Financial Impacts After a Truck Accident in Concord, NC
Your finances can be drained quickly after suffering an accident with a truck. It’s tremendously unfair to think that someone else can shatter your financial and physical well-being and walk away. Some truck carriers are known for fighting accident claims and trying to pay less than the minimum costs. And even if in North Carolina, which has minimum insurance policy requisites for truck drivers, these insurance payments can be insufficient to cover the costs of severe injuries.
A skilled attorney can help you seek compensation for your injuries and the damages or additional losses this accident can cause in your life including:
- Medical and rehabilitation costs as well other health-related expenses
- Lost earnings or wages and future impaired earning capacity
- Pain and suffering including the loss of a loved one
- Vehicle repair or replacement
- Diminished quality of life
- Funeral/burial expenses (wrongful death cases)
- Emotional distress
- Adverse impact on the marital relationship
- Punitive Damages (or exemplary damages) money awarded to the victim to punish or prevent future carelessness by the defendant
Common Truck Driver Negligence In North Carolina Crashes
The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety reports that of 4,102 people died in large truck crashes in 2017. A staggering sixty-eight percent of the deaths were occupants of cars and other passenger vehicles. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the number of fatalities in 2017 involving large trucks increased by 9 percent compared to 2016. Truck driver high speed is considered significant factors in truck accidents. Also, truck accidents can be complicated due to liked or intersecting factors that increase the gravity of the injuries. These interconnected factors include driver negligence, traffic conditions, truck size, truck defects and potentially hazardous cargo that may spill and worsen injuries after an accident.
North Carolina Truck Accident Lawsuit Process
A lawsuit for your truck accident injuries would be based on the legal theory of negligence if the accident occurred due to the carelessness of the truck driver, truck defects, or failure to secure hazardous cargo. An attorney experienced in handling truck accident cases can assist you and collaborate with experts who have a keen understanding of allocating responsibility in crashes.
Identifying the people responsible and pursuing the correct actions is where an experienced truck driver injury attorney can make a difference in the outcome. This is of critical importance because there are time limits known as “statute of limitations” prohibiting a lawsuit after a deadline passes. Timely identification of the actions to be pursued as well as the parties is a key element of a successful outcome. Moreover, percentage Allocation of responsibility is a vast area of analysis for truck accidents. This is an essential part of the process an experienced lawyer is best equipped to navigate with you. For instance, the truck driver may not be the only culprit of the accident.
There are road conditions and other environmental as well as mechanic factors causing the crash. In addition, the truck driver’s employer may also have legal duties and responsibilities to demand that the drivers employed drive safely and take precautions to protect hazardous cargo. When the employer is legally required to institute policies and guidelines to promote safe driving is known as the doctrine of ‘vicarious liability.’ The doctrine of ‘where the employer of the truck driver has duties to incorporate actions for proper precautions and safeguards be implemented as part of the truck driver’s work responsibilities. In North Carolina, the truck driver can be considered an agent or employee and his or her actions are treated the same as if the trucking company or carrier had acted. Most of these actions are known as acts within the scope of employment.
Schedule a free consultation to speak to your Charlotte truck accident injury attorney at (704) 377-3737.