Truck Accident Lawyers
Truck Accident Lawyers
Located in western Kentucky along the Ohio River, Owensboro acts as an important center for the trucking industry. Interstate 165 bustles with big rigs traveling to and from Bowling Green with loads consisting of heavy machinery and commercial goods. Truckers also make longer treks to cities such as Evansville, Indiana, and the largest city in the Bluegrass State, Louisville. The economic benefits of a vibrant trucking industry are somewhat offset by one of the fundamental rules of the road.
Truck accidents are a part of working in the industry.
A fully loaded semi-truck can weigh as much as 80,000 pounds, while a four-door sedan barely reaches 4,000 pounds. Passenger vehicles do not have a chance when they come in contact with most types of trucks. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), more than 4,100 drivers and passengers lost their lives in 2019 due to truck accidents. The drivers and passengers of standard motor vehicles represented nearly 70 percent of the fatalities. The rapid growth of Owensboro combined with an increase in the number of trucks on area roads has produced an increase in truck accidents.
If you sustained injuries that resulted from the impact of a truck accident, you should contact one of the truck accident lawyers in Owensboro, KY. The attorney you hire conducts a detailed investigation to determine whether the operator of the truck should assume some, most, or all of the responsibility for causing the collision. Hiring one of the truck accident lawyers in Owensboro, KY from Morgan and Morgan can help when the time comes to file an insurance claim.
Since 1988, the personal injury team at Morgan and Morgan has recovered more than $14 billion in monetary damages for our clients. The $14 billion recovered is all from the monetary damages awarded by judges hearing civil lawsuits. We also have helped clients get insurance claims approved to provide financial assistance in a time of need. Getting involved in a truck accident can be a highly traumatic event. You want to work with a team of personal injury lawyers that not only provides the most effective legal support but also understands why a truck accident is a life-altering event.
Schedule a free case evaluation to devise a strategy to recover your financial losses.
What Causes Most Truck Accidents
One of the first items on the to-do list of our team of truck accident lawyers in Owensboro, KY involves determining the cause of the truck accident. Determining the cause of the truck accident allows your personal injury lawyer to decide whether the operator of the truck committed one or more acts of negligence. Many of the causes of truck accidents are similar to many of the causes of auto collisions.
Distraction
Although distracted driving is a problem for truckers like it is for the drivers of passenger vehicles, the types of distraction are a bit different. Yes, many truck drivers succumb to the temptation to text and drive, as well as work in a meal while operating a big rig. However, truck drivers have other ways to become distracted, and most of the ways concern job responsibilities. Truckers use advanced technology to stay in touch with company logistics personnel, as well as other truckers operating close by. Another type of distraction regards logging in information according to the regulations established by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
Fatigue
Although truck drivers must limit the amount of time they can operate a truck over a 24-hour period, far too many truckers ignore federal safety regulations by driving their rigs long after they should have called it a day. The result is the development of fatigue, which is a frequent cause of truck accidents. Not only can a driver fall asleep behind the wheel, but fatigue also causes truckers to make poor decisions such as speeding
Speeding
Some of the pressure to meet delivery deadlines is applied by the companies that employ drivers. Falling behind on a delivery schedule can motivate a driver to make reckless decisions, such as speeding on highways and secondary roads. Because of their massive weight, trucks are extremely difficult to control at high speeds of travel. Trucks require much more time to stop than the amount of time passenger cars need to stop.
The higher the speed, the more violent the impact of a truck accident.
FAQ
Morgan & Morgan
Why Do I Need a Truck Accident Attorney?
Before you search for one of the best truck accident lawyers in Owensboro, KY, you should understand why hiring one benefits you when the time comes to file an insurance claim and a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages.
Complete a Comprehensive Investigation
The key to getting an insurance claim approved and winning a civil lawsuit involves gathering and organizing enough convincing physical evidence. At Morgan and Morgan, we assign experienced investigators to work closely with our team of personal injury attorneys to collect evidence such as traffic camera footage, photos of the accident scene and the damage done to a client’s motor vehicle, and the copies of medical records that demonstrate the severity of your injuries.
We also spend considerable time talking to witnesses that verify your version of events.
Try to Negotiate a Settlement
A majority of the personal injury cases that we handle do not go to the trial phase of the litigation process. This is because our truck accident lawyers in Owensboro, KY try to negotiate a settlement before moving on to litigate your case inside a courtroom.
Negotiations start when your personal injury attorney from Morgan and Morgan makes an offer to the other party’s lawyer. The other party’s lawyer can either accept, reject, or make a counter offer to the initial offer. Both sides can make several counteroffers in an attempt to find common ground to resolve the case. However, if you fail to reach an agreement, the attorney representing you from Morgan and Morgan will not hesitate to take your case to trial.
Receive a Fair Interpretation of the Comparative Fault Doctrine
Kentucky represents one of several states that apply the pure comparative negligence principle for personal injury cases. The principle assigns fault based on each party’s role in causing the accident. For example, let’s say a truck driver rolled a stop sign and hit your vehicle at the front passenger side door. The impact caused you to sustain whiplash and shoulder injuries. Although it appears the truck driver should assume 100 percent of the blame for causing the accident, the law enforcement agency that responded to the crash determines you committed an act of distracted driving that partially contributed to the cause of the collision.
The judge hearing your case must decide what percentage of the blame you should assume for causing the truck accident. If the judge hearing your civil lawsuit awards you $40,000 in monetary damages but also decides you should assume 25 percent of the fault for causing the truck accident, your net compensation declines to $30,000.
How Much Time Do I Have in Kentucky to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
One of the truck accident lawyers in Owensboro, KY from Morgan and Morgan provides several types of legal support. One of the most important services involves ensuring you file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages before the expiration of the statute of limitations. Most states have established a statute of limitations for personal injury lawsuits between two and four years. However, a few states go as high as six years and as low as one year. Kentucky provides plaintiffs with just one year to file a civil lawsuit for a personal injury case. The clock starts ticking on the filing of a personal injury lawsuit in Kentucky on the day of the truck accident.
If you do not meet the deadline of one year to file a personal injury lawsuit in Kentucky, the attorney representing the other party will notify the court clerk concerning the violation of the statute of limitations. You can expect the court clerk to remove your case from the legal docket, which means you cannot seek compensation to recover your financial losses. Hiring one of the truck accident lawyers in Owensboro, KY from Morgan and Morgan helps you file your civil lawsuit long before the expiration of the statute of limitations.
What Types of Compensation Can I Receive From a Truck Accident Lawsuit?
The primary goal of your truck accident attorney is to help you recover from financial losses. Getting an insurance claim approved covers the costs of medical bills, property damage, and the money lost because you can no longer work. Filing a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages can lead to two additional types of compensation.
Economic Damages
Economic damages cover most of the same types of expenses that an approved insurance claim covers. You receive compensation for medical expenses such as diagnostic tests, treatment programs, and physical therapy sessions. You also have the right to ask for compensation to cover the costs associated with prescription medications and the use of an assistive device such as a wheelchair. Your personal injury attorney might request compensation for estimated future medical expenses as well.
Another type of cost covered by economic damages concerns property damage. You have the right to seek compensation to cover the cost of auto repairs, as well as replace any damaged consumer goods such as a tablet or an iPhone. If the truck accident caused you to miss work, your personal injury lawyer calculates a reasonable value for lost wages.
Non-Economic Damages
Here is where the compensation awarded for a civil lawsuit differs from the compensation approved by an insurance company. Non-economic damages do not come with a price tag, which means your personal injury attorney calculates a fair value for compensation. The types of non-economic damages include pain and suffering, as well as the loss of consortium. As a victim of a truck accident, you might develop negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, and depression.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages do not directly compensate you for economic losses. Instead, the judge hearing your case awards punitive damages based on the act or acts of negligence committed by the defendant. Punitive damages punish the defendant, as well as deter the defendant from committing the same type of negligent acts in the future. This type of monetary damages also lets other truck drivers know about the ramifications of causing a truck accident.
Act With a Sense of Urgency
After you receive medical care for your injuries, contact one of the truck accident lawyers in Owensboro, KY at Morgan and Morgan to determine how to proceed with your case. We offer a free case evaluation to help you learn more about the litigation process.