Truck accidents can be more complicated than accidents involving only passenger cars. There are many different reasons why truck accidents are different from auto accidents, but two of the primary reasons are that truck accidents raise complex issues of liability and that truck accidents often cause serious injuries.
At Carey, Danis & Lowe, our St. Louis truck accident lawyers are prepared to handle even the most difficult of truck accident cases. Give us a call today to schedule your free consultation and learn more about how we can help with your accident claim.
Complex Issues in Truck Accidents in St. Louis
One of the most important reasons why truck accidents in St. Louis are more complex than car accidents is the fact that there may be multiple parties that are liable for an accident.
When you get into a car accident involving passenger vehicles, usually it is the driver who is to blame for the collision. In rare cases, there may be defective parts on the car or there may be bad road design that led to the accident and someone besides the driver can be sued. In almost all cases, however, the accident comes down to whether the driver of one of the vehicles was unreasonably careless.
With truck accident cases, on the other hand, the driver may not be the only person to take legal action against even when he was negligent. This is because the trucking company or even the shipper may have more insurance and more money, and thus may be better able to pay accident claims. You can take legal action against a trucking company based on vicarious liability rules, but understanding and applying these rules is more complex than just showing a driver was negligent.
Other complex issues that arise in truck accident cases in St. Louis include:
- The difficulty of determining if the driver followed all safety rules. There are many federal laws that apply to truck drivers that don’t apply to other drivers.
- Questions about which court is the right one to make a claim. Truck drivers often drive across state lines or across the country, and trucking companies may be located far from where the accident happens. This raises questions of jurisdiction.
- The unique features of trucks that can lead to accidents. Trucks have different mechanical components than cars do, including air brakes. You need a St. Louis truck accident lawyer that understands how trucks work to help prove an accident claim.
Serious Injuries
Truck accident cases also differ from car accidents because these types of crashes can cause very serious and costly injuries. Spinal cord damage, for example, could occur as a result of the added force and momentum from an accident with a large truck. It is also not uncommon for underride accidents to occur with trucks, which means that a car slides right underneath the body of a truck. This, too, can cause spinal cord damage or other serious injuries.
Many of the injuries that occur in truck accidents in St. Louis are extremely expensive to treat. A person who becomes paralyzed at age 25 in a truck accident could spend as much as $3,319,533 on spinal cord treatment over the course of his life. You need to ensure you get full compensation to cover injuries arising from truck accidents. Carey, Danis & Lowe is here to help. Call our experienced St. Louis truck accident lawyers today to schedule your free consultation and learn how we can represent you in complicated truck accident claims.
