How A Laredo Truck Accident Lawyer Can Help You With Your Claim

Our Laredo truck accident lawyers at The Patel Firm have an impressive track record of assisting victims of truck accidents resulting from others’ negligence. These knowledgeable lawyers relentlessly strive to secure the appropriate compensation for these victims’ injuries.

When the average person is involved in any kind of accident with a commercial truck, the first instinct of many people will be to blame the truck driver. The truth is often far more complicated, and a truck driver usually avoids liability since their employer may be liable for damages instead and truck accidents can actually involve multiple other liable parties.

Any time you are involved in a large truck accident in the greater Laredo area, you will want to be sure you are working with an experienced attorney who knows how to handle commercial vehicle claims. The Patel Firm has been investigating and fighting in truck accident cases for several years, so we fully understand what needs to be done in these types of cases.

Keep in mind that the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) reported that there were 640 total crashes involving commercial motor vehicles in Webb County in 2021, with the total including four fatal crashes killing five people, 13 suspected serious injury crashes causing 19 suspected serious injuries, and seven unknown severity crashes causing 29 unknown injuries. All people involved in these types of crashes need to be certain to seek medical attention right away and then retain legal counsel.

Table of Contents

• Factors that Make Truck Accidents More Likely
• Your Losses
• Your Injuries
• Negotiating with the Insurance Company

Factors that Make Truck Accidents More Likely

Trucks are more difficult to maneuver safely through traffic than the cars we drive are for a wide range of reasons, and these factors contribute to truck accidents.

Blind Spots

Truck drivers experience immense blind spots all the way around their rigs. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) reports that truck drivers must check their mirrors frequently in order to prevent truck accidents related to blind spots. Whenever a trucker changes lanes or takes an exit, these blind spots become a real concern.

Exhaustion

The trucking industry is booming, and truck companies can have a hard time keeping up, which can translate to requiring their drivers to put in more hours behind the wheel than it is safe to do. There are careful hours of service restrictions at both the federal and state level that are intended to help prevent accidents related to exhaustion, but when truckers and truck companies choose to ignore them, it can lead to deadly truck accidents. Drowsy driving can lead to impairments that rival those caused by drunk driving.

Longer Stopping Distances

The immense weight of semi-trucks means that they require far longer stopping distances than our much smaller vehicles do. When truck drivers fail to put enough distance between their rigs and forward traffic, they make life-threatening rear-end accidents far more likely.

More Susceptible to the Effects of Bad Weather

Truckers need to take the effects of bad weather into careful consideration. Their height and low center of gravity make trucks more vulnerable to rolling over in high winds and to jackknifing (when the cab and trailer fold in on one another) on ice. Truckers who don’t pay adequate attention to the weather can cause deadly accidents.

Your Losses

The losses associated with truck accidents tend to be physically, financially, and emotionally overwhelming. The covered losses you can expect to experience include all the following:

• Property damage to your car
• Medical expenses that can be both extensive and ongoing
• Lost earnings that may include lost earning potential
• Immense physical and emotional pain and suffering

One of the critical elements of your truck accident claim is ensuring that your losses – or legal damages – are clearly and accurately represented, and this is a job that you are well advised to leave in the capable hands of your truck accident attorney.

Your Injuries

The injuries that you suffer in a truck accident are very likely to be serious. Common examples include:

• Broken bones that are slow to heal, exceptionally painful, and susceptible to complications
• Spinal cord injuries that, if the spinal cord is severed, can lead to paralysis and lifelong healthcare needs
• Traumatic brain injuries that can lead to life-altering emotional consequences
• Internal injuries that can go undetected until they become life threatening
• Burns and cuts that often lead to serious infections and complications and can be disfiguring
• Soft tissue injuries that can lead to issues with chronic pain

Seeking medical attention as soon after the truck accident as possible is always in your best interest. Not every serious injury presents with obvious signs and symptoms from the outset, which makes erring on the side of caution the best approach. Additionally, early diagnosis goes hand in hand with improved prognosis.

Negotiating with the Insurance Company

Your ability to achieve your fullest recovery is very likely to hinge on your ability to obtain just compensation, which requires skillful negotiations with the involved insurance company and which is best left to your experienced truck accident attorney. It is important to keep in mind that the insurance company has the resources to put up considerable roadblocks when it comes to your truck accident claim, and it is invested in doing so. Toward this end, there are tricks of the trade that you should be aware of and on the lookout for.

Outright Denials

If the insurance company denies your claim outright, it does not necessarily mean that you do not have a strong claim but is, instead, a sign that the insurance company hopes you’ll take the hint and give up. The law ultimately determines which truck accident claims are valid and which are not, and if your truck accident attorney is behind your claim, you should be too.

Early Settlement Offers

If the insurance company makes you an early settlement offer, you may be tempted to sign on the dotted line before thinking about the implications of doing so. The insurance company is well aware that you are worried about your finances and that a bird in the hand – in the form of a settlement offer – may be too good to pass up. You can, however, count on that early offer being inadequate in terms of covering your full range of losses, which means it is inadequate in terms of supporting your fullest recovery.

Blame Shifting

The insurance company may attempt to shift blame away from the truck driver and toward you. This is a common tactic and one that accident victims like you can be especially vulnerable to. After going through a traumatic life event like a truck accident, it’s common to be confused and unsure about exactly what happened. In fact, many truck accident victims think, if only I’d taken a different route, and similar thoughts on a repetitive loop that can leave them feeling vaguely responsible for the accidents in question. Again, the law determines fault in truck accidents – in accordance with the evidence – and your attorney will help you better understand fault in the truck accident that caused you to be injured.

In Texas, even if you do share some of the fault in a truck accident, you are not barred from seeking the percentage of compensation that the truck driver is responsible for (as long as you are not more than 50 percent responsible).

Denial of Your Losses

Another common strategy employed by insurance companies that handle truck accidents is denying the extent of claimants’ overall losses. The best ways to protect your claim from this less-than-honest practice include the following:

• Carefully documenting every category of loss that you experience, including your property damage, medical costs, lost earnings, and pain and suffering
• Working closely with a seasoned truck accident attorney from the outset
• Allowing your attorney to communicate with the insurance company on your behalf (there is no law that requires you to provide the insurance company with a statement, and not doing so is in your best interest)
• Following your doctor’s orders carefully, which helps to demonstrate that your injuries are as serious as your claim represents
• Staying off social media while your claim is pending, which helps to ensure that you don’t inadvertently provide the insurance company with information that it can twist to its own design

Your savvy truck accident attorney is well prepared to handle the insurance company on your behalf.

Reach Out to an Experienced Laredo Truck Accident Attorney Today

Truck accidents are some of the most violent, terrifying, and deadly traffic accidents out there, and if you or someone you love has been injured by a truck driver’s negligence, you are likely facing a very difficult path forward. This is why the formidable Laredo truck accident attorneys at The Patel Firm dedicate their practice to helping clients like you guide their claims toward beneficial resolutions that protect their legal rights and help secure their ability to reach their fullest recoveries.

Our dedicated legal team has the experience, skill, and drive to also help you, so please do not put off reaching out and contacting or calling us at 956-450-8954 for more information about what we can do for you and your claim today.

The Patel Firm Injury Accident Lawyers
956-450-8954
8511 McPherson Rd Suite 216
Laredo, TX 78045