Truck accident cases often involve serious injury. If you have been in a truck accident, you may be suffering from severe injuries that prevent you from working and enjoying life. If the injuries are severe enough, you may not be able to go back to work and support your family. As someone that lives in Twin Falls, you may have been used to an active lifestyle of hiking or mountain biking and now are unable to enjoy your favorite activities due to your accident.
Whatever your situation is now, if you or a family member were in a truck accident, contact Litster Frost Injury Lawyers as soon as possible. You have a set amount of time to file a lawsuit against the trucking company and driver before the statute of limitations prevents you from filing a suit.
After the Truck Accident
If you believe you are at fault, do not say so to anyone. The investigation may find that the other driver may be partially liable for the accident. Steps you should take at the accident scene if you are able to include:
- Take pictures of the damage to your vehicle and to other vehicles involved.
- Get the other driver’s information.
- Get names and phone numbers of any witnesses that are standing around.
- Call the police. Make sure you get a police report.
- Notify your insurance company.
- Even if you think you are not hurt, let the paramedics check you out. You should go to your doctor or the emergency room to have a full checkup since injuries may manifest hours or even days after an accident.
- Contact a truck accident attorney such as Litster Frost Injury Lawyers for a consultation. If possible, bring pictures and a copy of the police report with you. You might also bring a list of witnesses to the accident. Should you decide to retain us, we will make copies of your documentation.
- Keep all medical bills, doctors’ notes and other medical information related to the accident.
One of the keys to a truck accident lawsuit is to have documentation of the accident and your injuries to prove liability of the trucking company and/or driver, and to recoup medical bills.
Settlement Amounts and Trial Awards
The amount you get from a settlement or at trial depends on many factors and details of the accident.
Some examples of common factors include but are not limited to:
- Where the investigators place fault. The other driver may be 100 percent at fault. In some cases, you may have contributed to the accident, but are not entirely at fault.
- The extent of your injuries. Always have your injuries documented, even those that show up several days later.
- Whether the other driver was negligent. Negligence includes texting or using the phone while driving, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, a tired driver or even the malfunction of the truck if the truck was not properly inspected prior to the trip.
- Depending on the circumstances of the accident, you may be entitled to punitive damages in addition to ordinary damages if the other driver is found to be negligent.
Often people try to settle accident injury cases themselves. In most cases, several insurance companies are involved. They may include your own, that of the driver and the insurance provider for the trucking operation. Even if another vehicle was also involved, you’ll have that person’s insurance company to deal with in addition to yours and the second driver’s. Insurance providers retain their own lawyers.
A tremendous amount of work goes into managing a lawsuit or settlement negotiations. Your attorney may be scheduling depositions, arbitration, hearings, obtaining court admissible evidence, securing witnesses and expert testimony, dealing with insurance carriers and their attorneys, and seeing to many other details in addition to orchestrating and carrying out a carefully planned legal strategy.
There are simply too many details that go into a successful case to predict case values without having most of the details.
If a Family Member Has Died Because of a Truck Accident
Contact our office as soon as possible after the death of someone involved in a truck accident so that we may help you as much as possible while you are going through this difficult time. While winning a settlement does not bring your family member back, the money you may be entitled to will help with final expenses and other expenses related to your family member’s death. Wrongful death cases also have a statute of limitations, which means you have a certain amount of time to file a lawsuit.
Idaho and Twin Falls Accident Statistics
In 2015, Idaho roads saw 24,018 vehicle crashes, which was up 8.5 percent from 22,134 in 2015. Fatalities from these crashes also increased from 186 in 2014 to 216 in 2015. Of these, 87 were killed due to impaired driving, up 20.8 percent from 2015. Aggressive driving and distracted driving were also high causes of fatal accidents. In 2015, fatal crashes involving commercial vehicles rose to 30 from 22 in 2014. Twin Falls saw 11 fatal crashes and 412 injury crashes in 2015.
Contact Litster Frost Injury Lawyers
After a truck accident, contact Litster Frost Injury Lawyers, even if you believe you may have been partially at fault for the accident. If you are a family member of someone who was killed in a truck accident, contact our office to determine if you have the right to file a lawsuit on that person’s behalf. Always contact us for a consultation as soon after the accident as possible.
