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Every truck accident case is unique and because of that, your case will need to be examined closely by a truck accident lawyer to determine its strength. The main thing that you need to be able to do is prove that there was negligence involved in causing the accident. If there was negligence involved and you suffered injuries and costs associated with those injuries, then you have a good chance at it being a valid claim. However, there are four things that must be present for the claim to be valid that go beyond just negligence and injuries. Let’s go over those in detail below.
Duty of care can be explained as a law that says you must act or drive in a certain way to keep others safe. We are all required to follow local and federal regulations when driving which is what outlines our duty of care. So think of duty of care as all the laws you must abide by when driving. You have a duty to care for others by following those laws and if you breach that duty, then you can get yourself in trouble. Either with law enforcement or with a personal injury claim. This is another reason why it is always best to obey the traffic laws and speed limits, because if you don’t and someone gets injured due to your lack of compliance, then you could get sued by the injured party.
Breach of duty in truck accident cases is when you do not comply with the traffic laws aka duty of care. We established above that you must obey all traffic laws and by not obeying those laws by doing things such as speeding, reckless driving, unsafe lane changes and more, you are breaching your duty of care. The insurance company, police reports and any evidence available will be used to determine if you breach your duty of care. If you haven’t broken any laws and caused an accident, then it’s not as big of a deal because the other party can’t sue you for personal injury. But when you break a law and then cause an accident, that is where the injured persons become eligible to sue you for damages.
Causation means that your breach of duty was a direct cause of the accident. So for example, if you ran a red light(breach of duty) and then t-boned someone in the intersection, that accident was a direct result of your breach of duty and becomes causation. If there was another reason that the accident happened, like being rear ended into the intersection at a red light, that would not be your fault, which means there was no breach of duty and your actions did not directly cause the accident so you’re in the clear. In some situations though, there can be multiple things that play a role in causing the crash and this is where fault can be distributed across multiple parties.
The last piece that every case needs to have for it to be a valid claim is damages. Damages are monetary compensation for the losses and pain you suffered due to the accident. This is broken down into two categories called economic damages and non-economic damages. Economic damages are the bills that you accrue from the accident such as property damages, repairing your vehicle, lost wages from missing work, medical bills, future lost wages and more. Non-economic damages are things that you suffered that do not have a specific price tag on them such as pain and suffering from your injuries, mental anguish, disfigurement or loss of limbs, scarring, loss of mobility and more. Since those things do not have a specific monetary value, they are considered non-economic damages and will be given a value during settlement and added to your economic damages.
If there was an accident, but there were no damages, then the case is not valid. There has to be damages that need to be repaid to the party that was not at fault for you to be able to pursue a personal injury claim against the responsible party or their insurance company.
In some truck accidents, there can be multiple responsible parties. This could be the truck driver for driving too fast, the trucking company for making their drivers work longer than allowed hours, the car next to them making an unsafe lane change and more. If there were multiple parties that played a role in the events that caused the accident and those parties breached their duty of care, then they would also be held liable and would be on the defendant side of the injury claim.
Proving fault is a very important part of any truck accident claim because it determines who will be held liable for payment of the settlement. Whoever was deemed the at-fault driver(or multiple people) will have to pay their share of the settlement based on how much of the accident was considered their fault. For instance, if both drivers were partially at fault and it is determined that both parties are 50% responsible for the accident, then the case would not move forward, because both parties would technically owe the other party the exact same amount. Now if one party is 50% or more at fault, then that party would have to pay that percentage of the total settlement amount to the other party. In the event that you are 100% responsible, then you would have to cover the entire bill that the attorneys decide is a fair amount of compensation for the accident.
The last major piece that needs to be addressed is the time in which you file your claim. There is a thing called the statute of limitations for personal injuries in Colorado that needs to be abided by to be able to pursue your claim. This law gives you up to 3 years from the date of the accident to file your claim. If you wait until after that deadline, then you no longer have the right to sue for compensation so make sure you are timely with filing your lawsuit.
Being in a truck accident is never a fun situation and if you are trying to heal from your injuries while dealing with an accident lawsuit, then it makes your recovery that much harder. Instead, get in touch with our team of exceptional trucking accident lawyers and have us handle the case for you. With our decades of experience handling injury claims, we know how to get the best possible results for you which means maximum compensation coming back to you. We will handle everything from start to finish for you so you can focus on healing while our team works diligently for you to hold the at-fault party responsible for their actions.
Our law firm works on a contingency fee basis, which means you don’t pay anything out of pocket, you only pay us if we win a settlement for you. Our case consultations are always free and you can give us a call anytime to speak with one of our team members about your case. So give us a call today or feel free to stop by our office in Colorado Springs, CO.
We serve clients injured anywhere throughout the state of Colorado, but we focus on residents of these areas: Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, Fountain, Briargate, Monument, Black Forest, Pueblo, Canon City, Larkspur, Security-Widefield, Peyton, Castle Rock, Teller County, El Paso County, Elbert County, Park County, Douglas County and beyond.
Consultations are always free and available 24/7 over the phone.
