Marietta Truck Accident Lawyers

Contact a Montlick truck accident lawyer in Marietta for a free consultation today.

We Work to Protect and Leverage Evidence

Timing is everything after an accident involving a big rig. Trucking companies are never eager to pay out to injured victims and have a reputation for sending their own investigators to the crash scene while it’s still in progress. Often, critical evidence goes missing during this process (sometimes accidentally, sometimes intentionally). This is not only unfair but potentially illegal. After the trauma of an accident, the last injustice you need is to receive less money than you deserve because the trucking company responsible for your injuries did a lousy job preserving evidence.

When you contact Montlick Injury Attorneys immediately after your accident, we will do everything possible to ensure the evidence you need to win is preserved, safeguarded, and leveraged. Trucking companies work fast, but our Marietta personal injury lawyers work faster.

Some steps we may take to preserve evidence after a truck accident include:

• Taking footage of the scene as soon as possible: If you contact us immediately, we can dispatch our own investigators to the scene to document any visible damage to the vehicles involved in the crash and any skid marks left on the road. If applicable, our team will also take photos of any weather conditions that might have contributed to the accident, such as snow or rain.
• Speaking with witnesses: Your attorney will work hard to track down valuable witnesses to your accident. This could include other motorists involved and first responders.
• Collecting all relevant medical records: Medical records are essential for establishing damages in a personal injury lawsuit. We ensure they’re preserved promptly in order for them to remain valid throughout your legal proceedings.
• Ensuring black box data isn’t deleted: Information contained in a truck’s black box can be highly valuable in determining the cause of the accident and assigning responsibility. Reconstruction experts rely heavily on the data from the black box to piece together the sequence of events that led up to the accident, we’ll take steps to make sure evidence doesn’t get deleted.

Trucking Companies are Often Responsible for Trucking Accidents

Our country’s truck driver shortage hit a record high of over 80,000 drivers in 2021. Given the size of the industry, this shortage spells trouble. With fewer people working, trucking companies are pressured to overwork their current employees. According to the United States Census Bureau, over half of all truckers drive more than 40 hours a week. Combine long hours with the poor sleep hygiene of resting on the road, and you get thousands of fatigued truck drivers passing through Georgia daily.

Drowsy driving poses similar risks to drunk driving, according to the National Sleep Foundation. The Driving Drowsy Vs. Driving Drunk study shows:

• Staying awake for 18 hours straight impairs the mind the same as having a 0.05 percent blood alcohol concentration.
• Being awake for 24 hours continuously is comparable to having a BAC of 0.10 percent.

Truck drivers can also be vulnerable to illness due to unrealistic working hours and lack of exercise. Sick drivers may also take over-the-counter or prescription medications that cause drowsiness and continue to work due to demand. In fact, a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration report found that 17 percent of commercial truck drivers involved in collisions were under the influence of over-the-counter drugs such as cold medicines when crashes occurred.

Other ways trucking companies can be responsible for Marietta truck accidents include:

• Hiring untrained drivers and/or a failure to train drivers
• Failure to ensure a driver has the proper professional driver’s license and clean driving record
• Hiring drivers with disqualifying criminal records
• Lack of screening of drivers for alcohol or drug use (including prescription drugs that can cause driver impairment)
• Failure to ensure drivers are physically fit to handle long driving shifts
• Violations of weight and load requirements (a heavier truck can be a more dangerous truck)
• Poor adherence to hours of service (HOS) rules that limit the number of hours a trucker can work in a given period, including insufficient breaks
• Failure to ensure all trucks are properly maintained and inspected
• Failure to accurately log all HOS hours for drivers as well as keep updated copies of maintenance and inspection reports for all trucks

Our adept lawyers understand how to litigate trucking accident cases and navigate complex liability. We hold both negligent drivers and trucking companies accountable when their irresponsibility and greed contribute to an accident.

Who Else Can Be Found Liable?

Multiple parties may be found at least partially responsible for a truck accident. With these layers of liability, things can quickly become overwhelming. Let a Montlick Marietta truck accident lawyer focus on who is responsible so you can focus on healing. Possible liable parties include:

• A truck driver who has disregarded traffic regulations or operates their vehicle while under the influence may be held liable for their negligence.
• A trucking company may be under investigation if they have failed to maintain their vehicle, used negligent hiring practices, failed to supervise drivers, or did not adhere to state and federal regulations.
• A loading company could be at fault if the truck was not loaded properly, causing it to be unbalanced, their employees were not trained properly, the cargo wasn’t secured properly, or they did not conduct leakage tests.
• A truck manufacturer that produced a defective design, provided inadequate safety warnings, failed to recall a defective product, breached a warranty, or were negligent in testing.

What About Vicarious Liability?

Vicarious liability means that employers can be held accountable for the actions of irresponsible employees if those actions occur while they are on the clock performing their job duties. For a truck accident, this applies when the driver caused the wreck while performing their job duties. The employer or trucking company can then be held liable for the resulting damages, even if they were not directly involved.
Liability can also extend to the trucking company’s supply chain. Component suppliers, distributors, or dealerships could all be liable depending on the case’s circumstances. Your Marietta truck accident lawyer will consider all potentially liable parties in your personal injury case to maximize compensation and set the record right.

The Right Attorney Adds Value to Your Case

Insurance companies award injury victims higher amounts of compensation when those victims have retained legal representation. A study conducted by the Insurance Research Council (IRC) revealed the following:

• 85% of payouts by insurance companies for personal injury claims were paid to victims that were represented by an attorney.
• Injury victims with legal representation received, on average, 300% more financial compensation than injury victims who did not have legal representation.

An aggressive Montlick tractor-trailer trucking accident lawyer has the negotiating power to help victims obtain substantially greater compensation than they would if they took on the powerful trucking company alone.

Since claims against trucking companies and commercial insurance carriers can be complicated issues of both state and federal law, you need a trial-tested attorney you can trust. Our lawyers are willing to go the distance–taking cases to court if that’s what’s necessary to win the full value of our client’s settlement.

Damages Available to Truck Accident Victims

Compensation for truck accident victims can cover the following damages:

• Economic Damages: Victims of truck accidents may be able to recover compensation for any economic losses they have suffered due to the accident, such as lost wages, medical bills, and property damage.
• Non-Economic Damages: These types of damages are not directly related to financial losses but rather include pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of companionship and enjoyment of life.
• Punitive Damages: If a truck driver was found to have acted recklessly or with gross negligence in causing an accident, victims may be able to pursue punitive damages as a way of punishing the at-fault party.
• Wrongful Death Damages: In cases where a victim dies due to the negligence or recklessness of another party, their family members may be able to seek wrongful death damages. This includes funeral costs and other expenses associated with their death.
• Loss of Consortium Claims: If the victim’s spouse is unable to provide love and companionship due to injury or death caused by a trucking accident, they may make a claim for loss of consortium against the at-fault party.

We Don’t Settle for Less. Neither Should You.^™

You are in the driver’s seat on your road to justice. Just think of Montick as your GPS.
We always answer your calls, keep you in the loop, and never make crucial decisions without your input. You don’t have to do this alone. Call Montlick nationwide 24/7 at 1-800-LAW-NEED (1-800-529-6333) to arrange a free consultation.