Over the years, I've noticed that there is a hesitancy among many people to immediately hire an attorney after something bad happens. The reasons vary; For some people, they are afraid they will appear to be "lawsuit happy" if they get a lawyer too fast.  Other people just want to give the trucking company a chance to "do the right thing" before they hire an attorney.  Sadly and understandably, some families just want to get through a funeral before they think about legal action.  These types of reasons are what trucking companies and their insurers are hoping for.

You see, while the victim of an 18-Wheeler accident is dealing with the (often tragic) consequences of a collision with a vehicle that weighs 20 times as much as a car, the trucking company and its insurance company are not waiting.  The trucking company is not burdened by having to plan a funeral, so what it is doing is sending accident investigators and lawyers to the scene to find any way possible to make the collision appear to be unavoidable or even the fault of the victim.

If you survived this type of an accident or you lost your loved one, then you deserve to be compensated. You can sue the trucking company that employed the driver that hit you to be compensated for the medical bills, pain, suffering, lost wages, and even wrongful death. But in order to take care of yourself and your family, you will need to hire a qualified and experienced truck accident attorney IMMEDIATELY for the following reasons:

Evidence Preservation

It is entirely appropriate and often necessary for you to file a truck accident suit immediately in the event of an accident.  The reason is that filing suit is the only way to make sure that important evidence doesn't disappear.  Skid marks on a highway will fade, trucking logs may be changed, and event data recorders and video recordings of trucking accidents may be over-written if the trucking company isn't put on immediate notice by an attorney to preserve all evidence.

You Probably Don't Know The Law

Truck accident laws are much more complex that ordinary traffic laws.  And while much of the trucking industry is Federally regulated, each state has its own laws that deal with the legal system.  For example, do you know how long you have to file the lawsuit?  Well, that depends on what state the collision happened in, and it ALSO depends on whom you are filing suit against.  Did you know that if you have to sue a Department of the State for poor road design, you may have to provide notice in as little as 60 days or your claim is forever barred?   

Did you know that a parent is actually NOT the legal guardian of their child's estate in most of the United States?  If you have minor children and your spouse is killed by an 18-wheeler, you actually cannot settle the claim on behalf of your children in most states.  If you accept a check from a trucking company, your children may actually be required to file a lawsuit against YOU before they turn 20 years old if you do not handle the claim correctly.

Trucking cases are not just big car wreck cases.  They are incredibly complex and expensive to pursue correctly.  Many well-intentioned real estate attorneys and family law attorneys have caused irreparable harm because they thought they could handle an 18-wheeler case for their client.  It is not a matter of dishonesty of the lawyer; it's a matter of competence, and an attorney who does not focus primarily on commercial accident litigation is almost certainly incompetent to handle such a case, no matter how good his intentions are.

You probably do not even know whose fault the collision is.  You may suspect that the 18-wheeler driver who rear-ended your vehicle is at fault, and he is, but what about his employer?  What about the owner of the truck?  What about the manufacturer who made component parts of the 18-wheeler such as the brakes?  What about the company that hired the trucking company to haul a load?  In my practice, all of the above have been found liable, and each one may have its own share of responsibility.  It is VITAL that you hire an attorney immediately so that none of the responsible parties fall through the cracks.

A lawyer may be able to advance funds that your family desperately needs.

In some states, attorneys are allowed to "advance" money  to clients in anticipation of an eventual recovery.  These funds can be used to help replace lost income or to cover the costs of a funeral.  In short, they can help a family survive after it has been torn apart by an 18-wheeler accident.  These funds are essentially a pre-payment to the client of money that the client SHOULD recover in the future for:

• Medical bills: a truck accident can be life-threatening and cause major injuries requiring intensive medical care.
• Lost wages: If you sustained bad injuries that caused you to miss work, your lawyer would negotiate for time-loss benefits.
• Pain and suffering: Injuries come in many varieties.  Some are solely physical, but the most damaging injuries are psychological.  There are some which will heal, but you will endure pain for years to come. A qualified lawyer will find a way of including these costs in the final settlement claim.

Wrap up

Hiring a trucking accident attorney may only take a brief amount of time, and the accident attorney can go to work while you focus on taking care of your family.  But waiting to consult an attorney is never the right move, and waiting may cause as much damage as the 18-wheeler did..