Truck Accidents

Tractor-trailer and other commercial truck accidents are a significant source of brain injury and spinal cord injuries. This is because these extremely large vehicles (up to 80,000 pounds) nearly always overpower the smaller cars, SUVs, and motorcycles on the road in any collision. Drivers and passengers of average family-sized vehicles are vulnerable to severe injury or death if they’re involved in a semi-truck collision.

You may need a great deal more financial support than the average insurance payout assigned to such accidents. If that is the case, contacting an experienced truck accident lawyer may be your best and possibly only way to access the full range of resources you’re entitled to, and time is of the essence.

If you or a loved one need the counsel of a truck accident attorney, call us at the Brain Injury Law Center as soon as you can at (757) 244-7000. We are ready to answer your questions and perhaps get to work right away on your behalf.

What Are Common Causes of Catastrophic Truck Accidents?

Just as with personal passenger vehicles, accidents with semi-trucks and commercial rigs are bound to happen. However, there are some unique safety concerns with large trucks and vehicles that compact cars simply do not have.

For example, semis are often carrying extremely heavy or dangerous cargo such as logs, machinery, construction materials, or even cargo that is flammable/explosive, poisonous, or radioactive. In a high-impact collision, such cargo can cause an incredible amount of damage.

Even an empty semi-truck trailer is dangerous. It’s easily sent swaying by a gust of wind, and it can be quite difficult to control. In addition, there are usually multiple defendants, insurance companies, and highway safety agencies to deal with after a tractor-trailer or other truck accidents.

Here is a general overview of the most common causes of truck accidents that can lead to cataclysmic injuries:

• Driving under the influence (DUI): A driver who is under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a dangerous operator. The trucking industry has known issues with drivers taking stimulants in order to stay awake on long hauls, and such overexertion can lead to accidents on the road.
• Truck maintenance failures: Poor or no upkeep of tires, lights, and brakes are a hazard. So are instances of missing safety equipment. Each can occur when the truck is owned or operated by a company more concerned with cost than they are with safety.
• Driver errors: These would include mistakes like failing to account for the large “blind spot” of a commercial truck. Also, an inability to handle an instance of “jackknifing” (when the truck’s trailer moves toward the truck’s cab) or “fishtailing” (the trailer sways back and forth).
• Unsafe management: A truck driver’s reluctance to slow down during inclement weather (rain, fog, snow), or to pull over when dangerously tired, may be due to bad management. If the owners of the trucks or cargo enforce unreasonable demands of drivers, they could be found partially liable for the accidents such policies cause. An experienced truck crash lawyer would help identify all the responsible parties when representing your case.
• Driver recklessness: Mistakes that lead to accidents may be due to lack of proper training, or insistence from management to prioritize speed over safety. But it’s also possible that truck operators are at fault for aggressive forms of driving, like dangerous lane changes, or a general disregard for the smaller vehicles on the road.
• Packing/warehouse issues: If a tractor-trailer or semi-truck is sent out with an improperly balanced load of cargo, or an excessive load of goods, the most adept driver may not be able to counteract the consequences. This is why companies should have policies and fail-safes in place for known hazards like a too-heavy vehicle. If they do not, a practiced semi-truck accident lawyer may be able to prove it in a legal setting.

While accidents will inevitably happen on the road, so many could be prevented with proper maintenance, training, and safety protocols. Those we represent are further traumatized when it’s revealed that their injuries, or the death of their loved one, happened because someone involved in the commercial trucking industry was being careless.‍

We at the Brain Injury Law Center are unafraid to aggressively pursue justice in truck accidents. We work not only for the restitution and support our clients need and deserve, but also in the interest of seeing the industry reformed. Better practices would mean fewer injuries, and at the end of the day, our goal is helping people by any means available.

Settlements and Support: How to Achieve a Fair Outcome for the Injured

At the Brain Injury Law Center, the individuals who have been impacted by tractor-trailer or other commercial truck accidents receive the very best knowledgeable and experienced legal representation. Reaching a settlement on your behalf could mean relieving you of financial worry as you pursue physical healing, or provide for the future of your family after a wrongful death.‍

A settlement or verdict in your favor after a truck accident could mean coverage for:

• Medical costs: For chronic injuries in particular, the cost of care can be astronomical. In cases of traumatic brain injury, loss of limb(s), spinal cord injuries, paralysis, or permanent disability or disfigurement, the symptoms are life-changing and long-lasting. This is why comprehensive support is required.
• Loss of wages, benefits, and future income: This could include days missed from work, sick or vacation time used up, or lost employment or advancement opportunities. Lost benefits like health insurance or pensions, or the loss of future income that can no longer be earned due to injury or death, are also potential claims that could be made.
• Pain and suffering: This is a difficult category to account for with numbers, but for that reason it’s all the more important to represent in a legal setting. This includes physical pain as well as psychological anguish due to emotions like panic, anger, and grief.
• Punitive damages: Punitive damages are levied against wrongdoers to penalize them financially. They are separate from the damages that are owed for your suffering and injuries.Those punishment amounts may be awarded to you with a judge’s discretion.
• Wrongful death damages: After a fatal truck accident, lawyers can only recover so much when seeking damages, because there is no monetary equivalent to the value of a human life. However, legally we outline certain costs and losses, such as burial and funeral expenses, loss of consortium (the bond between married couples), and when appropriate, the loss of a parent’s guidance or a child’s promise.

The complexity and severity of truck accident injuries merit the attention of highly skilled attorneys. Truck accident lawyers need a comprehensive knowledge of medicine, truck and highway safety regulations, insurance issues, and the physics of road collisions to successfully argue for their clients.

The Brain Injury Law Center serves as an intersection for all of these concerns. We pride ourselves in being one of the most respected law firms in the nation when it comes to brain and spinal cord injuries resulting from trailer-truck accidents. Reach out to us at (757) 244-7000 with the details of your situation today, and let us help you with directions for moving forward.

The Brain Injury Law Center serves as an intersection of knowledge regarding medicine, truck and highway safety regulations, insurance issues, and the physics of road collisions. Reach us at (757) 244-7000.

Successful Verdicts and Settlements by the Brain Injury Law Center

The Brain Injury Law Center has an extensive history of winning case verdicts and settlements for those we represent.

Specific recovery and damage amounts from previous cases include:

• A jury reached a verdict of more than $10.22 million in a case brought against Werner Transportation on behalf of a woman who suffered a mild traumatic brain injury in a crash. This was believed to be the largest-ever personal injury verdict in the region.
• In an Oklahoma case, a trucking company paid $3.67 million to a woman who suffered a mild traumatic brain injury in a highway collision.
• A contracting company paid $2.5 million to a woman with mild traumatic brain injury.
• A jury awarded a verdict of $1.6 million in a case brought against trucking company CRST Inc. and its driver. The suit was filed on behalf of a mother who suffered a mild traumatic brain injury and severe post-traumatic stress disorder from the crash.
• A low-speed collision with a tractor-trailer was enough to inflict a mild traumatic brain injury on a woman who received a $1.1 million damages award.

There is no average truck accident settlement, because each successful case is judged on its own facts, and each client is awarded what their unique situation requires. We at the Brain Injury Law Center do everything in our power to explore and advocate for every available resource.

Brain Injury Law Center: Reviews and Testimonials

Here are the experiences of those we’ve worked with and served in their own words:

Tony L.

About 10 years ago, I asked Stephen Smith to help me in a case. A young 22 year old woman had been hit by a semi-truck and suffered a serious brain injury. I needed someone to help me with that part of the case so I chose Mr. Smith. It was the best decision I could make. With his expertise, we settled the case for a substantial amount of money that will provide care and comfort for our client for the rest of her life. Since then, we have worked on other cases and we achieved verdicts and settlements of more than $8 million. I consider Stephen a personal friend on whom I can rely completely.

Britta A.

The Cain Law Office co-counseled with the Brain Injury Law Center on a mild TBI tractor trailer crash. We took the case to trial and got 6-7 times more than the last offer by the insurance company. Stephen Smith is an expert on trying brain injury cases and obtained a fabulous result for our client. We are using him again on a companion case as well. We highly recommend Mr. Smith and his firm.

Kevin M.

I have had the pleasure of working alongside Stephen Smith, David Holt, and Stewart Gill at the Brain Injury Law Center in Hampton, Virginia, for several years now on traumatic brain injury cases. These guys are a pleasure to work with, and do a very nice job in trial for their clients. They are true trial lawyers who love to fight for their clients.