by Jonathan J. Wade
jwade@webb-firm.com

As anyone who has been in a wreck involving a large truck or tractor trailer can tell you, wrecks involving trucks are different.  More property damage, more injuries or deaths, and more fear.  The carnage suffered by people who have been mowed down by these "highway missiles" is unspeakable. 

However, that is not all that is different.  The laws are different when a commercial vehicle is involved.  Tractor trailers and other commercial vehicles have special rules that apply to them, some involving federal and state regulations.    This is not like a typical car wreck case.  If you or a loved one have been involved in a wreck with a truck, you need an attorney who has experience handling truck cases successfully. 

For example, truck drivers and their companies are required to maintain certain records that are often critical to proving that the truck driver and/or the trucking company were negligent, or to increase the value of the damages.  (For example, the driver's log books and hours of operation).  However, these records are only required to kept for a limited period of time.  An experienced trucking attorney knows what to request, when to ask for it, and how to interpret the data contained in those records.  

Further, truck cases often involve investigations by other regulatory and law enforcement agencies that simply the local police department.   This information can make or break your case, and if you don't know about it, the value of the case can be negatively effected, or can even make the case worthless if it is helpful to the trucking industry.  Again, an experience truck wreck attorney knows where to go to ask about such investigations, which likewise often involve both federal and state regulatory authorities.

An additional factor in deciding on an attorney when you or a loved one has been in a collision with a truck is knowing who to sue.  Did you know that unlike in a normal car wreck, sometimes the trucking company's insurance company can be named as a party?  Likewise, sometimes the truck company, the driver and the insurance company live or are based in different states.  Deciding where to sue the case in this situation is a critical decision, because it effects the value of the case, whether the case can even be won, and whether a judgment against one or more of these potential defendants can even be enforced.  (A judgment is nothing but a piece of paper if you cannot collect on it.)  Only an experienced truck wreck attorney can successfully lead your case through these potential disasters.

As a final matter, an experienced trucking attorney has the financial ability to hire the multiple experts that are often necessary to prove and present the case in its best light to a jury, such as reconstruction engineers, trucking industry compliance specialists, lifecare planners, economists, and medical experts.  Keep in mind the trucking industry and its insurers have unlimited resources to fight the case, and will "bully" an inexperienced lawyer into accepting a settlement that is not the true value of the case, or will present evidence and witnesses to convince a jury to return a verdict in the truck driver or companies favor.  Again, only an experience truck wreck attorney has the knowledge, financial backing, and expertise to maximize your chance of recovering the true value of your case. 

At Webb, Lindsey & Wade, we have handled many truck cases successfully due to our experience, and would be glad to help you with yours.