Benefit of Hiring a Truck Accident Attorney in Clearwater

There are a number of important benefits that an experienced attorney can provide to someone involved in a truck accident, beginning with the investigation of evidence. In these types of cases, evidence such as witness statements, photographs, and medical records need to be compiled to ensure that a proper settlement is reached. This often includes sending an investigator out to find out as much as they can and get a statement from the driver who may be at fault.

With this said it is essential to work with somebody who has experience dealing with truck accidents or wrongful death cases because there is so much more evidence to be uncovered in the investigations. Some less-experienced attorneys might take a person’s medical bills and submit them and take whatever is offered for the medical bills. In a wrongful death case, the medical bills are such a small percentage of the damages done to this person and their family. It is therefore very important to find an experienced truck accident attorney in Clearwater, who will take the time to identify all the insurance policies that may possibly apply to the case.

Importance of Experience

Some insights that an experienced lawyer will have that other lesser experienced lawyers may not is how the state and federal regulations and laws apply to truck drivers. There are a number of different laws that truck drivers must abide by in Clearwater that regular drivers do not. For example, truck drivers are limited in the number of hours that they can driver per day and per week. Truck drivers are also required to check in at weigh stations which can make an impact in an injury claim if not successfully done.

There is a great deal of research that goes into every law and regulation passed. Therefore, if the driver did not follow any one of those laws or regulations, an attorney can use the reasons for that law being passed to prove that whatever rule they did not follow caused the injury or death in a trucking accident.

Compiling Evidence

Another step an attorney can take to build a strong accident claim is compile witness statements from anybody who saw the accident on the scene, or who witnessed the driver of the truck logging more hours than they should have. An attorney also get photographs to try to prove how the accident happened and use an accident re-constructionist to demonstrate how the accident caused the impact on the motor vehicle which caused the injury or death of the victim.

Other evidence includes any statements or background on the driver to show whether they failed their driving test, or if they lost their license for any reason, or anything else that would show that their company should not have hired them.

Damages a Person Can Recover

If a person is injured in a truck accident, they can recover economic damages, such as compensation for missed work or medical bills, or non-economic damages, such as for physical pain or suffering.

In the case of a wrongful death claim, a person can recover similar damages such as lost future income. However they can also recover for a loss of consortium with that person, the loss of being with that person because they are gone.

If a person survived the accident and died some time later, there is the ability to recover the pain and suffering just for those short minutes or hours prior to somebody passing away after a trucking accident. Putting a value on the lost experiences of the family of the deceased person is more of an art than a science. However, you can recover for those lost experiences or for that lost time you could have had because the person was wrongfully taken from you.