Do not wait to protect your legal rights if you’ve been injured in a tractor-trailer accident. Our Florence truck accident lawyers at Mama Justice are available to discuss your case.
The trucking industry is vital in Florence and across the state of Alabama. We depend on these large commercial vehicles to deliver products and goods to our area and help keep our economy alive. Although most trucking companies hire responsible and considerate drivers, we continue to see truck accidents take place at an alarming rate.
Every year, truck accidents in the United States take the lives of nearly 5,000 people. These accidents often have severe consequences for victims and their families. Here in Alabama, we see countless people harmed in accidents caused by the negligence of truck drivers.
The truth is that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act and the Department of Transportation both place stringent safety standards, rules, and regulations on trucking companies. These rules are designed to keep the drivers of trucking companies and others sharing the road safely. However, we continue to see victims sharing the road left with severe injuries due to crashes involving these vehicles.
If you are harmed in a trucking accident or your loved one has lost their lives in a fatal truck accident, you must reach out to the Florence truck accident lawyers at Mama Justice as soon as possible.
Contact our truck accident attorneys in Alabama today to schedule a free consultation with our team to discuss the legal options available for you. Our law firm can investigate the truck driver, the trucking company, and various factors surrounding the accident. We will determine who is at fault for your crash and hold them to the account.
Common Injuries from Truck Accidents
Given the size and weight of these vehicles, a large truck in a collision often results in severe harm to victims. This is especially true in cases where they are involved in crashes with smaller passenger vehicles.
The fact that the average tractor-trailer can weigh around 80,000 pounds when fully loaded means that they are likely to cause severe damage to anything they come in contact with, resulting in catastrophic injuries.
The most common injuries associated with Alabama truck accidents include:
- Spinal cord damage
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Broken bones
- Internal organ damage
- Burn injuries
- Compress injuries
- Head and neck injuries
- Back injuries
- Fatal injuries
If you have suffered injuries as a result of a commercial truck accident, you must work quickly to protect your legal rights. Our law firm in Florence can protect your legal rights after being harmed in a crash. We will go after insurance companies and demand that they provide you with the compensation you need and deserve.
Liable Parties for Truck Accidents in Florence
Following a truck accident, our Florence truck accident lawyer will review the circumstances surrounding your accident. We will help you to determine who is at fault for your injuries and damages and help you pursue a truck accident case to recover compensation.
When it comes to truck accidents, there are several parties who can be held liable for the resulting damages. These parties can include:
- The trucking company
- The truck driver
- The truck owner
- Trucking company
- The commercial vehicle manufacturer
- The truck part manufacturer
- Government agencies
- Contractors
- The cargo/loading company
When it comes to determining who is at fault for your truck accident, our experienced truck accident lawyer in Florence will review various circumstances surrounding the crash.
Our Alabama truck accident lawyer will review the history of the truck driver and the circumstances surrounding the trucking accident. We will then identify various factors leading up to the incident.
Common Causes of Trucking Accidents
Regardless of the fact that there are strict federal regulations surrounding hours of service and how commercial truck drivers perform the duties of their job, we continue to see drivers engage in reckless and negligent actions. As a result, innocent people are harmed. Most truck accidents are caused by:
- Driver Fatigue: Tired and fatigued truck drivers are all too common in Alabama. Many tractor-trailers rush to make it to their destinations on or ahead of schedule. As a result, they end up spending long hours on the road, driving. The trucking industry has many regulations in place to prevent drivers from remaining on the road too long. However, we continue to see drivers and trucking companies take great risks.
- Negligent Truck Driver: When drivers are negligent, they place the lives of others at risk. Commercial truck drivers who speed, fail to yield the right of way, change lanes in a reckless manner, or engage in other acts of negligence place others at risk of suffering serious injuries. Even aggressive driving behaviors can cause severe crashes.
- Issues with Cargo Loads: In order to avoid delivery schedule conflicts with the hours of service that drivers can remain on the road, cargo companies will often engage in reckless loading practices. When companies overload cargo, load trailers in an uneven manner, or engage in other reckless practices while loading and securing cargo, they place others at risk. There is a high probability that the cargo will shift or spill, which can cause a life-altering injury accident.
- Inadequate Truck Maintenance: It is crucial that semi-trucks are adequately maintained and routinely inspected to ensure they are properly functioning. When the trucking company’s team fails to adequately maintain and inspect their vehicles, it can lead to life-change truck collisions.
- Negligent Hiring Practices: When trucking companies fail to verify that drivers are responsible and legally able to operate commercial vehicles, they can be held liable for negligent hiring practices. A trucking company must verify that they are not hiring negligent truck drivers, they must verify that the hiree has a valid commercial driver’s license and that the license is in good standing.
- Impairment: When a truck driver operates a large truck while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, they place every other person sharing the road at risk. Large trucks are already incredibly difficult to control. Mixing drugs or alcohol to this practice can make it nearly impossible for tractor-trailer drivers to avoid a collision.
- Traffic Violations: When drivers of large trucks speed, run red lights or engage in other traffic violations, they can cause crashes with other vehicles.
- Defective Parts: It is imperative that every part on tractor-trailers work as expected. When brakes fail, accelerators jam or other parts fail to work properly, it can result in a severe and life-changing collision.
Our Florence truck accident attorney is well-versed in handling commercial vehicles accidents for victims across the state of Alabama. Our lawyers have extensive knowledge of federal trucking regulations, laws, and guidelines driving the trucking industry. Working with our experienced attorney Missy Wigginton, AKA Mama Justice, will ensure you are in the best position possible to protect your legal rights by pursuing a truck accident claim.
Damages Available for Trucking Accident Victims in Florence
Our Alabama truck accident attorneys will fight to ensure you are able to recover the maximum amount of compensation from the trucking company and any other party who we determine is liable for your injuries and damages.
Following a truck accident, we will help you obtain compensation for a variety of damaages you face. Some of these damages include:
- The cost of medical bills
- The expenses you face for long-term care
- Vehicle repairs
- Lost wages
Our lawyers will work with accident reconstruction experts who can recreate the circumstances surrounding your crash to demonstrate how the truck driver is at fault and should pay for your accident-related expenses. We demand that you receive the maximum compensation for your truck accident and we will provide fearless legal services to ensure you obtain the outcome you expect for your claim.
Contact our Alabama truck accident lawyers today to get started on your case.
Never Accept a Settlement from the Insurance Company
It is all too common for insurance adjusters for the trucking company to approach injury victims and offer them compensation following a crash. It is imperative that you never accept any offers presented to you without first consulting with a skilled and experienced attorney.
Insurance carriers do not have your best interest in mind. They will do whatever they can to avoid paying you the full amount of compensation that you rightfully deserve. Accepting a settlement will also render any legal services performed on your behalf useless.
Instead of accepting a settlement, you should seek the assistance of a knowledgeable personal injury lawyer in Florence who will fight on your behalf to ensure you get the maximum amount of compensation for your claim.
At Mama Justice, we treat each of our clients like they are family. We value each attorney-client relationship that we have and fight to ensure our clients are able to get justice. Our ultimate goal is to help truck accident victims move forward in the best way possible. This includes recovering compensation that they need for medical expenses, vehicle repairs, and to cover their costs of living as they move through the process of recovering from their injuries. Our law firm will fight to ensure you are able to hold negligent drivers accountable.
Types of Tractor-Trailer Accidents We See in Florence
Like car accidents, there are a variety of reasons why Alabama truck accidents occur. Some of the most common types of crashes that our lawyers identify in truck accident cases include:
- Wide turn accidents
- Rollover accidents
- T-bone/broadside collisions
- Underride accidents
- Jackknife accidents
- Blind spot crashes
- Lost load accidents
- Head-on collision
- Rear-end accidents
- Sideswipe accidents
- Tire blowout accidents
- Air brake failure accidents
If you have been injured in a truck crash, or your loved one has lost his or her life in an accident, you should reach out to our Florence truck accident attorneys right away. Our lawyers will review and gather evidence from the accident scene, speak with witnesses, contact the police, and gather various other pieces of evidence and information pertaining to the accident in order to build the strongest case possible to protect your legal rights and get you the justice you deserve.
Wrongful Death Claims for Fatal Truck Accidents
If victims end up passing away from their injuries, a representative can pursue a wrongful death claim on behalf of the estate. This type of large truck accident lawsuit allows families to recover compensation for the damages listed above, as well as for various end-of-life expenses.
Some recoverable damages from wrongful death lawsuits following commercial trucking accidents include compensation for damages such as:
- Funeral expenses
- Burial expenses
- Loss of companionship
- Loss of parental guidance
- Loss of services
- Loss of the decedent’s financial contributions
- Compensation for grief
Our Florence truck accident lawyers at Mama Justice will ensure you are able to get the maximum amount of compensation from insurance companies that represent those at-fault. Contact our law firm today for a free consultation to see how we can help you recover from your personal injury.
Mama Justice Will Fight For You
After an Alabama truck accident, it is imperative that you seek the legal assistance of a skilled law firm that is well-versed in commercial vehicle accident laws in Alabama. Our Florence truck accident attorneys at Mama Justice have extensive experience filing personal injury cases to help victims protect their legal rights. We understand the challenges that victims harmed in truck accidents in Florence and across the entire state face as they recover from their injuries. This motivates our law firm to provide the most aggressive and fearless representation.
Our lawyers will thoroughly investigate your truck accident and build the strongest case possible. We will aggressively negotiate with the at-fault driver’s insurance company and demand that they pay you full and fair compensation for your injuries and damages.
If you were involved in a truck accident, do not wait to protect your legal rights. Our lawyers can be reached by calling (662) 262-6264. Our lawyers can help you pursue compensation, so you are able to get the medical care you need and cover the costs you face moving forward.