Texarkana Flatbed Truck Accident Attorney Michael Grossman on Texas Falling Cargo Accidents
As dangerous as accidents involving massive 18-wheeler trucks can be, accidents involving flatbed trailers can be even more devastating. The cargo carried by flatbed trailers is usually extremely large and bulky; so much so that it cannot be carried by the typical trailer of a regular truck.
The flatbed trailers traveling on the major roads in and around Texarkana can haul all kinds of huge, odd-shaped objects. They can include manufactured homes, extremely long pipes and even windmill blades. All of these objects hauled by flatbed trailers can pose a significant risk to other motorists on the road if they are loaded in an improper fashion.
If you have suffered an injury in an accident involving either a flatbed trailer or the cargo that is was hauling, then you will probably be able to pursue restitution for the injuries you have incurred. You should contact a Texarkana flatbed trailer accident attorney to fully comprehend your rights. This article is designed to provide you information as to the parties you can take legal action against in a flatbed trailer accident case, the common obstacles that will block your path to securing compensation, and how a Texarkana flatbed trailer accident attorney can help you. This article, however, is not designed to replace the counsel of an actual lawyer.
Who is Liable for the Injuries you have Suffered?
In an accident involving a flatbed trailer, there may be more than one party that might be responsible for the injuries you have suffered. You were only injured once, of course, but you can take legal action against each and every person or entity that in some way contributed to the accident, and sue each of them for the same amount of damages. A Texarkana flatbed trailer accident attorney will launch a thorough investigation of the accident scene, and all of the circumstances surrounding the accident, in order to determine who was to blame for your injuries.
The most obvious responsible party is, of course, the driver of the truck that caused your accident. Many truckers, in order to make a living, are required to drive an incredible number of miles and meet rigid deadlines. Although the law requires them to take rest stops on a regular basis, many of them ignore that requirement and drive on without proper rest. And when a distracted or exhausted driver is behind the wheel of one of these immense flatbeds, then a devastating accident can occur that can result in debilitating injuries or death.
If you sue the driver, however, that is just the first of what could potentially be several legal actions you take. Almost every time that it is determined that a careless driver causes an accident, the injury victim can also sue the company that hired that driver as well. This can be a significant benefit to you, as trucking companies normally have extensive cash reserves that can lead to you obtaining just compensation for the injuries you have suffered. Personal injury law in Texas subscribes to the doctrine known as respondeat superior. This theory mandates that an employer is legally liable for any injuries that its employee causes while on the job. What this means, basically, is that even if the employer did nothing wrong, you can still sue the company for the negligence of its employee because of the theory of respondeat superior.
There can also be several other parties that in some way contribute to a flatbed trailer accident. For instance, the company responsible for planning the route of the truck, the company that manufactured the straps used to secure the cargo, the company responsible for securing that cargo and others could be held liable for your injuries. Consider a scenario where a truck is hauling a piece of a modular home that is extremely tall. Say that truck travels under a low bridge, and part of the home is knocked off, strikes your car, and you suffer an injury as a result. You can more than likely sue the company that planned the route and led the truck to go under that bridge. There are other times where the cargo on a flatbed trailer can become loose, even thought that truck was not pushed or hit by anything else. In this case, the straps holding that cargo could have been defective, or the company charged with securing that cargo could have been negligent in the performance of its duties. When this takes place, you might be able to pursue legal action against either one of those companies, or both of them.
Challenges Encountered by Unrepresented Accident Victims
If you fail to secure the help of an experienced Texarkana flatbed trailer accident attorney, there are several hurdles that you will have to surmount in order to obtain the just compensation that you deserve. A seasoned attorney is familiar with what needs to be done in order for you to overcome the obstacles that can put your case at risk. Some of the issues that you will need to be aware of concerning litigation involving a flatbed trailer accident include:
- Determining the source of the cargo.
- Dealing with truck drivers who lie.
- The policies of big insurance companies.
- Trucking companies that are self-insured.
- The burden of proof the plaintiff bears.
Determining the source of the cargo
It is possible that the cause of your accident was cargo that was left lying in the road long after the truck that was hauling it had left the scene. When this takes place, it can be incredibly challenging for inexperienced attorneys to determine the source of the cargo, and basically impossible for someone with no legal background. In order to determine the source of that cargo, or to identify who to take legal action against, you have to first be able to track down the truck that dropped the cargo.
These kinds of cases occur frequently. Cargo often comes loose from a flatbed trailer without a driver even knowing what happened. There are other times that the driver is well aware that the cargo has fallen, but chose not to take the time nor make the effort to try and make sure the cargo was cleaned up, either by calling the police or taking some other action. A Texarkana flatbed trailer accident attorney, however, can help you determine the source of the cargo that caused the accident that injured you.
Dealing with Truck Drivers who Lie
Truck drivers who lie concerning the cause of an accident can be just as formidable a threat to your case as flatbed trailers can be to other motorists on the road. If a driver is found to have caused a flatbed trailer accident, he or she will likely be fired. And with that kind of black mark on his or her record, that driver will find it very difficult to find another job. Considering the state of the economy, it is easy to see why an otherwise trustworthy person would stoop to this kind of desperate act. However, this lie, if successful, will come at the expense of your case, because the blame will shift from the driver to you.
But there are many ways that a seasoned and skilled Texarkana flatbed trailer accident attorney can uncover the lies of a truck driver and ensure that your case is saved. The first way is through collecting vital evidence that can prove the trucker is lying. For instance, in one of our recent cases we were able to secure surveillance footage from a nearby business’ security camera in order to prove our client, contrary to what the trucker claimed, was driving with his headlights on. Secondly, our attorneys can often reveal the truth through a deposition. In a deposition, an attorney is allowed to ask questions of the other side’s witnesses prior to the trial commencing. A skilled attorney can, by asking the correct questions, compel a witness to tell the truth, or expose a witnesses’ attempt at telling a lie. The Texarkana flatbed trailer accident attorneys with Grossman Law Offices have taken thousands of depositions. We will do whatever is necessary to ensure that the judge, jury and insurance company completely know your side of the story.
The policies of big insurance companies
When you possess something that is valuable, you will tend to do whatever you can to protect it, as compared to what you would do to protect things that might not be worth as much. For instance, many of us have insurance on our house, but we wouldn’t insure, say, that 20-year-old lawnmower in the garage. The insurance business works under a similar philosophy. A typical car insurance policy is akin to the old lawnmower, while a flatbed trailer policy is more like a house. As such, insurance providers will often go to extremes in order to protect a flatbed trailer policy, because it can be several times more expensive than the typical automobile policy. If you have suffered an injury due to an accident involving a flatbed trailer, the insurance carrier is well aware that you may be due a substantially higher amount of compensation that you would get if you had been injured in a typical car accident. Therefore, the insurance provider will do whatever it can in order to either pressure you into accepting much less than you have coming in terms of a settlement, or deny your claim flat-out.
Because flatbed trailer policies are so expensive, insurers will dispatch their best adjusters to defend the claim. They will also send a team of expert defense lawyers who are intimately familiar with each and every technicality involving insurance law. This defense team will immediately investigate an accident scene in order to start collecting evidence they will use to attempt to prove the accident was your responsibility. Their adjusters will descend upon you immediately after the accident as well. These aren’t the friendly agents you may encounter after a regular fender-bender. They are, instead, licensed pros who are the very best their profession has to offer. They got to where they are by proving to be very adept at denying claims on a regular basis. These adjusters will make it their mission to make sure your claim is denied as well.
It can be very, very troubling to deal with an insurance company by yourself. The adjuster will constantly badger you in an attempt to admit that the responsibility for the accident lies with you alone. Either that, or they will try to trick you into admitting that you’re not really as hurt as you’re letting on. And when they have a conversation with you, they will record your words and twist those words to suit their purposes by damaging your case and having your claim denied. The Texarkana flatbed trailer accident attorneys with Grossman Law Offices, however, know how to deal with insurance company representatives, and have been doing so successfully over the last two decades. In fact, we have defeated nearly every major insurance carrier in the nation. As a result, they are very familiar with our track record of success, and we can use that reputation to pressure them into making our client a fair settlement offer.
Trucking companies that are self-insured
It can be bad enough dealing with the harassing and sometimes intimidating tactics that insurance adjusters employ. Again, they will constantly call you and try to trick you into admitting you were completely responsible for the flatbed trailer accident, or to admit that you really aren’t hurt that badly. But dealing with a representative of a self-insured trucking company can be even worse if you don’t have a seasoned Texarkana flatbed trailer accident attorney by your side protecting your rights.
Trucking companies, by law, are required to carry insurance on their trucks. But rather than pay the often exorbitant rates necessary to carry insurance through a traditional provider, some trucking companies opt to insure themselves. They do so by putting aside a portion of their revenues to protect them from lawsuits when an accident takes place. Of course, this is perfectly legal.
If you are involved in an accident with a truck that is owned by a self-insured trucking company, you will probably encounter a company officer and not a professional insurance adjuster. That officer is probably part of his or her company’s profit-sharing plan. If the trucking company loses the case, then its profits are reduced. Therefore, that officer will be personally losing money if his or her company loses its case. So you can see the motivation that officer will have to make sure your claim is denied, or that you win as little money as possible. Also, these officers are not licensed as are insurance adjusters, who have to adhere to a code of ethics in order to maintain that license. Self-insured trucking company officers, however, are under no such obligation. Therefore, while an adjuster can be aggressive, a self-insured trucking company officer can be downright harassing. Some officers are not above tampering with evidence or threatening accident witnesses, and even injury victims. But the Texarkana flatbed trailer accident attorneys with Grossman Law Offices know how to put an abrupt start to those underhanded tactics, and we know how to protect our clients from the harassment of self-insured trucking company officers.
The Burden of Proof a Plaintiff Bears
There is another formidable hurdle that the plaintiff in a flatbed trailer accident case has to surmount, and that is bearing his or her burden of proof. As unfair as this may sound, the law in Texas is under the presumption that a defendant owes nothing to a victim. The injury victim has to bear the burden of proof, which means he or she has to provide necessary evidence to prove that he or she should receive damages. Should that plaintiff fail to produce that evidence, then he or she will not collect a thing. In every flatbed trailer accident case, the plaintiff needs to prove four elements in order to win a case. These elements are duty, breach, causation and damages.
- Duty
The first burden the plaintiff has to prove is that the defendant in the case owed the plaintiff a duty of care. This is typically a pretty straightforward element. Every person owes every other person a duty to act in a manner that a reasonable person would act in order to make sure they do not injure another person. In the event of a flatbed trailer accident, the driver of the flatbed owes all other motorists sharing the road the duty of care to drive as a reasonable person would drive. As we mentioned previously, there could be other parties that owe you a duty of care as well, such as the trucking company that hired the driver, the company that loaded the cargo, the company the planned the route the truck took, etc. - Breach
Next, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant breached that duty of care owed to the plaintiff. The plaintiff has to produce evidence that establishes that the defendant acted in a manner that was unreasonable, and harm was caused as a result. Say the driver of the flatbed trailer involved in your accident ran a red light, and you suffered harm as a result. In this case, the driver’s actions would probably be considered unreasonable. - Causation
In order to prove the third element, causation, the plaintiff has to prove that the actions of inaction of a negligent party were the cause of the injury the plaintiff suffered. For example, if your flatbed trailer accident took place because the cargo on the trailer became loose, then you could possibly show duty and breach in that the company that loaded the truck did not properly secure the cargo. However, if that cargo remained in place through the entirety of the accident, then the people who loaded that truck would probably not be to blame for causing your injury, and thus you will not be able to prove causation in this instance. - Damages
The final element you must prove is that you are owed a certain monetary amount of damages that will properly compensate you for the injury that you suffered. The damages you can receive depend upon the “price tag,” so to speak, associated with the injury that you incurred. Of course, you will have to produce proof of this as well. You can’t just tell the judge or jury that, since the accident, you have been in constant pain – in order to prove damages, you have to provide medical proof of that pain, and how much your previous and future medical care will cost. Should you not be able to get back to work, then you will have to accurately calculate how much you have lost in wages, and how much you will lose in potential future earnings. And then you have to calculate the non-tangible damages such as pain and suffering, loss of consortium and others. Can you put a price tag on emotional trauma? If you want to get the maximum compensation that you have coming to you, you had better figure it out, and that can be incredibly difficult without experienced legal representative. If you have an inexperienced attorney, or you try to do this yourself, it will be just about impossible. But the Texarkana flatbed trailer accident attorneys with Grossman Law Offices are very familiar with how to calculate damages, whether they are objective or subjective. Over our 20 years of litigating these kinds of cases, we have more than likely seen several that are quite similar to yours. Once we hear the specific circumstances surrounding your flatbed trailer accident case, we will be able to accurately ascertain the amount of damages that you are entitled to so you get the just compensation you deserve.
It is imperative that you have a skilled and seasoned attorney by your side, whether or not your case goes to trial. The attorneys with Grossman Law Offices are extremely adept at collecting evidence and preparing it in a manner that will satisfy all four elements of your flatbed trailer accident case.
How a Texarkana Flatbed Trailer Accident Attorney Can Help You
If you have suffered an injury due to a flatbed trailer accident, the attorneys with Grossman Law Offices can fight for you and protect your rights. We take care of every single component of your case, from the start to the finish, and keep you completely up to date on how your case is progressing. These are but a few of the services that we provide our clients to help win their case and help them obtain the fair restitution they deserve:
- We launch an immediate investigation into the scene of your accident; going to the scene to collect evidence such as photographs and video, taking measurements, gathering witness statements, and scouring police reports.
- We determine the party that was responsible for the accident, then filing claims against each and every responsible party in order to maximize the compensation you receive.
- We identify the truck that left the scene after dropping cargo that resulted in an accident.
- We collect evidence and take depositions in order to expose the lies of truck drivers.
- We act as a shield between our clients and the insurance company or self-insured trucking company in order to protect our clients from their harassing and intimidating tactics.
- We put our reputation to use in pressuring the insurance company into offering our clients favorable settlements.
- If the insurance company is not willing to offer that fair settlement, we develop a trial strategy to make sure you have to evidence you need to satisfy your burden of proof.
- We make sure that you get the medical attention you need, even if you are uninsured, under-insured or otherwise do not believe you can afford it.
No matter what caused the flatbed trailer accident that led to your injury, whether it was the trucking company’s negligence, the company that planned the route, the company that failed to secure the cargo, or some other reason, please call the Texarkana flatbed trailer accident attorneys with Grossman Law Offices at 1-855-239-1290 (toll free) as soon as you can. We will give you a confidential and free consultation; listening to all the specific circumstances surrounding your case, answering any questions you may have, and evaluating the strength of your case.