Being involved in a regular car accident and one that involves a semi-truck are two completely different things. Some people think they can hire any personal injury lawyer they find, and will have the same chances of winning their case, but this is not true. In order for a victim to have the best chance of winning their personal injury lawsuit involving a semi-truck accident, they have to have a quality lawyer that has experience in that particular area. There are also things that a victim needs to do to ensure they have the best chance of winning a lawsuit in court. After being involved in a vehicle accident that involved a semi-truck, there are some important steps a victim needs to take to be sure he or she has the best chance of winning the case.
Seek Medical Care Immediately
Even if those involved in the accident were not seriously harmed and felt like they didn’t need any medical treatment, they still need to be seen by a doctor and given a clean bill of health. There are some injuries that don’t immediately show physical symptoms, but can still cause untold amounts of internal damage. Seeking medical care right after the accident allows victims to figure out their current state of health and diagnose any injuries that were caused by the accident.
The injuries detailed in the diagnosis by the doctor will also help the victim later on. The court will want to see exactly what happened to the person involved in the injury and what needed to be done to treat that person. The records of the injury will also help a victim and his or her lawyer figure out how much they can ask for when it comes to financial compensation. Get to the hospital right after the accident, and be sure to get any paperwork the hospital provides you with while being discharged.
Obtain Information About the Accident
After receiving proper medical care, it’s important to find out as much information about the accident as possible. Getting reports from the police is going to help a victim out, and so will information from people who witnessed the accident. The witnesses will be able to provide a sworn statement or even testify on a victim’s behalf, which will be beneficial for the victim. If there were people who saw the accident happen, but weren’t involved in any way, then they can outline the events of the crash from an unbiased, third-party point of view.
A victim’s lawyer will also be finding out more in-depth information about the accident that would be hard for the average person to obtain. For example, a lawyer will be able to find out information about the semi-truck’s maintenance schedule, and any information about previous repairs that the truck had to go through. This information can help a lawyer figure out if the accident was truly the semi-truck or driver’s fault.
A lawyer is also going to be able to find out information about the driver of the semi-truck as well. If a particular driver was involved in an accident before because he was either driving under the influence of medications or otherwise impaired on the road, then this information is going to help the victim in court. A semi-truck driver must be fully attentive and not under the influence of any medication that could potentially change their perceptions.
Ultimately, obtaining the right information about a semi-truck accident is something that will be left up to a lawyer. This is one of the main reasons it’s so crucial that a victim in one of these cases picks the right team of legal professionals to work with.
Preparing for Court
After a victim gets proper medical care and obtains information about their accident, they need to get prepared for court. This basically involves a lot of speaking with the lawyer about what to expect regarding a particular case. If the case is going to trial, the lawyer will prepare the victim by elaborating on what type of questions they are going to face while on the stand.
In most cases, though, personal injury lawsuits don’t make it to trial because the at-fault party is willing to settle before this stage. Settling out of court is beneficial for the at-fault party in most cases because they will be paying the victim a certain amount of money and also be able to make them sign contracts about what they can say regarding the incident. Because many companies want to protect their public image, they will consider this so they are able to bind the victim into a legal agreement.
If a victim’s lawyer feels confident that they can get a settlement offer before going to trial, then there isn’t much that the victim needs to do to prepare for court. Most of the proceedings will be handled by the lawyer, and that person will likely only need to be present to answer a few questions from the judge and to sign some paperwork.
If you’ve recently been involved in an accident that involved a semi-truck, you need to be sure that you’re in the best hands possible when it comes to legal representation. Don’t trust your potential settlement to a law firm that doesn’t have experience with semi-truck accidents; contact the legal professionals at Tobler Law. A reliable semi-truck accident lawyer will be able to show you positive results from similar cases they have taken in the past.