Accidents involving semi trucks, buses, or 18-wheelers can be extremely damaging. The sheer size of the vehicle generally ensures that damages will be much higher than in an accident involving only passenger cars. But there are some legal difficulties as well that can make receiving compensation for your accident much more difficult than it would seem. Here are a few of the factors that come into play with truck accident cases.
Commercial Insurance Policies: 18-wheelers and their drivers are insured by commercial insurance policies that are typically valued much higher than policies covering passenger cars usually a minimum of $750,000. Often the trucking companies are self insured or have high deductibles. There is a lot of money involved in these cases and the insurance carriers and trucking companies will do everything they can to keep from paying up.
Ruthless Insurance Adjusters: Commercial insurance companies employ the most aggressive and toughest insurance adjusters in the business. These adjusters have proven their ability time and time again to deny claims just like yours. They will be working around the clock to make sure their company doesn’t pay you.
A Team of Defense Experts Working Against You: Often before the 18-wheeler driver has even left the scene, and while you are helpless in the hospital, a team of defense attorneys and accident recreation specialists are on the scene working to build a case against you. They will be taking witness testimonies, looking for physical evidence, and doing whatever else they can think of to make sure the blame for this accident is pinned on you not their driver.
Legal Gray Areas: Interstate carriers such as trucking companies and bus companies are regulated by the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration. There are numerous regulations that govern their conduct. These regulations overlap with state laws and provide a legal gray area for defense attorneys to get their clients off the hook using technicalities you may have never even heard of. They often help your case, however, you must hire an attorney who knows the regulations and thus can help you.
Unscrupulous Truck Drivers: While most truck drivers are good people who work hard for their living, there are still many of them that cause accidents and do not own up to the responsibility. For the driver of the big rig everything is at stake. His or her entire career likely rests on this case. He or she might be highly motivated to do or say whatever it takes to place the blame on you and not on himself.
As you can see, the odds are against you. Against such an orchestrated effort, you need a team of experts of your own to fight back. The Law Office of George Fusner has years of experience going after truck drivers, trucking companies, and their merciless insurance carriers. He has helped run a trucking company and thus knows what he is talking about.
