CLEAR COMMUNICATION AT EVERY STEP REQUEST A MEETING

Navigating the Legal Maze of 18-Wheeler Accidents: Challenges Representing Clients

March 18, 2024

Our network of highways serves as a vital artery for commerce. These arteries allow 18-wheelers to move a massive amount of goods across Baton Rogue, LA, the region, and even the nation. Although vital, these vehicles pose a unique and significant risk: when accidents involving 18-wheelers occur, there is a much higher probability of severe consequences arising.

If you ever have the unfortunate experience of being in one of these accidents, it’s crucial you are prepared for what lies on the other side of it. We aim to help you to that end with this article. In it, we discuss the unique challenges these cases have, as well as hiring the right 18-wheeler accident lawyer.

Challenges of Representing Clients in 18-Wheeler Accident Cases

If you’ve not had any experience with the aftermath of a car accident, let alone an accident that involves an 18-wheeler, you may not think much of the differences. But there are significant ones! Navigating the wake of a car accident is difficult enough, but a trucking one is astronomically more so. Not only is it likely that you have suffered more intense injury – both in terms of the pain you experience and the cost to recover – but you’re forced to deal with several more layers on the claim front of your experience.

Accidents that involve 18-wheelers tend to involve more parties, including the driver, trucking company, maintenance personnel, and other third parties. As a result, determining liability isn’t quite as clear-cut as it so often is in typical car accidents. On top of this, the insurance policies trucking companies have are generally much higher in value than those in typical car accidents. This comes with a trade-off of sorts: you generally have higher upside but much more sophisticated legal teams defending the company to contend with.

There are also many more regulations at play in an 18-wheeler accident. Federal and state laws and authorities demand compliance in things like:

  • Hours of service and driver breaks;

  • Vehicle maintenance and inspection;

  • Weight limits;

  • Driver qualifications;

  • Drug and alcohol testing;

  • Recordkeeping;

  • Hazmat.

Any violations the trucker or trucking company may be found to be guilty of can seriously impact a case. Successfully navigating these cases simply demands more than a cursory level of knowledge and experience of the relevant laws and legal system.

Hiring an 18-Wheeler Accident Lawyer

You may be thinking, “How can I even find an 18-wheeler accident lawyer near me? Even if I do, how do I know whether they’re the right 18-wheeler accident claims attorney for my case?” These are good and natural things to wonder, and we’ve prepared this section to serve as a guide that steers you in the right direction.

Not all personal injury lawyers are created equal. As well-intentioned as they may be, general practice personal injury attorneys do not have the experience or niche understanding to get the results you need in your 18-wheeler accident claim. When searching for an attorney, be sure to look for direct experience with 18-wheeler accidents. We can’t emphasize this enough, but this is genuinely vital to ensuring the highest chance your case will end in a successful result.

With an attorney’s experience and knowledge comes their ability to conduct thorough and sufficient investigations that can tip the scales in favor of your case. Gathering relevant and robust evidence is essential. A good attorney will know to secure the black box data, review logbooks, and interview key witnesses to make your case rock solid. When exploring whether an attorney is the one you should partner with, don’t hesitate to ask them about these things!

Should the insurance company never break and offer or agree to a fair settlement, you will need someone with experience litigating cases since you’ll be left with essentially no option other than to exercise the only recourse you have left and escalate things legally. When evaluating a potential attorney’s experience, be sure to look out for how often they’ve litigated and, if so, what their success rate was. Hiring an 18-wheeler accident lawyer with a strong background in this context can even contribute to avoiding litigation to begin with, as the insurance company may opt to settle, considering their chances of failure should things escalate to litigation.

If you have recently suffered in an 18-wheeler accident in the Baton Rouge, LA, area and face considerable damages, contact The Law Office of Don R. Williams, LLC. We are here to advocate for you and deliver the compensation you deserve at such a critical time.