits for you to draw from. Unfortunately, these major businesses and chains can also afford teams of lawyers to dispute every fact in your accident and in your medical diagnosis.
It’s why having an attorney to fight back on your behalf is a necessary protection when you have a potential high-value case. It’s the best safeguard when your future recovery and rebuilding of your life depend on receiving a full settlement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my family ask for support if a loved one is claimed in a tragic truck accident?
The families of victims who are tragically killed in accidents are empowered to 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 income the deceased can no longer provide. The family’s emotional trauma and lost guidance and love the victim would have provided in the future must also be part of any settlement.
How long do I have to file a truck accident injury claim?
California places a statute of limitations on truck accident claims of two years. Victims may have years to file, but acting quickly is in their best interest. Waiting to turn your case over to a skilled lawyer can mean evidence gets lost, witnesses become harder to track down, and surveillance video gets erased. You should take action sooner rather than later, before important evidence disappears.
What if I can’t afford to pay a truck accident lawyer?
Victims of a scary truck accident should focus on healing and not on how they’ll get a lawyer paid. Our lawyers don’t accept any payment unless we win your case for you. Then our fee comes out of the settlement money that a truck accident insurance company is forced to provide.
Contact a Visalia Truck Accident Attorney
If you suffered a serious injury, and a careless truck driver caused your accident, it’s a good idea to take advantage of a free case review. Contact us to set up a meeting with a real lawyer to go over your options.
You can also contact us if you have already started the injury claims process and suddenly realize a truck accident insurer isn’t taking your hardships seriously, or is trying to blame you for what happened.
We are ready to answer questions for any injured Kern County accident victim in a free, no-obligation case consultation. If you don’t end up needing our help to earn justice, we can still send you in the right direction for winning a fair settlement on your own.
Additional Resources:
Accidents Involving Amazon Vans
