The injuries to victims of accidents involving trucks are almost always severe due to the weight and sheer size of the truck.
Imagine an 18 wheeler bearing down on a small vehicle and smashing into it due to losing control. The force and violence are enough to make you shudder at the thought.
Tractor-trailers or 18 wheeler trucks and semi-trucks crash and injure or kill a person every 15 minutes in the U.S.
About 500,000 trucking accidents are estimated to take place annually
Those are truly shocking statistics.
Something needs to be done to reduce this.
The advent of self-driving trucks and vehicles is being touted as the solution to the problem.
Manufacturers claim that self-driven trucks will be much safer than trucks driven by humans.
Improved safety remains to be seen, and the regulations around self-driven vehicles need to be implemented as soon as possible to protect the community.
Attorney Guss is an experienced, super-specialized personal injury outfit if you’ve been involved in a truck accident.
Five Good Reasons You Need To Appoint A Truck Accident Personal Injury Lawyer
1. You Need to Concentrate on Rehabilitation From Your Injuries
Chances are that your injuries are severe, debilitating and painful.
You do not need the added stress of dealing with the legal implications of the accident.
Once you appoint an attorney, you can concentrate on healing, leaving the attorney to handle the stress of legalities.
This being said, it will be vital for you to work with and alongside your lawyer.
You will be asked to provide some of the evidence that is required. When required, provide the information as quickly as possible to keep the process moving along.
2. Don’t Attend a Gun Fight With a Pocket Knife!
If you don’t appoint a lawyer, you will be wading into an arena for which you are under-skilled and have no experience.
When you appoint the right lawyer, you suddenly have the right weapons at the gunfight. As a result, you significantly level the playing field.
Your attorney should be well equipped to deal with insurance company negotiations, assess medical bills, and cross-examine expert medical witnesses. If you are looking for California trucking insurance quotes, SocalTruck Insurance can help you with this matter.
They will also take care of all of the legal nitty-gritty around the process and serving of documents
Remember that insurance companies try to minimize their losses by prioritizing their bottom line.
That means paying you as little as they can get away with.
This adversarial arena is tricky, and you would be far better off with a skilled truck accident lawyer in your corner to protect your interests.
3. Lawyers Are Good Negotiators
Once you appoint a law firm, they will deal with the insurance company, ensuring that all statements about the accident cannot be used to reduce your claim.
Settlement negotiations require skill and experience. Your attorney will have the upper hand over you in this regard.
Remember that all insurance companies have a single goal in negotiations. They want to pay the least amount possible to protect their bottom line. Therefore, they are not representing your best interests even when you are their client.
Since 96% of personal injury cases are settled out of court, the chances are you will need a great negotiator to secure you a fair settlement. But, again, your attorney will be able to do this for you.
After an accident, one of the golden rules is to never communicate personally with any insurance company. Instead, you should simply refer them to your lawyer and say nothing more.
Whatever you do, don’t sign any settlement offers made to you without first consulting with a law firm.
Just don’t!
4. An Attorney Will Make Sure You Secure an Adequate Award or Settlement
Law firms that deal with settlement negotiations and injury awards spend a lot of time amassing experience.
What may appear to you to be a decent settlement or award amount might be rejected out of hand by your lawyer as wholly inadequate.
It is known that when an injured person is unrepresented, they are treated much less seriously by the insurance company.
There are many sad examples of the extremely low insurance company offers being accepted by unrepresented individuals due to a lack of knowledge and experience. Don’t be one of those people.
Insurance companies would not dare make ridiculous low-ball offers where a lawyer is involved.
Your lawyer has a better framework of comparison than you do.
You will likely be dissuaded from signing settlement offers that look good to you but are a lot less than your actual entitlement.
Your attorney investigates all elements of the accident and identifies all potential defendants, thereby maximizing potential payouts.
Law firms consider all types of damages, including economic and non-economic damages. This could significantly increase your potential claim.
Discuss costs with your lawyer. You are entitled to ask questions to satisfy yourself that you will be in a better financial position by appointing them. Even after their fees and costs have been deducted from any award made.
5. The Beauty of Contingency Fees
Most personal injury law firms will be prepared to work for you on a contingency basis.
Costs are incurred if your claim is successful. If they lose, you owe them nothing.
So if you win, you pay.
A good lawyer will secure you an award significantly higher than you could have achieved by self-representing. Even after paying the legal costs, you will have more in your pocket.
When you have an initial consultation with the law firm, discuss their fees and ask them to explain how contingency fees work. In addition, the firm should be one hundred recent transparent regarding fee disclosures.
This is not the time to be penny wise and pound foolish. You need to appoint experienced and highly specialized lawyers to win the maximum award for you. You are not assuming the risks due to the contingency arrangement. Yet you do reap the additional reward.
Summary
Truck accident personal injury claims are complex and highly specialized.
It is a no-brainer that it is better to appoint a professional than try to take on such a mammoth task by doing it yourself.
