Category: 18-Wheeler Accidents

Texarkana Truck Accident Lawyer Michael Grossman: 18-wheeler Crash Lawyers

It might be blatantly obvious to you that you were not to blame for the 18-wheeler accident that you were involved in, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy for you to get the just restitution you deserve. The defendant, according to Texas law, does not owe you a thing; if you want to get that fair compensation, you will have to fight to get it.

Accident injury victims who choose to represent themselves in litigation almost never win. Often, they leave the courtroom with nothing, and wind up making the worst mistake of their lives. As a result of their choice to go it alone, they are now on the hook for all the medical expenses they’ve incurred, as well as the other financial losses they have accumulated. Most of the time, a seasoned and skilled Texarkana trucking accident attorney can mean the difference between you getting thousands – or possibly millions – of dollars for your injury and getting nothing.

It might not be automatic that you will obtain compensation for the losses you’re incurred after your 18-wheeler accident, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a difficult process. If you have an effective Texarkana trucking accident lawyer by your side, the chances of you winning your case and holding those responsible accountable for their actions will increase exponentially. In this article we provide information on some of the basic components regarding 18-wheeler accident law, and what you need to know in order to make sure your rights are protected. Some of the topics that are covered include:

• The importance of legal action
• Two ways to win your case
• Determining the defendant
• Launching an investigation
• Hurdles to winning your case
• How Grossman Law Offices can help you

The information in this article, however, is designed to provide the basics of the law in regard to 18-wheeler accidents. It is not intended to take the place of actual legal counsel. For a free and confidential consultation regarding the specifics of your case, call Grossman Law Offices at 1-855-239-1290 (toll free). We will gladly answer any questions you may have concerning the law surrounding truck accidents.

The Importance of Legal Action
There are two vital purposes behind filing a claim or initiating a lawsuit against a defendant. No. 1, filing a suit will make it possible for you to recoup the monetary losses you have incurred as the result of your accident. However, you must be informed going in that, in the eyes of the law, you are not automatically entitled to get fair compensation for your injury. From the start of any litigation, the scales of justice are tilted toward the defendant, the legal term for the person or entity that caused your injury. You, the plaintiff, will have to move those scales in your favor to have a chance at winning your case. The defendant is under no kind of obligation to pay you for the injury you have suffered or the monetary losses you have experienced. You will likely have to fight extremely hard in order to get the fair compensation you have coming to you.

You have undoubtedly not only suffered physical and emotional losses, you have also suffered financially. You are probably faced with expensive medical bills and significant repair costs, and have to face the added burden of lost wages because you have not been able to return to your job since the accident occurred. If you are successful in your efforts to obtain justice and fair compensation from the defendant, this will not only help ease your monetary burdens, it will also help you get your life back on track because you will no longer have to deal with the stress of financial problems associated with the accident.

Also, initiating litigation lets you punish those responsible for the accident, and help to make sure that defendant will not make the same mistakes in the future and cause someone else to have to go through what you are experiencing.

Two Ways to Win Your Case
There are, in most cases involving a truck accident, two ways for plaintiffs to win and obtain compensation for their injuries. Most of the time, a plaintiff and defendant will be able to reach an agreement outside of court, without the need of a judge or jury intervening. There are other instances, however, where the parties cannot agree and the case goes to trial. When this happens, the plaintiff will have to win the case to have any chance at winning restitution.

Settlements
When a settlement takes place, the defendant offers a certain amount of money to a plaintiff to compensate the plaintiff for his or her injuries, without being compelled to do so by a judge or jury. The plaintiff, in return, then agrees not to file any other lawsuit against the defendant to try and get any more money in the future. Accepting a fair settlement offer is of great benefit to a plaintiff, because it allows him or her to get their compensation quicker, and without having to go through the uncertainty of a trial. And make no mistake, uncertainty is always a part of the trial process; especially when a panel of randomly selected jurors is charged with deciding the fate of a claim.

Defendants are well aware that they are under no obligation legally to offer payment to a plaintiff. Because of this, it can be extremely hard to get a just settlement offer without the help of an experienced Texarkana trucking accident attorney working for you. Such an attorney will make sure a crystal clear message will be sent to the defendants – settle with us, or you will be taken to court; and you might lose a lot of money. When defendants become nervous, they are more apt to offer a plaintiff a fair settlement amount rather than risk losing a great deal more money in a trial.

Whatever you do, you have to be on the alert for a bad settlement offer; in fact, you’ll probably get one before you even hire a lawyer. A defendant knows that, should you accept their offer to settle out of court, you will not be able to enlist legal help to take legal action against them for more money at a future date. Defendants are notorious for preying on confused, frazzled plaintiffs – plaintiffs who may be crying out for a quick infusion of cash. Those plaintiffs face an ever-increasing pile of bills; for medical expenses, to repair automobiles, etc., and they are also likely facing the stress of lost work wages, since they haven’t been able to return to their job due to their injury. Therefore, it is an all too common occurrence for defendants to dangle a carrot of easy, quick cash in front of an injury victim, and those victims, all too often, accept. As a result, the defendant is getting off extremely lightly, and will basically be off the hook from a legal standpoint. Again, if you receive one of these offers and accept it, it will be legally binding. If the defendant in your trucking accident case has offered you an out-of-court settlement, please do not accept it until an experienced Texarkana trucking accident lawyer has had the chance to look it over. The attorneys with Grossman Law Offices know the true monetary value of your case, and can tell you whether or not the defendant’s settlement offer is a fair one.

Trials
There are a variety of reasons that cases do not settle out of court. When that happens, a plaintiff’s only way of getting the just restitution he or she deserves is by taking the case to a trial. Because the injury victim bears the burden of proof in litigation involving a trucking accident, he or she will have the more difficult task of the two sides in a trial. In order to have a chance at winning in a trial, you have to provide compelling evidence to prove each of the four elements of every claim involving a truck accident. These elements, explained in detail below, are duty, breach, causation and damages.

• Duty – In order to establish duty, you, the plaintiff has to prove that the defendant in the case owed that plaintiff a duty to behave in a cautious enough manner so as not to bring harm to you. This is typically a fairly straightforward element, because nearly all people owe all other people the duty to act as would a reasonable person in regard to not harming other people. This could mean not performing unreasonably dangerous actions, or taking distinct precautions in order to protect others from experiencing harm.
• Breach – The next thing you must prove is that the conduct of the defendant resulted in a breach of the duty of care that was owed to you. Should the “reasonable person” duty of care apply in regard to your case, then proving breach means proving the defendant performed some sort of action that a reasonable person would not have performed. In order to establish that a breach occurred, you have to provide evidence to show the court exactly what the defendant either did or did not do. A judge or jury will then consider all of the circumstances surrounding your case and then decide whether or not the actions of the defendant can be considered a breach of the duty of care that you were owed.
• Causation – The third element you must prove is causation. It is not adequate to merely prove that the defendant was in breach of the duty of care you were owed. You must also prove that the actions of the defendant caused the injury you are suffering from. To prove this element, however, you have to have a great deal of rock-solid, compelling evidence. There are multiple entities that play a role in preparing a truck for any kind of trip – an error on the part of any one of them could result in an accident. Because there are so many potentially responsible parties, many defendants will commonly attempt to sway a judge or jury that that another party, or even the plaintiff, was to blame for causing the accident. You will have no chance of winning your lawsuit if you do not produce compelling enough evidence that can put the blame squarely on the defendant.
• Damages – This fourth and final element refers to the monetary amount that you will collect from the defendant should you be successful in establishing the other three elements of your case. Plaintiffs can be compensated for a variety of damages, including loss of earning capacity, lost wages, medical expenses, pain and suffering, and other financial losses incurred due to the accident. However, you must accurately calculate the amount of money that is owed to you, and provide evidence that supports those calculations, in order to be able to win damages. More than likely, the defendant will also calculate how much you are owed, and that number will be significantly smaller than the one you come up with. It is imperative that you present compelling proof that your calculations are correct, and you’re not merely looking for a handout. And you must also prove that the defendant’s calculations are nothing more than, basically, a desperate attempt to avoid taking responsibility for the accident that injured you.

The process by which damages are calculated can often be an incredibly intricate and complex one. Should you still be receiving ongoing medical care, it can be very tough to, on your own, be able to estimate how high your medical expenses will ultimately get. It is even more difficult to put a “price tag,” so to speak, on the more subjective types of damages such as pain and suffering. And it can be even more difficult to try and accurately calculate your long-term losses such as loss of future earning potential, because you have to consider the value of money over time, potential merit raises, possible raises you may get for taking certain educational courses, and other factors. However, the Texarkana trucking accident attorneys with Grossman Law Offices are very familiar with how to calculate damages, since we’ve been doing it for the last two decades. We know how much a judge or jury will likely decide how much your case is worth, and can make sure you do not get shortchanged.

Our Texarkana trucking accident lawyers are here to help you, whether your case reaches an out-of-court settlement or it goes to trial. We know how to compel the defense into making our clients settlement offers that are fair, and also know how to devise strong strategies should the case have to wind up in court.

Determining the defendant
As is the case in any form of litigation, one of the first steps in a trucking accident case is to determine the defendant. Doing so in truck accident litigation can be especially difficult, since, as we mentioned previously, there are so many parties that have an involvement in getting a truck ready for a trip. And one or more of them can commit an error that can result in an accident that causes injuries or deaths. And more than one error can be committed by more than one party. Should it be determined that more than one entity played a role in your accident, you can take action against all of them, and all of them can be defendants in your lawsuit.

Some of these potentially responsible parties include the company that planned the truck’s route, the company responsible for loading the truck, the manufacturer of the truck or certain parts of the truck, and, of course, the trucking company and the truck driver.

The Company that Planned the Truck’s Route
Of course, there are certain roads that a typical automobile can travel that an 18-wheeler cannot, or at least should not, travel. There are height, weight and cargo restrictions regarding many roads, tunnels and bridges that must be taken into consideration when the route of a truck is planned. Because of these complexities, many trucking companies choose to hire outside firms to plan truck routes. Should this company make an error in planning a route, such as ignoring vital road or bridge restrictions that can lead to a dangerous accident, that company can be held accountable for any injuries that occur.

The Company that Loaded the Truck
Often times, a truck is not dangerous on its own. Rather, the manner in which that truck is loaded can present the danger. Most trucks, by law, cannot drive with a load in excess of 80,000 pounds. However, there are a lot of companies that, in an attempt to save time and trips, will overload a truck’s trailer. And when this occurs, a truck is more susceptible to tipping over when it comes around a turn. There are other instances where a company responsible for loading a truck will do an inadequate job of fastening cargo to a flatbed trailer. As a result, inadequately loaded cargo can loosen from the flatbed and lead to an accident that causes an injury. If your accident was caused by improperly loaded or overloaded cargo, then you can sue the company that was responsible for loading the truck.

Manufacturers

There are times where a trucking accident is caused by a manufacturer that produces parts with either manufacturing flaws or defects in design. There are lots of parts that comprise a truck, as is the case with most other vehicles, and all of these parts have to operate correctly in order for the truck to be roadworthy and safe. If, for example, the truck’s tires, or the straps designed to secure the cargo, are flawed in some manner and therefore unsafe, fellow motorists could be put in significant danger. If the manufacturer is in some way responsible for the defects or flaws of these incredibly vital parts, and an accident occurs, then that manufacturer could be held liable for any injuries that result.

The Trucking Company
While the truck driver is typically the most directly responsible party when an accident takes place, it is rare that the driver shoulders the entirety of the blame. Normally, an injury victim can sue not only the driver, but also the company that owns the truck and employs the driver. Two legal theories exist that allow this to happen. The theory of “direct liability” enables plaintiffs to hold the company that owns the truck liable for the accident that occurred. If the trucking company is guilty of negligence, and the negligence led to the accident that caused your injury, then the trucking company is considered directly liable. For instance, if the company that owns the truck was negligent in properly maintaining the truck’s braking system, and a brake failure led to the accident that caused your injury, then you might be able to hold the company that owns the truck directly liable for their negligence in causing the accident.

There are other times where a trucking company did not appear to do anything wrong, and that all the blame for the accident lies with the truck driver. However, under the theory of “vicarious liability,” the company that owns the truck can still be held responsible. A legal doctrine known as “respondeat superior” allows this to happen. This Latin term “respondeat superior” simply means that employers are responsible for the workplace actions of their employees, whether or not the company itself did anything wrong. In the case of an accident involving a truck, this means you can sue the trucking company as well as the driver.

The Truck Driver
Again, the driver of the truck will normally be the party most directly responsible for causing an accident to occur. Truckers can make all kinds of mistakes, both on the road and off of it. They can ignore stop signs, recklessly speed, and make turns that are illegal – basically, drive in a careless manner and pose a substantial threat to all of the other motorists on the road. Often times, though, the biggest mistakes made by truckers have little to do with the actual task of driving. They can skip mandatory rest breaks in order to meet often unfairly stringent deadlines. When this occurs, those drivers exponentially increase the chances that they will fall asleep behind the wheel and cause a devastating accident. Other drivers will take illegal stimulants in an effort to stay awake, posing a danger as well. And, as unbelievable as it may seem, we have seen many instances where a driver was flat-out drunk and caused an accident. Whatever the reason, if a trucker decided to make his or her delivery schedule more of a priority than your safety, or was intoxicated in some fashion, then you can initiate legal action against that careless driver.

These parties – route-planning companies, cargo-loading companies, parts manufacturers, trucking companies and truck drivers – are just a few of the many potentially responsible entities that can be sued in the event of an accident. But you have to determine exactly which party or parties were responsible for your injury in order to have any chance at getting fair compensation for the losses that you have incurred.

The Critical Importance of a Thorough Investigation
Once an accident involving an 18-wheeler takes place, it is vital that a thorough investigation is launched into all of the circumstances that surround it. Such an investigation will not only help you identify the cause of the accident and help you determine responsibility, it will also enable you to collect the critical evidence that will be necessary to prove your case in a court of law. As was previously mentioned, the plaintiff in a truck accident case bears the burden of proof. The court does not want to simply be told how to decide a case; judges and juries need to be able to see, touch and hear evidence that supports your case. The compelling evidence that can be produced by a detailed investigation can make the difference between you winning your case and leaving the courtroom with nothing.

The Texarkana trucking accident attorneys with Grossman Law Offices are intimately familiar with how to conduct a painstakingly detailed investigation. Our standard procedure is to immediately race to the scene of an accident in nearly every single trucking accident we take. Once we arrive at the scene, we immediately begin working to uncover evidence. There are all kinds of items that can be of immense help to you in proving your case, including physical evidence such as pieces of wreckage and skid marks, statements of witnesses, photographs and video evidence, police reports, test results and much more. We can find this evidence and preserve in a manner that it can be used in court to prove your case.

However, you have to be aware that the other side in your case will be doing almost the exact same thing. Representatives for the defense will also visit the accident scene and pore through wreckage, looking for any sliver of evidence that they can use to suggest you, yourself were the cause of the accident. These defense operatives are normally sent to an accident scene almost immediately after it occurs. They will have with them investigators and other professionals who are experts in re-creating accidents. They know they need to begin their investigation as quickly as possible, because the longer it takes them to start looking for evidence, the better the chances that the evidence they are looking for will have been altered or even disappeared completely.

There is one recent case that our firm handled that illustrates the need for quickly launching an investigation. In this case, our client had been blamed for an accident that took place at night, when his car hit a truck. The defense maintained that our client was to blame because the car he was driving had no headlights. When we were called to represent him, we immediately went to the salvage yard where the remnants of his car had been sent. Sure enough, we discovered that, his car, indeed, had no headlights. We were not satisfied by merely seeing that the car was missing its headlights, so we decided to check the salvage yard’s security cameras. While looking at surveillance tapes, we aw that a representative of the defendant had entered the salvage yard and removed the headlights from the car that belonged to our client. Armed with this critical evidence, we were able to expose the underhanded attempt by the defense to avoid responsibility. That footage was scheduled to be taped over 24 hours later; if we had not immediately launched that investigation, that critical evidence may have been lost forever.

We cannot stress enough the importance of quickly conducting an investigation; the defense has already started, so you have to start as fast as possible. Again, evidence tends to disappear once an accident takes place due to weather conditions and other factors. Plus, witnesses’ memories can become cloudy or they will simply decide they no longer want to get involved. Our attorneys can normally build extremely strong cases even if we are not contacted for months after an accident takes place. However, the best cases normally ensue when we are immediately called. Please do not waste any time in contacting an experienced Texarkana trucking accident lawyer. We know the turmoil you are going through, but time is of the essence.

Hurdles You will Encounter
Many of the clients who we represent at Grossman Law Offices are very business-savvy and sophisticated. They could easily pick up a book or do some Internet research and learn the law. However, there is much, much more to emerging successful in a truck accident case than just having an understanding of the law. If you choose to pursue legal action on your own, you can almost guarantee that you will either get nowhere close to the compensation that you deserve, or you will leave that courtroom with nothing at all. And that could be the worst mistake you’ll ever make in your life – you will be on your own in paying for your crushing medical and other expenses. And you will not get a second chance.

Here are a few of the obstacles that injury victims who choose to represent themselves often fall prey to in trucking accident litigation.

Truck Drivers Who Lie
Defendants always have a reason to lie, no matter the kind of litigation in which they are involved. However, truck drivers have even more motivation than normal to lie, because their livelihood will likely depend on them doing so. If a trucker is found responsible for an accident, that is the kind of black mark that can force them into another line of work. They will not only lose their job – in all likelihood, they will not be hired by another trucking company. So, if given the choice between lying or losing their job and not being able to provide for their family, many truck drivers will try and shift the blame for the accident to the injury victim. And if you cannot prove that the truck driver is indeed lying, then you will have no chance to win your case.

The Texarkana trucking accident attorneys with Grossman Law Offices know how to get through the lies truck drivers tell and get to the truth. There are many times where we can gather immense amounts of evidence and expose the driver’s lies. When we produce witness statements, forensic test results and video surveillance footage that all corroborate your account of the events that took place, the truck driver will likely lose all credibility in the eyes of a judge or jury. Many times, we can get to the truth through witness depositions. A deposition is where the attorney of the plaintiff is allowed to ask questions of the defendant’s witnesses. We have taken thousands of such depositions over the last two decades, and have developed extremely effective questioning techniques that will often compel a truck driver to tell the truth – often long before a trial is even scheduled to begin.

Policies of Large Insurance Companies
Trucking companies are required by law to have insurance on their vehicles. The value of these policies can dwarf those of typical automobile policies – often being worth 50 times as much. Therefore, an insurance carrier could lose 50 times more money in the event of a trucking accident than it would after a “normal” automobile accident. It only follows logically, then, that the carrier would devote 50 times the resources and fight 50 times harder to defend such a policy in order to avoid having to pay. It should be evident, then, that it can be far tougher to get just compensation from a truck insurance policy than it would be an everyday automobile insurance policy.

So since they have such a vested interest in protecting this kind of policy, they will do whatever they can to keep you from winning your case. They will employ high-powered insurance adjusters for just this reason. These professionals are the kind of adjuster you may have encountered after a small fender-bender. They are seasoned and ruthless, and view you as an enemy. They got to where they are by saving their company millions of dollars through denying claims just like yours. Typically, they only respect a seasoned and experienced Texarkana trucking accident attorney.

This kind of adjuster will initially seem very nice to you. They’ll just want to ask you a few seemingly innocuous questions regarding the accident. But be very, very careful – their only true intent is to trick you into admitting the accident was your fault, or get you to otherwise say something that could be used against you in court. They will record the conversation, and then take whatever you say out of context in order to kill your claim. Basically, it is best that you simply refuse to talk to them. The attorneys at Grossman Law Offices make sure their clients are shielded from adjusters and their badgering, often intimidating tactics. We field those calls instead so that your words can never come back to hurt your case in court.

Large insurance carriers also employ highly trained and expert defense lawyers to protect their policies. These lawyers know insurance law like the back of their hand, and are intimately familiar with all the legal technicalities that can lead to your suit being thrown out of court should you either represent yourself or rely on an inexperienced attorney. Grossman Law Offices lawyers have dealt with large insurance companies for 20 years, so we know the kinds of tactics they use and the kinds of tricks they like to try and play. We know how to defeat them, and defeat them handily.

Self-Insured Trucking Companies
There are some instances where a trucking accident will not include an insurance carrier. Sometimes, trucking companies choose to simply insure themselves, and they do so by setting aside some of their assets should they have to pay a plaintiff through either an out-of-court settlement of after losing a lawsuit. Should the trucking company involved in your accident be a self-employed company, then you will likely not encounter the kind of insurance adjuster mentioned above. Rather, you will be probably dealing with an officer of the trucking company. And if you thought insurance adjusters were bad, they’re nothing compared to an officer of a self-employed trucking company.

These people are normally paid through their trucking company’s profit-sharing program, so they make more money when the trucking company makes more money. If that company loses an accident lawsuit, that cuts into the profits, obviously. It follows, then, that the company officer would lose money as well. So this person will be extremely highly motivated to deny your claim. That officer will be much more concerned with his or her financial well being than yours, so he or she will be personally motivated to make sure you don’t get a dime.

Even though insurance adjusters can be intimidating and harassing, at least they are licensed, and as a requirement of that license, they are required to follow a code of ethics. Officers with self-insured trucking companies are under no such obligation, so their behavior is not governed. Clients often turn to us for help after suffering the harassment of these people. Not only are they known for employing harassing tactics to try and bully injury victims, many of them are not above altering evidence or employing other unethical schemes to defeat your case. If you need relief from these unethical actions, please call the Texarkana trucking accident lawyers at Grossman Law Offices. We will put a stop to that nonsense immediately.

How Grossman Law Offices can Help You
There are many things that a seasoned and skilled Texarkana trucking accident attorney can do to help you obtain the just restitution you deserve for the injury you have suffered. One of the things we do immediately is to make sure that our clients get the medical assistance they need. Even if you do not have insurance, or you are under-insured, we can help you find the necessary medical care. We have excellent relationships with several medical professionals in East Texas, and we can often get you the help you need at no cost to you. These medical practitioners will do this because they know our track record for success, and thus know they will most likely be reimbursed for the treatment they provide to you.

The next thing we do, as stated above, is quickly launch a detailed investigation in order to uncover the evidence you need to prove your case. Not only that, but we also take care of our clients’ cases every step of the way, and keep them informed as well. We take the litigation off of your plate so you can focus on recovering from the injury or injuries you incurred in the accident, and get your life back on track as soon as possible.

Here are just some of the services we offer our clients in every trucking accident case we take:

• Launch an investigation into the cause of the accident;
• Collect the vital evidence you need to satisfy your burden of proof;
• Put our reputation for winning cases to work for you by compelling defendants into offering a fair settlement offer;
• Develop a rock-solid trial strategy;
• Put our knowledge of court procedures to use in order to ensure your case is not dismissed by a judge;
• Field all calls from insurance adjusters so you are not exposed to their intimidating, badgering and harassing tactics;
• Expose the lies truck drivers will tell in an attempt to save their job by shifting blame to you; and
• Shield you from the often times unethical methods used by officers of self-insured trucking companies to defeat your case.

Again, these are just a few ways that the Texarkana trucking accident lawyers with Grossman Law Offices help our clients. We want to take all the stress involved with litigation off of your plate so you can focus on getting well and getting back to a normal life. If you would like to find out more about how we can help you, or to get a free and confidential consultation concerning the specific circumstances surrounding your case, please call us as soon as possible at 1-855-239-1290 (toll free). We are on hand 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and we will gladly answer any questions you may have.

Texarkana Truck Accident Attorney Michael Grossman Discusses Semi-Truck Wrecks in East Texas
No matter where you travel on the highways in and around Texarkana, you’re going to encounter big rigs; they are a constant presence on the road. And even though they can be annoying to some fellow motorists and intimidating to others, they perform the vital function of transporting goods from the Texarkana area to all points of the state of Texas and across the country. They are ever present, day and night.

Behind the wheel of each big rig is a trucker who spends hours at a time behind the wheel and logs thousands of miles. Multiply the immense number of big rigs on the road by the number of potentially exhausted drivers piloting them, and it is easy to see why accidents, injuries and deaths are, unfortunately, a relatively common occurrence.

If you or someone you love has been injured or killed as the result of an 18-wheeler accident, the Texarkana big rig accident attorneys with Grossman Law Offices are here to help you understand what kinds of legal avenues you may be able to pursue. We empathize with the emotional trauma you have experienced. However, your problems may only be beginning. Dealing with the litigation you will have to undertake in order to obtain the fair restitution you deserve can be a cause for even more suffering and distress – should you try and take on this incredible responsibility by yourself. In this article, we will provide you information that is designed to explain the intricate and complex nature of big rig accident litigation, and how you can win just compensation for everything that you have had to go through.

Who is to Blame for the Accident?
The first thing that has to take place in the event that you are involved in an accident with a big rig is to accurately determine who is to blame for that accident. There are many cases involving big rigs where there is more than one defendant. The legal concept known as respondeat superior mandates that all employers in the state of Texas are liable for the job-related actions or inactions of their employees. In the case of a big rig accident, then, there are multiple defendants that can be held responsible for various forms of negligent acts that are committed that result in an accident occurring.

For example, in most big rig accidents, the driver, obviously, is the first party to which blame will be attached. He or she could have been driving under the influence of some kind of drug. If that proves to be the case, then that driver’s employer can be held liable as well for negligently testing the driver for narcotics. In another example, the company responsible for planning a truck’s route can also be held liable if that truck, for example, collides with a bridge that has too low of a clearance for the rig. Or the company could have sent that rig into an area that is not zoned for trucking, and be liable for any accident that involved the rig that occurred in that area. Still another example is that of a company that is charged with loading a truck’s cargo, but improperly secures the cargo and causes an accident. We bring you these examples to illustrate how easily there could be multiple parties against which you can take legal action in the event of an accident taking place. And each of them could be independently liable.

But to have any chance in obtaining the just restitution you have coming to you from all the potentially liable parties involved in your accident, you need the skill and experience of a Texarkana big rig accident lawyer who will protect your rights. Such an attorney is well seasoned in investigating the cause of a big rig accident and helping you accurately assess blame. The driver of the 18-wheeler obviously seems to be one responsible party, but was his or her negligence the true cause of the accident, or did a critical mechanical part malfunction? Was the cargo that the truck was transporting properly secured, or did it come loose and cause the accident? Did the truck hit a low bridge because the company planning the big rig’s route did an inadequate job? It is very rare to be able to quickly and easily determine all the parties to blame in a big rig accident case. That is why you need an experienced Texarkana big rig attorney who can not only make sure everyone to blame for the accident is held accountable, but to accurately determine the degree to which each party is to blame, so that damages can be properly assessed.

Can an Accident Victim Self-Represent?
It is quite legal, of course, for the victim of a big rig accident to represent himself or herself in the ensuing litigation – but it is never recommended. We’re sure you’ve heard of the old saying, “someone who represents himself in court has a fool for a client.” That saying has survived all of these decades because it is true. The road to either settling a big rig accident case out of court or successfully taking it to a trial is fraught with complexity and, in some cases, treachery. Would you perform knee surgery on your son? Would you try and build a Ferrari by yourself in your garage? Of course you would not; you do not have the skills required, skills that take many years to develop and hone. The same is true for trying to litigate a big rig accident case. You will see several illustrations in this article why it is imperative that you enlist the assistance of a skilled and seasoned Texarkana big rig accident lawyer in order to get the just compensation you deserve.

Dealing with a Large Corporation
Trucking companies are mandated by federal law to purchase extremely expensive insurance policies to protect themselves from the inevitable litigation that will stem from inevitable accidents. A lot of people are under the erroneous belief that since the trucking company is insured, getting compensation will be a quick and easy process. In reality, however, nothing could be further from the truth. Insurance companies could not care less about how badly you are hurt, or how much you have lost financially and otherwise due to the accident. They care only about their bottom line, and their interests will always be diametrically opposed to yours. In fact, the worse you are injured, the harder they will fight to defeat your claim. The reason is that the monetary amounts associated with severe injury and death claims can reach astronomical heights, and significantly damage an insurance company’s bottom line. If the insurance company capitulates to your demands, it is setting a precedent and will have to do the same in the next case, the next case, the next case after that, and so on. So they will do everything in their power to make sure they defeat your case.

Texas personal injury law flows from the Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code, and that code allows the victim or loved ones of a victim of a personal injury or wrongful death due to a big rig accident to try and obtain restitution for the harm that has befallen the victim. But that victim, known as the plaintiff in legal parlance, has to bear the burden of proof and establish that the defendant was responsible for the accident taking place. The victim must also prove that the amount of restitution that is being sought is an equitable monetary amount. The insurance company, on the other hand, will either attempt to have the claim denied flat-out or argue that the amount of compensation sought is too high. The best chance you have at getting the just compensation you deserve is by hiring a skilled and seasoned Texarkana big rig accident attorney who is adept in the fine art of dealing with huge trucking and insurance companies.

The High-Powered Insurance Professional
Before your accident even happened, the insurance company was already prepared for your case. Insurances carriers maintain a staff of legal specialists, and these well-trained and highly paid professionals are devoted to helping that insurer protect its profit margins. These specialists are experts in dealing with personal injury litigation, and they have at their disposal a large bag of tricks they can use to sway a judge or jury to the side of the insurance company. These defense lawyers will typically speed to the scene of an accident almost immediately after it takes place in order to launch an investigation. The main purpose of the investigation is to gather critical evidence the defense will need to prove that the injury victim was the cause of the accident so that the insurer can build a case before that victim even hires a lawyer. The longer you wait to get an attorney on your side, the more difficult it will be to win your case, because your lawyer will be in the position of having to play catch-up with the opposition. It’s just that simple; as much pain or emotional trauma you may be experiencing, it is imperative that you act quickly and decisively in procuring legal representation.

Never Trust an Insurance Adjuster
The second component of the insurance company’s two-pronged attack on your case will be the insurance adjuster assigned to it. And he or she is just as much your enemy as is the defense lawyer. Shortly after the accident, the adjuster will get in touch with you and act almost as your friend; he or she will give the impression of being much like the adjuster you may encounter after a minor fender-bender. But do not be fooled – this person is another highly skilled professional who is bound and determined to see to it that your case fails. In fact, he or she may have a very substantial bonus riding on it. The adjuster, after gaining your trust, will then all of a sudden change course and pepper you with a series of confusing and misleading questions that are designed to make you trip up and say something that can be construed as an admission of blame in the accident. Once you make that mistake, they will use your words against you and see that your claim is denied. Even if you don’t flat-out say that you were to blame, they will still record the conversation and twist your words in a way that could, conceivably, make it sound like you are accepting responsibility.

Some adjusters are especially adept at convincing an injury victim or bereaved loved one into accepting a settlement offer without the advice of an attorney. They will ask you to sign a form stating that you agree, in exchange for the settlement, to never try and get more money from the defendant at a later date. Not only will the settlement likely be laughably inadequate in relation to the expenses you are incurring, and will incur in the future, you will be forfeiting your rights by accepting it.

The bottom line is to NEVER agree to talk to the defendant’s insurance company adjuster. Many times these adjusters will come down from Chicago or New York, and when they see an unrepresented injury victim sitting alone at the negotiating table, they know right then and there that they have won. They know that there is no chance a non-lawyer will ever beat them. This is yet another reason you need an assertive, passionate and skilled Texarkana big rig accident lawyer by your side. Such a lawyer will protect you from the unscrupulous tactics of an insurance adjuster, and work to compel the insurance carrier to offer you a fair out-of-court settlement. Insurance company professionals will only respond to the threat that an experienced lawyer with a track record of success presents. The attorneys at Grossman Law Offices have defeated nearly every major insurance company in the United States over the past 20 years, so insurers know we are a real threat to them. As a result, they will be much more likely to offer one of our clients a fair settlement rather than risk much more money by trying to tangle with us in a courtroom.

Never Trust a Truck Driver, Either
There is no way that you can ever expect the driver of the truck that caused your accident to admit his or her responsibility. And when you think about it, you can see why. A truck driver found to be at-fault for an accident that results in an injury will more than likely be fired. Not only that, but with a black mark that severe, he or she will probably not be hired by any other trucking company. So that driver will basically have to lie in order to have a chance at keeping his or her job and providing for his or her family. When you think about the state of the economy at this time, you can see why otherwise honorable and reliable people would stoop to lying in order to protect their way of life.

Here’s an illustration of a big rig accident case that involved a lying truck driver. A client who had been injured in an accident with an 18-wheeler hired us, and during our investigation, the driver of the rig said that our client had been driving with his headlights off at the time of the accident; the accident occurred in the evening. Our investigators promptly arrived at the accident scene, and while gathering evidence they noted that a nearby store had a security camera pointing directly at the accident scene. We were able to procure the video, and it showed that, indeed, our client had his headlights on at the time of the accident. We had just caught the driver of the rig in a blatant lie. But, again, this kind of thing is typical in cases involving a big rig accident. If you have an experienced Texarkana big rig accident attorney working for you, he or she will be able to ask the right questions of the driver and expose the lies that driver tries to tell in order to keep a job. During our two decades of handling personal injury litigation, we have questioned thousands of witnesses. As a result, we know how to uncover the truth and help our clients get the just compensation they deserve for the injuries they’ve suffered.

Dealing with a Self-Insured Trucking Company
There are some trucking companies out there that would rather insure themselves than spring for extremely costly policies through a traditional insurance provider. They do this by setting aside a portion of their revenues to protect themselves from a lawsuit once one of their rigs is involved in an accident. These self-insured companies have their own version of an adjuster, and that person is normally an officer of the company. When you have to deal with this person, you’d almost rather that company had purchased traditional insurance. The reason is that a self-insured trucking company officer does not work under the same guidelines as does an insurance adjuster. While the adjuster, in order to keep his or her license, must conform to a code of ethics, self-insured officers are under no such obligation. As a result, self-insured officers are not above using the tactics of harassment and intimidation in order to see that a claim is denied. As motivated as insurance company adjusters may be, self-insured trucking company officers are even more so, since a portion of their salary could be on the line. These officers are, more than likely, part of the trucking company’s profit-sharing program. If the company loses a personal injury lawsuit, those profits are reduced – and therefore, so is the officer’s paycheck. So there are many self-insured officers who are not above trying to alter evidence, badger and bully witnesses, and even threaten witnesses – all in the name of saving their company’s profits. There have been many instances where our lawyers have had to force self-insured companies to cease their underhanded behavior through means of legal action.

Why You Need Legal Help
As we stated previously, it is permissible under the law for an injury victim to represent himself or herself in litigation involving a big rig accident, but it is never advisable. You have basically zero chance of winning your case, and if you lose it could devastate you financially for the rest of your life, since you will be on the hook for all medical expenses and other expenses that you have incurred. It takes more than knowledge of the law in order for you to win a case; you need years of experience in devising successful courtroom strategy, and years of experience negotiating fair settlements so a case doesn’t need to go to trial. You need to know how to answer an interrogatory, prepare a demand packet, respond to a list of admissions, and know all the other steps required in order to follow courtroom procedures to the letter. You don’t know how to do all of that; otherwise you probably wouldn’t be reading this article. You simply must have the help of a seasoned and skilled Texarkana big rig accident lawyer who knows all the complexities and intricacies involved with personal injury litigation in order to have the best chance possible of obtaining the fair restitution that you have coming.

We noted earlier that insurance company representative only respect lawsuits brought against them by attorneys who have a track record of success. The attorneys at Grossman Law Offices have taken on and defeated nearly every major insurance carrier in the nation in the process of winning thousands of cases for our clients. The big insurers know us, they respect us, and will, as stated earlier, oftentimes make a fair settlement offer to our clients rather than gamble on losing much more money by tangling with us in a courtroom.

What You Need to Do First
We understand you are going through an incredibly trying time. However, you have to try and clear your head and act decisively in order to stand the best chance possible of getting the fair restitution you deserve. The first thing we strongly urge you to do is to hire an attorney who can act quickly and preserve the integrity of the accident scene in order to gather evidence. The faster your lawyer can start an investigation, the better chance he or she will have of proving the validity of your claim. The longer you wait, the more evidence will be lost. Witnesses’ memories can become cloudy, or they can decide they no longer want to get involved. Physical evidence such as skid marks can fade due to weather and other factors. Any existing video evidence can be taped over or otherwise disappear. The attorneys with Grossman Law Offices begin every single accident case by launching a detailed investigation into the accident scene and gather evidence that will prove the negligence of the trucking company and the truck driver. We measure the skid marks, and the distance between those skid marks and the impact point. We depose witnesses, sequester and inspect all the vehicles involved in the accident, seek photographic and/or video evidence, and then preserve and catalog all that evidence in a manner that will be admissible in court. We will spare no investigatory resource in order to prove your case and help you win fair restitution.

Here’s an example that illustrates the critical need for a quickly launched investigation. We once represented two men in a big rig accident case, one man, the driver, was killed, and the other was severely injured when riding as the passenger in the car. The big rig driver who caused the accident had left his trailer stretched across the road, making it impossible for anyone to safely pass the rig; unfortunately, this is a common occurrence. It was dark at the time of the accident, and our client, as he was rounding a bend, could only see the truck’s taillights by the side of the road. The driver of the car could not see the trailer, and as a result crashed into it. The impact sheared the roof off of his car, immediately killing the driver and leaving the passenger in a fight for his life. We were hired the next day and quickly rushed to the accident site in order to start our investigation. By the time we arrived, our client’s car had been sent to a salvage yard, so we went there to inspect the wreckage and take pictures. As we looked at the car we noticed it had no headlights. We spotted a security camera in the salvage yard and were able to procure the video. And on that video, we saw a trucking company operative actually removing the car’s headlights. Thanks to the video, we were able to expose the trucking company’s disgusting attempt at altering evidence in an attempt to make it look like our client had been driving without headlights.

If we had not discovered that video evidence, it would have been exceedingly difficult to win the case. And that video evidence was slated to soon disappear, because the salvage yard cameras erase their footage every 48 hours. If we had not been hired at the time we were, the case would have more than likely been lost. But since we were able to uncover that video footage, we were able to make the trucking company pay dearly for its disgusting attempt to alter that evidence.

We Can Help You
The Texarkana big rig accident lawyers with Grossman Law Offices have put their skill and experience to work and helped thousands of clients win millions of millions of dollars in personal injury compensation.

If you or a loved one has suffered due to an accident caused by the negligence of a big rig driver as well as other potentially responsible parties, we can help you get the just compensation you deserve. Please call us as soon as possible at 1-855-239-1290 (toll free) for a confidential and free consultation. We will listen to the specific circumstances surrounding your accident, gladly answer any questions you may have, and discuss with you the strength of your case.

Truck Accident Lawyer Michael Grossman Explains Why You Should Never Trust the Insurance Company After an Accident

It’s simple advice that’s been proven time and time again in the many cases Grossman Law Offices has seen over our twenty years or practicing law: Don’t trust the insurance company. You may have already gone through a negative experience with an insurance agent or insurance company.

On the other hand, maybe you’ve never had to deal with an insurance agent and aren’t aware of the possible pitfalls that can occur when seeking compensation for a claim. In either case, there are many instances where the interests of the insurance company often outweigh your best interests. In other words, some insurance agents might not be quite like a good neighbor. Because insurance agencies are still a for-profit business, this often means that, if an insurance agent can deny our greatly lessen your claim, they stand to save their company the most amount possible. In other words, your loss is often their gain. The Texas truck accident law firm of Grossman Law Offices provides the following story as proof that you shouldn’t automatically trust the insurance company.

When An Insurance Company Takes Advantage
As an example of the statement, “Don’t trust the insurance company,” a woman once contacted Grossman Law Offices after her husband and the father of her children was killed while changing a flat tire on the side of the road by a reckless 18-wheeler driver. Because the truck driver knew he was at fault, he contacted his company, and his company subsequently contacted their insurance company. This insurance company then quickly deployed a team of highly trained professionals, involving accident recreation specialists, defense attorneys, and top-notch insurance agents, to the field in order to pursue all possible routes towards vindicating the negligent driver. However, this team was unsuccessful at disproving the driver’s fault at the scene of the accident.

But insurance agencies, especially in the case of accidents involving 18-wheelers where large sums of money are on the line, seldom give up so easily. Employing an oft-used tactic that preys on the emotional vulnerability of those in the initial stages of the grief process, this particular insurance agency sent an agent to visit the recently bereaved woman while she was at the morgue identifying her husband’s body. Hoping to catch her during this understandably difficult time, the insurance agent was attempting to get her to agree to a settlement offer that was far less than fair. Fortunately for the woman, her brother was also there and was able to escort the offensive insurance agent away from his sister. This is a common tactic that often results in an aggrieved party agreeing to a less than fair settlement because they were not in the right emotional or mental state to make a rational decision regarding their legal rights. If you ever happen to be in the same circumstances, it’s in your best interests to contact competent legal help before agreeing to any settlement offered by an insurance agent. As a reminder, it’s best to have a healthy skepticism when it comes to what an insurance agent may be offering you, or, in other words, don’t trust the insurance company.

The sage continues. The lady who lost her husband because of a negligent truck driver simply wanted fair compensation in order to take care of herself and her three children in light of her husband’s death. Assuming that this was quite fair grounds for compensation, she agreed to later meet face-to-face with an insurance adjuster. This seemingly innocuous meeting would eventually be the undoing of any possible legal remedies she could have sought in a wrongful death lawsuit.

For starters, the insurance agent blatantly lied to her that she would only receive compensation for her husband’s lost wages if she chose to sue the insurance company. The agent was fully aware of his lie, but the woman believed he was telling the truth. The truth was that many different types of damages could be sought in such a case, including loss of future earnings, which would have likely greatly increased the amount of compensation this lady could have received. Because she believed the insurance agent honestly had her best interests at heart and was telling her the truth, she stood to lose a sizable, and justly due, amount of compensation because of her innocent and trusting nature. Since she was under the impression that this was the only way she would ever receive any type of compensation, and that this would be the only way in which she’d be able to take care of herself and her family, she was on the brink of signing the insurance agent’s prepared papers in order to agree to the settlement.

However, she still had some misgivings about the situation and asked if she could speak with a lawyer before signing the papers. Rather quickly after that moment, an attorney arrived at her door, looked over the papers, and agreed that the settlement was fair and likely all she would receive. Because of this “outside” source of knowledge, she signed the papers, agreeing to a paltry settlement that was far less than what was fair or necessary for her to able to provide for herself or her family. What she was not aware of in this particular situation was the fact that the lawyer who happened to appear at her house at the right time was in fact hired by the insurance company to do exactly what he did. In other words, the “outside” attorney was in fact “on the inside” and was going to always agree that the settlement was just and all she could hope for. Her innocence in dealing with insurance companies was taken advantage of, and she wound up losing immense amounts of possibly compensation because of it.

Unfortunately, by the time the wrongful death attorneys at Grossman Law Offices had been contacted by this woman and told about her case, we were unable to assist her as she’d already signed proper documentation. By accepting a settlement, she was then legally prevented from bringing a lawsuit against the negligent driver’s insurance company. Had she contacted us at anytime prior to signing the dotted line, we would have likely been able to help her see all of her possibly legal remedies, and she would have known that she should have likely been compensated for her husband’s loss of future earnings, her own pain and suffering, and funeral expenses. She could have stood the chance to have received over a million dollars in compensation for everything the she had been through. However, because of the often unscrupulous and unethical tactics of some insurance companies, and because she believed the lie that her best interests were being looked after by these insurance companies, she wound up with a settlement that included only a few years of her husband’s lost wages that eventually devolved to a measly $600 per month once her children became independents. The sad but true conclusion to this story isn’t that she lost so much, but that the insurance adjuster involved likely received a raise, a bonus, or a promotion for what they did.

Get Legal Help from Grossman Law Offices Before Dealing with an Insurance Company
Don’t let what happened in the story above happen to you. By contacting Grossman Law Offices quickly in the aftermath of a personal injury, auto accident, or wrongful death case, you can be sure that will work assiduously to protect you from the sometimes unethical treatment and tactics used by some insurance companies. Especially as the stakes of an accident case escalate, such as in the event of a wrongful death, it’s vitally important to have experienced legal help on your side to ensure that insurance companies are held liable for the policies they provide to their clients and for their clients’ negligence. Grossman Law Offices has two decades’ worth of experience in personal injury and wrongful death law, as well as a proven track record of success in seeking full and fair compensation for our clients. Call us for a free consultation, especially if you think you might be in over your head dealing with an insurance company. We will listen to the details of your case and inform you as to your possible legal remedies for compensation. Above all, remember one thing: Don’t trust the insurance company. They may not always be on your side, but the Texas personal injury and wrongful death law firm of Grossman Law Offices is.