The Kickham Comment - Boston Accident Lawyer Blog
Sorry I haven’t posted here for a while. I’ve been taking some much-deserved time off at the Cape. So, back to work …
Today’s post is all about car-truck crashes, and the tangled web they leave in their aftermath. It’s safe to say that no one ever wants to be involved in any kind of a motor vehicle accident. But what can even be worse than a car accident, is a Massachusetts truck-car accident. Here is why:
A tractor trailer or “big rig” usually weighs 80,000 pounds or more. The average automobile weighs about 3,000 pounds. Now just imagine both of these motor vehicles crashing into each other on the Massachusetts Turnpike, Route 128 or a major highway traveling at 65 or 70 miles per hour – or even on a back road at 30 MPH. What happens can be horrific. The results can include devastating injuries to the brain and spinal cord, and of course, death. It isn’t pretty. More than 100,000 truck-car accidents occur annually. This should come as no surprise to people who drive on our nation’s highways, as these roads are always filled with big rigs. And these big rigs operate with many disadvantages. Due to their sheer size and weight, they can’t stop very quickly, they can’t turn easily and they usually have large blind spots behind them and to the side.
Truck drivers can be held liable for injuries or deaths that are the result of their negligence, and their employers can also be held liable for such negligence. For example, if a trucking company hired an untrained or inexperienced driver, or if they should have known that their driver was somehow no longer qualified to operate their truck, then the trucking company can be held liable. This is true for trucking employers, and the lessees of trucks, which can include supermarket chains, shipping companies, department stores, manufacturers, and other businesses.
Examples of truck driver negligence can include:
• Texting and emailing • Drunk driving (OUI/DUI)
• Speeding • Falling asleep at the wheel • Rear-end collisions • Extended hours on the road • Log book violations
Trucking companies and their commercial liability insurers are typically far more aggressive at defending these types of cases than the insurance companies that insure the personal cars we all drive. For example, it’s not at all unusual for a trucking company to put one of its own investigators at the accident site – even while the victim is still in the hospital, and before any legal action has even started. Why? It’s simple. They want to make sure that you do not receive a penny of insurance money if their truck driver was negligent. They want to “stack the deck” against you.
The moral of this story? Car-truck accidents are very, very complex. Whatever you do, do NOT hire an injury lawyer who has not successfully represented many victims of car-truck accidents. It is important that such injury victims be represented by an experienced Massachusetts truck-car accident law firm. If you are in an accident of any kind with a truck, it’s obvious that the immediate goal is to obtain prompt medical attention. But it is also extremely important that you take steps to preserve as much evidence as possible, to eventually enable your attorney to undertake an immediate investigation of the vehicles involved. Just as important is getting the names and contact information of as many witnesses as possible.
To help victims of car-truck accidents, we have prepared a FREE Injury and Accident Tip Sheet entitled “The Top 10 Tips If You Suffer A Personal Injury In Massachusetts.” It will outline the right steps you need to take if you have been injured in a car-truck accident in Massachusetts, and are unsure of what steps to take. We know most people will find this article extremely helpful. Click here to download this FREE document.
As with car accident cases or car-pedestrian accident cases, it is standard legal practice in truck-car accident cases that there are no legal fees paid upfront to the law firm that represents you. These types of cases are billed on a contingent-fee basis, which is standard in the legal industry. This means that the law firm representing you is not paid any professional legal fees unless the firm successfully recovers financial damages for you at the end of the case — through a jury verdict following a trial, or through a settlement instead of a trial.
In other words, you have nothing to lose in contacting a qualified law firm if you have been involved in a Massachusetts car-truck accident.