3 major differences between truck accident attorneys and car accident attorneys

Are you or your loved one a victim of a devastating truck accident? If yes, then you or your loved one might have been undergoing a lot of pain as well as a serious financial crisis. By now you might have already started searching for the best personal injury lawyer in New York to learn about your legal options to get fair compensation for all the losses. 

Of course, some of the lawyers that you’ve visited assured you that they can handle your case successfully, as they have recently succeeded in a lot of car accidents. On average, people might agree to give their truck accident cases to car accident attorneys. After all, a truck is the bigger version of a car. This is where most of us fail. 

When it comes to truck accidents, they are different from typical car accidents in various ways. No doubt a car accident lawyer in Manhattan can handle truck accident cases, but she/he won’t be familiar with the complexities involved in making a winning strategy. As a result, they might miss out on some important points in your case, which eventually affect your legal case. Therefore, you should always choose a truck accident lawyer if you are involved in a truck accident case.

Let’s first understand the major differences between truck accident lawyers and car accident lawyers.

Car accident cases are different from truck accident cases in a variety of ways, such as:

The causes of accidents – As per the recent study, from the failure of truck lighting, tires and brakes to distracted drivers, these are some of the major reasons for truck accidents. On the other hand, car accidents mostly occur due to over speeding, drink and drive, lack of safety, and jumping red lights.

The complexity of the accident – Typically, a commercial truck weighs around 80,000 pounds, which can create incredible force during a collision. Also, truck accidents usually involve multiple vehicles and result in extremely serious injuries and even death. Hence, the damages in truck accidents are much higher as compared to car accidents. Here are some of the ways why crashes by large trucks are more complicated:

• More evidence 
• More potential factors that caused crashes
• More medical records proof and doctors and heavy medical bills

Considering the complexity of truck accidents, it is recommended to hire an experienced truck accident attorney to handle your traumatic truck accident case. 

By now, you must be familiar how truck accidents differ from typical car collisions. It’s time to understand further the differences between truck accident lawyers and car accident lawyers. 

Truck accident attorney Vs car accident attorney 

Federal law & commercial regulations govern truck drivers and trucking companies – Truck drivers & trucking companies have to comply with state traffic laws as well as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations – FMCSRs. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations are not only complex but also numerous and confusing, and only an experienced trucking attorney is familiar with these regulations. Apart from this, a truck accident lawyer can properly interpret these regulations to the courts, which is crucial in evaluating any truck accident cases. 

Truck crashes usually result in more serious injuries – Typically, truck accidents cause more serious injuries as compared to car crashes. This is because a truck is a combination of tractor and trailer. A normal car weighs under 5,000 pounds. On the other hand, the weight of a truck is 80,000 pounds when loaded. By considering the physics equation:

Force = Mass times acceleration

This simply means that the forces involved when a truck collides with a car are incredibly greater. As a result, these forces cause greater injuries, which means more medical bills, more time away from the work and more emotional stress for the victim as well as his family. Since the damages are more, more coverage is required. An experienced truck knows the drill on how to obtain the required coverage.

Fighting a case against big insurance companies is not easy – Most commercial truck drivers have insurance policies that are worth millions of dollars. These amounts are immensely greater than those provided to passenger vehicles. This means the insurance claims are supervised by experienced adjusters who know how to navigate their way to blame the entire accident on the injured person. In such cases, claim denials, underpaid claims or low settlement are more common. Well, you don’t have to settle for anything less than what you deserve. By working with an experienced truck attorney, you can prove that apart from the driver’s negligence, the truck manufacturer, truck maintenance and lack of driver training are responsible for a devastating truck accident. 

The bottom line 

If you or your loved one have been a victim of a truck accident and want to claim for the required coverage, then it is crucial to work with an experienced truck accident lawyer. This is because a truck accident lawyer who has handled a number of cases knows all the tactics of big insurance companies and can successfully represent it to the court.

It is no wonder most parents are terrified of losing their children to drowning since one-fifth of the victims of the thousands of annual drownings in this country are children. If your child has nearly drowned in your neighbor’s swimming pool, you doubtless want to file a lawsuit — not only to receive some measure of compensation, but because of an urgent desire to sound the alert for other parents about the dangers of inadequately supervised pools.

Not “Can I Sue?” but “Should I Sue?”

Our courts allow you to sue for almost anything, but to file and win a personal injury lawsuit you need a competent attorney at your side and no competent attorney will take on an unwinnable case. This is why it is essential to consult with a well-respected drowning accident attorney to find out whether your case is viable. Lawsuits are time-consuming, emotionally wearing, and costly, so it is foolish to pursue one unless it is likely to achieve the desired results.

All Property Owners Are Responsible for Keeping Their Premises Safe

Your neighbors, like all property owners, have a responsibility to keep their premises safe for others. This responsibility is known as “premises liability” and requires, among other things, that they repair broken stairs, warn of slippery surfaces, remove obstacles, and make sure their swimming pool is well-maintained and supervised. Although specific statutes differ from one state to another, in most instances pools must be fenced in and locked.

How Premises Liability Is Proved

It is important to understand that in order to prove your neighbor’s negligence, your attorney has to be able to show that:

• Your neighbor had a duty of care
• Your neighbor breached that duty of care
• Your neighbor’s breach caused your child’s injury
• Your child sustained actual injury

Negligent Supervision

If your child almost drowned in your neighbor’s pool due to negligent supervision, you may have evidence strong enough to win a lawsuit. Nonetheless, because each set of circumstances is unique, only a first-rate premises liability attorney will be able to assess the particulars of your case. Much will depend on whether you were present at the poolside, tasked with watching your own child, or whether your neighbor was in charge at the time of the accident.

If your neighbor invited your child to her home without you, however, even if she did not intend for your child to go swimming, it was her responsibility to protect your child from the foreseeable danger of seeking out her pool, or accidentally falling into it, and to prevent such an occurrence.

Even if your child wandered over to her home and was tempted by the “attractive nuisance” of the swimming pool — perhaps enhanced by a colorful floating toy or a water slide — your neighbor is responsible for your child’s (or any child’s) safety while he or she is on the property.

Nonetheless, other factors, such as the age of your child, may affect a court’s judgment since a young teenager is expected to understand the concept of risk while a toddler is not. Also, an older child is expected to have greater control of his/her own movements. While it may be reasonable to leave two adolescents who know how to swim in a pool unattended for a few minutes, the same behavior is never acceptable when 6-year-olds are involved.

How badly was your child injured?

There is a broad spectrum of injuries, short of wrongful death by drowning, that may be incurred at a neighbor’s swimming pool — ranging from scraping a foot on a jagged surface to suffering traumatic brain injury (TBI) and including everything in-between. Only an experienced drowning accident attorney will be able to weigh the likelihood of your winning a premises liability lawsuit in your particular case.

What will damages provide if you win your case?

Economic and non-economic compensation will not undo whatever damage has occurred, but money provided will pay for medical treatment, rehabilitation, psychological counseling, ongoing care for a permanent disability, and some measure of justice for pain and suffering of loss of enjoyment of life. If your neighbor’s reckless behavior was especially egregious, it is possible that the court will also award you punitive damages.

You Need an Accomplished Attorney to Ask and Answer All the Right questions

There are numerous questions to be answered, such as: Did your child have a close call but begin playing happily within the hour? Did your child suffer minimal brain damage from lack of oxygen? Did your child develop post-traumatic stress as a result of the incident? Was your neighbor the person who saved your child’s life? Did you make it abundantly clear to your neighbor that you were leaving the child in his care? Did your child come away from the accident with a long-term (though not near-fatal) injury, like a broken bone?

Beyond the complexity of all the legal questions, you have to ask yourself the most basic question of all: Who is the best swimming pool accident attorney to consult?

Attorney Bio Bruce H. Nagel is widely recognized as one of the premier trial attorneys in the country having been named by the National Law Journal as one of America’s Top 50 Elite Plaintiff’s Attorneys. He specializes in complex litigation including serious personal injury, class actions, medical malpractice, birth injuries, transportation accidents, and business disputes and has obtained over $1 billion in settlements and verdicts for his clients. Many of his high profile cases have been featured on Nightline, Good Morning America, Today Show, Inside Edition and in print media throughout the world. The national legal correspondent for a major network called Bruce “a well-known New Jersey lawyer with an excellent reputation for creative litigation.”