Commercial trucks are among the most dangerous vehicles you can encounter when traveling on local roadways. Unfortunately, accidents with these vehicles leave individuals with severe bodily harm, psychological trauma, and property damage.
Often, a trucker’s employer and their insurer will fight to minimize damages and blame an injured victim for a collision. Therefore, having a hardworking Melrose Park truck accident lawyer in your corner could significantly benefit your case. Additionally, a skilled attorney could work to get you the maximum benefits allowed under the law.
Because of the catastrophic damage that tractor-trailers can cause, federal and state trucking regulations hold truckers and the companies they work for to a higher standard of care than other motorists on the road. However, even though state law requires truckers to hold commercial driver’s licenses, accidents often occur because of a driver’s negligence or the reckless actions of their employers. Common types of truck collisions in Melrose Park include:
Jackknife collisions frequently happen on highways and busy roads. These crashes occur when drivers brake suddenly or make improper turns, causing their trailers to swing around to the front of their cabs.
Rollover collisions are among the deadliest types of trucking accidents. Tire blowouts, defective brakes, and speeding on windy roads are common causes of these crashes. In addition, nearby vehicles can be crushed during rollover incidents, often causing fatal injuries.
In many cases, rear-end semi accidents often occur due to a truck driver’s inattention. Tractor-trailers require more distance to stop than standard-sized cars, meaning that if a driver brakes too late, they risk slamming into the vehicle ahead of them.
Also known as side-impact collision, T-Bone accidents occur when a truck crashes into the side of another vehicle. Because of a truck’s massive size and weight, accidents like this are often catastrophic for the occupants of passenger cars. An experienced attorney could investigate a truck collision to determine how it occurred and identify potentially liable parties after a thorough case review.
Truckers, their attorneys, and insurance providers commonly assert that a plaintiff shares liability for the accident that caused their injuries. Unfortunately, it is common for a court to determine that a petitioner shares a portion of the fault.
However, under the Illinois Compiled Statutes 735 5/2-1116, as long as a plaintiff’s portion of responsibility for a truck crash is less than 50 percent, the court will not bar them from recovering restitution. Instead, the court will reduce the total award amount by the claimant’s percentage of fault.
For example, if an award amount is $150,000, and the court finds the plaintiff is 10 percent liable, the claimant can collect $135,000. However, when a third party is involved, courts will reduce an injured person’s award by the third party’s portion of the liability.
If an injured individual wants to collect damages from a third party involved in a truck accident, they must file a separate lawsuit.
Because semi crashes are often severe and trucking laws hold drivers to a higher standard, the award amounts in truck accident injury claims are often significant. Courts generally divide these damages into economic and noneconomic damages.
Economic payments cover the substantial and verifiable financial losses the plaintiff must pay out-of-pocket after an accident, including the cost of medical care and lost salary. Noneconomic damages cover non-monetary losses like pain and suffering. A knowledgeable lawyer in Melrose Park could help calculate a plaintiff’s potential award based on the facts of the tractor-trailer accident claim.
Accidents involving tractor-trailers can have devastating effects on your life and future. Sadly, these events can leave individuals with long-term or permanent disabilities, or in the worst cases, fatal injuries.
When negligence causes you to sustain damages in a crash with a commercial truck, you could be eligible to collect compensation from the liable party. Schedule a consultation with a Melrose Park truck accident lawyer today to begin working on your case.
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