What Should I Do After Getting In A Trucking Accident?
4 min read
Truck accident often involves massive vehicle damage and severe injuries.
One major step for anyone who has been involved in a trucking accident is to seek medical attention. However, people often tend to assume they don’t have injuries and thus refrain from getting medical checkups after the accident. This may turn against you when such injuries appear later, especially when another person is to blame for the accident.
If you have been injured in a trucking accident, you need to know how to deal with the situation to have a successful personal injury claim.
What To Do After A Trucking Accident
If the worse happened and you found yourself in turmoil of a big rig truck accident, your action will determine whether you have a good chance of getting fair compensation. First, you must understand your legal rights with the help of a truck accident lawyer in Bakersfield. The reason is that the accident leaves one with a vulnerable feeling of who to blame and what to accept as compensation.
Trucks are different from other cars, and so is their legal process. To have a smooth transition from vulnerability to a feeling of justice, you can consider the below:
- Seek immediate medical attention for injuries:If you have some obvious injuries, you should have them checked and treated as soon as possible. But if this is not the case, you may opt to wait for the police to arrive on the scene. If in a position, check whether other passengers need attention too.
- Call police on the scene:If the crash resulted in injuries or death, California law requires one to call police on the scene. The report prepared by the police will serve as solid evidence to help prove fault. Remember that for injuries or death or significant property damage, you will also be required to report the accident to the Department of Motor Vehicle within 10 days.
- Get relevant details of eyewitnesses and the truck driver: This may include their name, address, insurance policy number, etc. You may also be concerned with whether such a driver is an employee or a truck owner. If an employee, it’s more likely that liability will be on the employer under the respondeat superior doctrine.
- Make sure to document your injuries: A well-drafted medical record showing what injuries you suffered and any expenses incurred would also help in determining your compensation.If you were not able to seek medical attention immediately, it’s vital to have some medical follow-up to detect any injuries that may take time to appear.
Also, it’s important to request such copies from your doctor. The record will be useful when negotiating with the insurance company and may play a significant role in a lawsuit.
The insurance adjuster requests medical records to ensure whatever details you claim to have suffered are true. They may also ask for a review of such injuries through an independent medical examination. Once you get such records, you should go through them to ensure there are no mistakes in the nature and extent of your injuries. The insurance adjuster may pry to see any disparity that may be used against you.
- Take a picture of the road situation, damaged truck or car, or any other item necessary to prove the accident. You can also have pictures of skid marks, weather conditions, etc.
How To File A Successful Truck Accident Claim
Any personal injury claim is based on how well the defendant can prove damages. After all, any compensation will emanate from what injuries or vehicle damage was incurred after the trucking accident.
Thus, it’s not enough to show that negligence led to your accident, but you need to be more specific about how the defendant’s action caused the accident and how such an accident led to your injuries.
You will need a solid connection between the injuries and the defendant’s negligent conduct. To warrant you the award for your claim, you will need to show that:
- There was a breach of duty.
- The breach of duty caused you a foreseeable loss. Such loss must involve injuries suffered or damage to your car or any other property that could have been damaged during the accident.
One best way to produce evidence or proof of damage is to have expert testimony. Such is better positioned to give evidence on the amount of loss you may have suffered due to the accident. Another vital way to support your proof of damages would be using a police report that may state whether the truck driver violated any law.
After all, is said and done, one vital thing to consider is to have a trucking accident lawyer. It is strongly advised to argue such a case with the help of a lawyer who understands the legalities of such cases.
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