Truck Accident Attorney in North Carolina

Unlike common car accidents, trucking accidents can have more devastating consequences. Loaded commercial trucks can weigh as much as 80,000 pounds, and some of them can carry hazardous materials that greatly increase the impact of an accident if it happens.

For passenger vehicles, there's often little to no opportunity to move away from a big truck in time if it's swerving or if the driver is losing control of the truck. Cars can even get trapped underneath the truck when a trucker is not paying attention or following the rules of the road.

In these situations, a North Carolina trucking accident lawyer can help victims to know their legal rights, open a lawsuit to hold other parties accountable, and stay on top of important deadlines and case preparation steps.

Most survivors of truck crashes may not even remember what exactly happened. Due to the size, weight, and possible speed of a big rig, a passenger vehicle occupant may be critically injured in a wreck and may have no memory of the moments leading up to the accident itself. In these cases, it may be necessary to rely on police reports, evidence from the scene of the crash, or eyewitness testimony to piece back together what happened.

Many causes of trucking accidents can be traced back to either trucker behavior or the trucking company's lack of precaution. In order to know for sure, it's smart to hire a law firm with the right resources and investigative skills to determine what applies in your own case.

Some of the most common causes of trucking accidents include:

• Driving under the influence
• A truck driver who has been on the road too long and is distracted, falling asleep, or stressed about making timely deliveries
• Improper loading or unloading of a truck
• Improper storage of dangerous materials
• Inadequate training for truck drivers
• Poor maintenance of the truck
• Failure to take required rest breaks

The evidence needed for these cases can be challenging to collect if you're doing it on your own. When your attorney knows how to get it, however, it's much easier to collect and take this evidence into court.

It is important to get medical attention as soon as possible after a North Carolina trucking accident, as you may not realize the full scope of your injuries until later. It is common for some serious injuries, such as internal organ damage, internal bleeding, or traumatic brain injuries, to not show symptoms until days after the accident. Any significant changes in your medical condition should be reported to your physician as soon as possible.

Common injuries due to a North Carolina trucking accident include:

• Broken bones
• Fractures
• Lacerations
• Internal organ damage
• Head, neck, and shoulder injuries
• Traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs

All of these conditions may be incorporated as part of your trucking accident claim against a responsible party. It is common in trucking cases for the insurance company to argue that your injuries were not caused by the accident or that they are not as severe as you allege. That’s why it is important to work with a North Carolina trucking accident lawyer who can present your case on your behalf.

Your lawyer can also help you total up your current costs from your trucking accident injuries, including the damages from your lost wages from missed time at work, as well as your future expenses for things like rehab and ongoing medical treatments.

You deserve to have someone in your corner who takes your case seriously. The Morgan & Morgan injury team knows how hard it can be to try to recover from an accident caused by a truck driver, and we can help you on your road to recovery.

Trucking companies know they face a high level of liability in a lawsuit caused by one of their drivers, and they will often take quick action to start building their own defense case. You can't afford to let that happen without hiring a committed personal injury lawyer of your own. Thankfully, Morgan & Morgan has experience reconstructing accident scenes and working with experts and specialists to make sure that the right version of the events is told in court documents and the court itself.

Since truckers are driving dangerous vehicles and also must comply with federal regulations on their vehicles and driving times, they have a high level of “duty of care” to others on the road. This is important since the duty of care comes up in the context of holding someone else negligent in a lawsuit. In a personal injury claim in North Carolina, you need to show that someone else caused the accident by breaching their duty of care to you on the road and that their breach led to your injuries.

It can be challenging to prove such without hiring an experienced North Carolina trucking accident lawyer to help you build your case. A knowledgeable personal injury attorney with the right experience in truck accidents can help you gather evidence that supports many aspects of liability, including those situations in which both the driver and their employer may be responsible.

If you can show that the driver or another party was responsible for your injuries, you may be entitled to recover damages that can help you move on with your life. Retaining a knowledgeable personal injury lawyer can put you in the best possible position to recover maximum compensation.

It is also important to note that there may be complex factors involved in a North Carolina trucking accident case in which more than one entity is responsible for your injuries. For example, the go-to tactic in most trucking accident cases is to file a claim against the truck driver, whose behavior may have contributed to causing the accident. However, there may be additional claims against the employer if you can argue that they improperly hired or trained this truck driver or were pushing the truck driver to exceed federal driving limits.

You may also have a claim against a third party that is responsible for manufacturing a defective part of your vehicle that might have worsened the impact of the accident. Likewise, perhaps the road was poorly maintained or a guardrail you struck was defective, and in those claims, you might also have a damage suit against a government entity. In that case, you may need to file a lawsuit much sooner than the traditional North Carolina statute of limitations.

When there are complicating factors involved in resolving your lawsuit, you can't afford to take risks or wait too long to resolve your claim.

Morgan & Morgan’s North Carolina trucking accident lawyers are ready to help you with your claim. With over 35 years of experience and over $25 billion recovered for our clients, we have a proven track record of fighting for the maximum compensation for our clients, who need and deserve that compensation to get their lives back on track.

Contact us today for a free, no-obligation case evaluation to get started.