As you travel Alabama’s interstates and major highways such as I-65 and I-59, you will likely share the road with numerous tractor-trailers and larger commercial trucks. When loaded, these large vehicles may weigh up to 80,000 pounds and can cause serious harm if a truck driver loses control. In a collision between an average 3,000-pound car and a tractor-trailer that weighs 20 to 30 times as much as the car, the injuries are often catastrophic, life-changing, or fatal for those in the smaller vehicle.
At Morris, King & Hodge, P.C., we believe that negligent truck drivers and trucking companies should be held responsible when they harm others. You should not have to pay medical bills for injuries caused by a negligent truck driver. Our experienced Alabama accident attorneys have recovered more than $100 million in verdicts and settlements for clients, including a $1 million settlement against a trucking company for causing the wrongful death of a motorist, a $1 million settlement in a wrongful death accident caused by a tractor-trailer blocking a roadway and a $550,000 settlement of a hit-and-run accident involving an 18-wheeler.
If you or have been injured in a truck wreck, or a loved one was killed, the law firm you select may make all difference in the outcome. If you choose our proven attorneys at Morris, King & Hodge, P.C., you will have the law firm that other attorneys and legal publications have recognized for exceptional legal service. Call 256-274-8130 to talk to an experienced truck accident lawyer or use our online attorney contact form.
Huntsville Our 18 Wheeler Attorneys Can Help You
Truck accidents cause more catastrophic, life-altering, and fatal injuries than any other type of motor vehicle accident because of the size of large trucks and the speed involved.
The legal team at Morris, King & Hodge, P.C., has extensive experience handling catastrophic injury in Huntsville and wrongful death truck accidents.
We understand the turmoil and sense of uncertainty that many individuals and Alabama families experience after a serious accident. We understand you and your family are going through a very difficult time. Having a knowledgeable 18-wheeler accident lawyer who can provide trusted guidance can ease your burden and allow you to focus on recovering and moving forward.
Our legal team will investigate the accident and identify all the potentially at-fault parties. We will move quickly to find and preserve evidence of negligence on the part of the truck driver, trucking company, or others involved. In some complex truck accidents, we may work with traffic reconstruction experts to analyze the crash and identify the contributing factors to the accident.
We can work with expert economists and life planners who will evaluate the financial impact of the injuries that you or your loved one has sustained. In calculating your financial losses, we will take into account the cost of current and future medical treatment, surgery, physical therapy, medical equipment, and lost wages.
We will present a claim on your behalf to the insurance companies of the at-fault party or parties and negotiate aggressively for maximum compensation. We investigate each truck wreck case thoroughly as if it is going to trial. Having all the facts in hand allows us to negotiate from a position of strength. Our attorneys are experienced negotiators, and most cases settle without going to trial.
If the insurance company is unwilling to reach a just settlement, our truck injury lawyers are prepared to seek justice in court. We are trial lawyers with a strong track record of success. That makes insurance companies more willing to reach a settlement.
Huntsville Truck Accidents Are More Complicated
Multiple parties including the truck driver, the trucking company, the cargo shipper, and others may be jointly liable for a semi-truck wreck. Each party may have a different insurer, adding a further complication. Trucking companies and commercial truck drivers are required to carry higher amounts of liability insurance than car drivers because of the harm that large trucks can cause. Therefore, the financial stakes are higher after trucking accidents.
It is a sure bet that a trucking company and truck driver and their insurers will have lawyers representing their interests. Within minutes of a truck accident, the trucking company’s team of lawyers, accident investigators, and insurance adjusters will swarm the accident scene. Investigators may try to contact you, and anything you say to the investigator could hurt your case. It is important not to talk to their investigator without a lawyer. Take their contact information and let them know your attorney will be contacting them. If you do not have an 18-wheeler accident attorney working for you to help with your accident investigation, you may be at a distinct disadvantage.
Their job is to protect the trucking company and minimize the company’s liability exposure. They will try to manage the release of evidence that hurts their client’s case. Essentially, their job is to diminish the value of the claims of other motorists injured in a truck crash.
It is critically important that the injured motorist or the family of a person killed in a truck wreck have an experienced semi-truck accident lawyer working on their side and standing up for their interests.
Accidents involving an 18-wheeler and other vehicles require a thorough investigation. Our lawyers are well-informed about the federal Department of Transportation (DOT) and state regulations as well as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) which governs the trucking industry. Commercial truck drivers are required to possess a commercial driver’s license (CDL) and obtain specific training. Trucking companies are required to keep certain records such as driver logs and maintenance records for a specific period of time. These records may offer important evidence of negligence after a truck accident, such as driver fatigue and improper maintenance. Care must be taken to preserve and properly store evidence from the truck’s “black box,” which stores computer data about the truck’s movement. But the evidence may be lost if you wait too long to contact a lawyer to investigate your accident.
Our team of truck accident attorneys wants to work on your side to protect your ability to recover the compensation you deserve. Our lawyers are familiar with accident reconstruction experts and trucking experts. We know the types of evidence to look for and will move quickly to retrieve, document, analyze and preserve evidence critical to your truck accident claim.
A national study of the causes of large truck crashes published by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration analyzed approximately 1,000 accidents involving large trucks and found that the trucks were at-fault in 55 percent of the crashes. The most common reasons cited involved poor decisions by truck drivers such as speeding, driving aggressively, and paying inadequate attention to traffic conditions. Overall, truck drivers make more mistakes than drivers of passenger vehicles, the study said.
