Greenville Truck Accident Lawyers

Greenville Truck Accident Lawyers

Commercial truck accidents are notorious for causing devastating injuries. If you’ve been in an accident with a commercial truck, you deserve to pursue compensation for your injuries, pain, and suffering.

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably been seriously injured in a commercial truck accident, whether it involved a box truck, an 18-wheeler, or another type of business vehicle. You’ve probably been unable to work. You may be in a great deal of pain. You are probably searching for someone you can trust to help give you answers about a claim.

We are here to help. Our firm offers free legal advice about truck accident claims. Call our Greenville truck accident lawyers today.

Don’t wait because you worry that you’ll need to pay up front for the information you need. Just call us and get your free legal consultation scheduled as soon as you can.

Our Greenville Truck Accident Lawyers Can Fight for You

Although truck drivers must go through certification processes, commercial trucks cause an average of 500,000 accidents in the United States annually, causing devastating injuries through the sheer force of their mass and acceleration.

The risk of a truck accident is high on a national level, but South Carolinians face a higher risk than most. According to an annual report that used data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, careless driving and speeding make South Carolina one of the most dangerous states in which to drive. If you’ve been in an accident caused by a commercial truck in South Carolina, our team at Christian & Christian Law can help you seek compensation for your injuries, as well as for your pain and suffering.

The two main ways having our Greenville truck accident lawyers on your side greatly benefit your claim are by:

1. Giving you the gift of rest and healing while your lawyers use their professional expertise to take on the insurance company on your behalf.
2. Bringing you maximum possible compensation by protecting the value of your claim. Your Greenville truck accident lawyer can do this in a number of ways:

• Your lawyer knows how to conduct an effective accident investigation. This is necessary to support your claim. An investigation must identify all at-fault parties to ensure you receive all the compensation you deserve. The accident investigation must also establish how the negligence of those parties caused the accident, how the accident injured you, and finally, how your injuries negatively impacted your life. The process of connecting these facts is called establishing causation. This must be done to win your claim.
• The right lawyer can avoid insurance company tactics for lowering your claim’s value. If the insurance company cannot outright deny your claim, they will seek information that allows them to pay you less by blaming as much of the accident on you as possible. The more blame you hold, the less they owe you. There are several ways the insurance company will attempt to do this. One of the ways a lawyer can help protect you is by taking on communications. The sooner you can turn over all communications with the insurance company about your claim to your lawyer, the better. Our Greenville truck accident lawyers know all the tricks and interview tactics the insurance company is likely to use to try and make you sound guilty, confused, or mistaken during a recorded statement. Protect your claim by turning these calls over to your lawyer.
• Your lawyer will be able to accurately figure out your damages, helping to make sure you ask for enough when requesting compensation from the insurance company. This is often a very complex process that involves insurance company formulas. An experienced personal injury attorney knows how to get this right, so you don’t get shortchanged.
• Your attorney will be able to give you guidance about settlement offers. Navigating settlement offers is stressful without the help of an attorney. The insurance company is going to make the lowest possible offer, and without the leverage of a lawyer who can sue if they don’t raise that offer, you may be out of luck on getting more. On the other hand, when the insurance company sees you’ve got a skilled truck accident trial attorney on your side, they’ll know they can’t take advantage of you. They’ll know that if they don’t offer a reasonably fair settlement, they’ll be sued.
• Hiring one of our Greenville truck accident trial lawyers means you can actually sue the insurance company if necessary. If all else fails and the insurance company refuses to offer an adequate settlement, hiring a skilled trial attorney gives you the option of a lawsuit. This is not something you can do if you go it alone, and the insurance company knows it. Thus, people who hire attorneys have much more leverage than those who handle their own claims.

Common Causes of 18-Wheeler Truck Accidents

Accidents can be caused by a range of factors, but the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration notes that there are patterns behind crashes involving large trucks. Some of the most common include speeding, unfamiliarity with the roadway, and driver fatigue, which collectively make up over half of truck crashes. It is the responsibility of the trucking company to make sure their employees are well prepared for the road and that they hold an active Commercial Driver’s License (CDL). If a company has failed to properly train or license their drivers, you may have grounds to file a personal injury lawsuit.

Driver training is just one area in which your case may qualify. Here are some additional accident causes that can entitle you to personal injury damages:

Pressure from the carrier: Unfortunately, many trucking companies place extreme pressure on their drivers to meet deadlines and skip checkpoints. In these cases, driver fatigue is the inevitable result, often leading to tragedies for everyone involved.

Vehicle failure: As with any vehicle, commercial trucks and 18-wheelers are vulnerable to maintenance issues. The carrier is responsible for ensuring the truck is ready for the road, and if they have failed to perform necessary safety checks, our team will work to protect your rights as a driver.

Equipment failure: Large commercial trucks are difficult to maneuver on a good day, some weighing in at over 80,000 pounds and requiring 40% more time to stop than the average car. It should come as no surprise then that equipment failure and brake problems are some of the most common causes of truck accidents.

Illegal maneuvers: While this is one of the less frequent causes of commercial truck crashes, if a driver performs an illegal maneuver that led to an accident, they must be held accountable.

If you believe any of the factors listed above caused your accident — or you are unsure and have questions, please contact our team today. Our skilled truck accident attorneys believe in compassionate representation and in protecting our clients from further suffering. We want to ensure you receive maximum compensation for your trauma.

Common Truck Accident Injuries

Commercial trucks take up a considerable amount of space on the roadways, and because they can weigh over 80,000 pounds, they can easily be deadly in a collision. Those who survive an encounter with a big rig truck or other Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) may be forced to deal with chronic pain and lasting injuries. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) estimates that over 119,000 people sustained injuries in truck accidents in 2016, and that pattern has stayed mostly unchanged. If you’re one of the thousands of people afflicted by truck accident injuries, our Greenville truck accident lawyers are here to help you.

Here are some of the most common truck accident injuries to be aware of:

• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): The force of a truck accident can lead to traumatic brain injury, which ranges in severity from mild concussion-like symptoms to permanent brain damage. TBI causes confusion, memory loss, and headaches, and it may require long-term medical attention.
• Neck and back injury: “Whiplash” is one of the most common conditions experienced after a truck accident, and it occurs when the neck is moved rapidly or thrown back by impact. Because the neck is so delicate, even light cases of whiplash can take months to truly heal, and more serious cases can render the back and neck permanently damaged.
• Damage to the spinal cord: Because it is the body’s communication system, damage to your spinal cord can affect every aspect of your life. Spinal cord injuries demand constant care and occupational therapy, and may still result in paraplegia.
• Internal bleeding: In the event of a truck accident, the passenger’s body may be struck by moving objects inside the car as it comes to a sudden halt. This often causes internal bleeding and bruising, and in some cases, organ damage.
• Injuries to the abdomen: Abdominal injuries, whether blunt force or penetrating, can rupture abdominal organs and lead to internal bleeding. These are sometimes caused by the airbag deploying upon collision with a truck.
• Loss of motor skills: Some truck accident victims experience a loss of their core motor functions. It can take years to regain full control over their limbs, and in more severe cases, the victim becomes permanently paralyzed or disabled.
• Lacerations: When the massive weight and metal framework of a big rig encounters a smaller passenger car, there are often sharp edges that can pierce the skin. These lacerations can cause scarring and exterior bleeding, as well as internal damage.
• Broken or fractured bones: Bones put under severe pressure may fracture or break, and the impact from a truck accident exerts just that kind of severe pressure. It can take years to recover from bone injuries, and the bone is rarely the same afterward.

Truck Accident Negligence

The Greenville truck accident lawyers at Christian & Christian Law provide tenacious representation to clients who have been injured in commercial truck wrecks. Whatever your situation, we will work hard to gather evidence and build your case.

Proving negligence in a truck accident can be tricky, but our Greenville truck accident lawyers have more than a century of combined legal experience. We will analyze your options, investigate the crash, and help you pursue justice from those responsible. Call our office today to schedule your free consultation.

Understanding Truck Driver Negligence

Truck drivers owe a duty of care to others on the road. This means they must drive in a reasonably safe manner and obey all state and federal traffic laws. Failure to do so could lead to a serious accident. Truck drivers must also comply with FMCSA regulations, which include mandatory rest breaks and vehicle inspections before and after each trip.

Truck drivers may be held liable for:

• Driving while intoxicated with alcohol or drugs
• Failing to take mandatory rest breaks
• Speeding or failing to use turn signals
• Driving while using a cell phone
• Failing to properly secure cargo: Improperly secured cargo could fly off and hit other vehicles on the road. In fact, it is estimated that improperly secured cargo contributes to more than 200,000 truck accidents each year in the United States. Truck drivers and third-party cargo loading companies must act with care and ensure all cargo is properly secured. Overloaded or unbalanced cargo could also lead to an accident. Truck drivers must drive in a safe manner, comply with all federal trucking regulations, and ensure cargo is correctly loaded and secured before each trip.

Compassionate Advocacy for Your Accident Injuries

At Christian & Christian Law, we strongly believe that you deserve to travel safely on public roads. If you think a truck driver’s negligence or lack of safety precautions contributed to your accident, contact us to receive a free legal consultation. We offer all our clients a safe environment to discuss their case and determine if another party is liable for the cost and damage of their injuries. If the trucking company or the driver is responsible for your accident, our truck accident attorneys want to help you seek justice.

Schedule a free consultation with our specialized team of Greenville truck accident lawyers today.

Christian & Christian Law assist people with personal injury matters in the following locations: Anderson, Clemson, Easley, Fountain Inn, Greenville County, Greer, Mauldin, Simpsonville, Spartanburg, and Travelers Rest.

How to Prove Negligence in a Commercial Truck Accident

A detailed investigation is required to gather evidence and prove negligence for a commercial truck crash. Our Greenville truck accident attorneys will use their extensive experience to diligently build your case.

Evidence may include:

• Witness statements
• Trucking records
• Police reports
• Photos or videos of the accident
• Maintenance reports
• Other documentation

Filing a claim in a timely manner is important, as the statute of limitations in South Carolina is three years. We will help you file the necessary documents and aggressively uphold your right to compensation. Truck drivers, trucking companies, maintenance crews, and others may be held liable for negligence. Depending on the case, you may be entitled to a settlement for lost wages, loss of earning potential, pain and suffering, medical bills, and other damages.

Be Aware of the Mistakes That Can Damage Your Claim

It’s extremely important to know how to protect your claim before and even after you’ve hired an attorney. Read through the tips below to protect your claim as much as possible.

Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Seeing the Doctor

You may find it difficult to imagine not going to the doctor after an accident involving a commercial truck, but it’s possible, due to the way the human body floods with stress hormones after a traumatic event. This is what’s commonly called the fight or flight response.

The stress hormones surging through your system often suppress pain and give you a boost of strength and energy. While these effects are temporary, they can make you feel okay in the early hours after the accident, making you question your need for medical care.

Make sure you get examined no matter how you feel. If you’re under the influence of the fight or flight response, you may have life-threatening internal injuries you can neither see nor yet feel. Make sure you are okay by getting an exam.

Getting to the doctor as quickly as possible will also serve to protect your claim. If the insurance company can show that you delayed medical attention — or worse, skipped it — they’ll use it to “prove” you weren’t injured in the crash.

Remember the mention of causation above? The faster you get to the doctor, the stronger your proof will be that any injuries you have were caused by the accident.

Don’t Undervalue Your Doctor’s Treatment Plan

After you’ve been released from the medical facility that examined you, you’ll receive instructions for how you can help yourself recover. This is often a collection of actions you can take to support healing, such as ice and rest, wound care, or outpatient sessions like physical therapy. Make sure you pay attention to whatever is recommended in your treatment plan. This will help support your recovery and prevent the insurance company from lowering the value of your claim.

How Not Following Your Treatment Plan Can Damage Your Claim

Let’s look at an example in which your treatment plan includes getting plenty of rest for a hip injury. You are told not to exercise beyond your gentle physical therapy moves until your doctor approves.

If an insurance investigator manages to get surveillance video of you working those joints into a frenzy in a spin class, your claim’s value can easily be jeopardized. If you hit a snag in recovering all the way back to your pre-accident level of fitness and health, you will point to the severity of your hip injury. The insurance company, however, will point to you disregarding your recovery instructions, saying you messed up your own ability to heal.

Any way the insurance company can shift blame for your condition from them to you will allow them to pay you less. So don’t write off your treatment plan as unimportant. It’s going to help you or the insurance company, depending on how seriously you take it.

Don’t Agree to the Interview with the Insurance Company

People often make the mistake of thinking they’ve got to take the call from the insurance company requesting a recorded statement. You have the right to defer this conversation until you have the advice of your truck accident lawyer.

Better yet, you can turn over all communications with the insurance company about your claim to your attorney. This ensures they can’t play the word games they use to try and confuse injury victims, making them look like they are mistaken, confused, or outright lying. This is not fair to you, and an experienced truck accident lawyer will easily sidestep these pitfalls. Let your attorney deal with the insurance company so you can focus on getting better.

Don’t Wait to Hire a Lawyer for Your Truck Accident Claim

It’s understandable that you may put off thinking about hiring a lawyer right after a serious truck accident injury. Even so, it’s important to get started as soon as you possibly can. If you wait, crucial evidence to support your claim may disappear, intentionally or not.

A prime example of this is making sure you’ve got someone on your side requesting access to the contents of the truck’s black box. This is a component of commercial trucking equipment that provides all kinds of valuable and relevant information about the crash, such as traveling speed and braking distance.

In addition, your lawyer will want to speak to witnesses before memories fade or people change contact information and become unavailable. The sooner your lawyer can get involved in investigating the accident and building your claim, the stronger your claim will be.

Be Sure You Choose a Lawyer Who Will Bring You Results

When pursuing a truck accident claim, make sure you don’t hire just any lawyer. You want to make sure you hire a personal injury trial lawyer with experience winning truck accident claims.

While all personal injury lawyers are attorneys, not all attorneys are personal injury lawyers. Be sure the person you hire spends the majority of their focus in personal injury claims. In addition, they should be a trial lawyer. Be careful not to go with someone who looks flashy on a billboard but has no intention of going to trial for you, should it become the only way to pursue compensation.

There are plenty of attorneys out there who work for firms who settle every claim without the time and trouble of trial. This may work for them, so long as they can turn over a high volume of claims, but it’s not in your best interests.

To turn over a high volume of claims quickly, these “settlement mills” will accept lowball insurance offers. It’s a numbers game for them, and the insurance company will be more than happy to comply. Protect the value of your claim by making sure you’ve got a personal injury trial lawyer with a successful record winning truck accident claims via settlement and at trial.

Ready to hold negligent parties accountable for a commercial truck accident? Contact us today to schedule your free, no-obligation legal consultation.

South Carolina Truck Accident Client Story

Julie Morton was tired and cold. It had been a long, rainy workday in March in Greenville, South Carolina. Despite desperately wanting to get home to dinner with her family, however, she forced herself to stop by the thrift store.

Julie was working hard to fit into a new-to-them home in Greenville. It wasn’t fancy, but it was theirs, and she was determined to help her daughter Sharon settle in after leaving Atlanta. A big part of this was giving Sharon her own room.

Moving her daughter at the start of high school had proven to be an exhausting “uphill” battle. There’d been no way around it, though. Downsizing had forced Julie’s husband Gus to decide between what would be a disastrous layoff or a great promotion that would require moving to Greenville. It had been a “no-brainer,” financially, but their teenage daughter had yet to forgive them.

Fatigue washed over Julie, thinking about the tearful tirades they’d endured over the past semester. Things would get better. They’d support her friends coming to visit from Atlanta as often as they could. And Sharon was a gregarious person; she would find new friends, eventually. Julie hoped that in the meantime, having her own room would go a long way toward Sharon’s emotional resilience.

Luckily, Julie had found employment working the lunch shift at a local restaurant. She was on her feet for hours, but that was fine with her. The hours worked for the family, and it was a great way to bring in extra income quickly. Julie had also never been one for sitting at a desk. Everything was falling into place; it would all work out. Julie told herself that many times a day.

Right now though, all Julie wanted was to take a peek at the used furniture and get home for a grilled cheese and hot soup dinner with her family. The storage she needed didn’t have to be fancy right now, just affordable. Julie knew she’d know it when she saw it. The right piece would allow her to declutter and finish unpacking. Less clutter, less stress.

A quick spin through the store revealed just the piece Julie needed. It wasn’t pretty, but it would work, and it was less than $15. Perfect. She had one of the nice, strong employees load it into her old hatchback and headed to the parking lot exit, visions of hot soup and sandwiches dancing in her head.

Waiting patiently for an opening, Julie pulled onto Haywood. Seconds later her car was T-boned by an enormous delivery truck leaving the gym next door. It had come out of nowhere.

Julie’s next memory was waking up in the hospital the next day after surgery for a badly broken hip. She also suffered three cracked ribs and a neck sprain. Her husband was holding her hand.

It was almost a week before she was discharged to continue her recovery at home. She was told she wouldn’t be able to walk well for at least a month, possibly much longer, depending on how her hip healed. A full recovery would take months, for sure, and Julie was forced to quit her job at the restaurant.

Two weeks after the accident, Julie called the offices of Christian & Christian Law to find out about a truck accident claim. Matthew Christian arrived at the house for a free legal consultation soon afterward to speak with Julie and her husband.

How much does it cost to hire a lawyer for my truck accident claim?

When Attorney Christian met with Julie and Gus, their first concern was cost.

“How much will it cost to move forward with a claim?” Julie asked.

“There is no up-front cost to you,” said Attorney Christian. “Our firm works on a contingency-fee basis, which means we front all expenses for our clients throughout the claim. In the end, you only pay us if we win your case.”

“Start to finish?” Gus asked, surprised.

“That’s right,” said Christian. “And this is a completely free consultation, so ask away.”

What is my truck accident claim worth?

“What do you think a claim like this is worth?” Julie asked.

“While your claim falls within the area of commercial truck accidents, every claim is unique in many ways,” said Christian. “We take determining the value of your claim very seriously. This means we won’t be able to tell you the value of your specific claim until we have information from two sources.

“The first source of information we need will come from an investigation of your accident. We’ll review all police reports, but we will also conduct our own investigation to establish all responsible parties and gather evidence to support your claim. After that, we’ll focus on your damages.

“To determine your damages, we’ll need you to reach what is called ‘maximum medical improvement.’ This is the point at which you will have recovered as much as your doctors expect you to be able to.

“When you reach maximum medical improvement, you’ll be through with surgeries for your hip and anything else that may arise because of your accident injuries. It will also mean your doctors know what the impact of your injuries will mean for you down the road. For instance, if you will have to avoid certain activities or have assistance in any way because of the damage.

“When you reach maximum medical improvement, we’ll know what your damages are. Then, we’ll combine the information we have from your investigation with your damages and arrive at an accurate value for your claim.”

Gus and Julie nodded, digesting the information. “That sounds reliable,” said Gus.

“Yes, when we give you an amount for your claim’s value, we insist that it be something you can count on. And keep in mind, this is an evolving process. We will be able to give you more information on your claim’s value as your recovery progresses. But we will wait to approach the insurance companies for compensation until you’ve reached maximum medical improvement and we are sure we have our request accurately assessed. That way, we’ll know we have everything you are dealing with factored in.”

Is there more than one party responsible for my damages?

“You’ve mentioned ‘insurance companies,’ plural. Why is that?” Julie asked.

“Great question,” said Attorney Christian. “Especially when it comes to truck accidents, there’s often the possibility that more than one responsible party is responsible for a crash. Naturally, if you’d pulled out in front of the truck without signaling and waiting for a safe break in traffic, you yourself could have been at fault to some degree. This was not the case in your accident. But there may be more than one at-fault party involved on the truck’s side of the equation.

“For instance, let’s say the truck driver was speeding, or saw you pulling out up ahead and failed to slow down appropriately. The driver can be an at-fault party. But suppose the brakes on the truck were poorly maintained. In that case, the maintenance company for the truck may have been at fault.

“In such an example, a claim might be filed on the driver, the truck company, the maintenance company, or maybe all of them. There are often several entities involved in a commercial trucking enterprise, which is why the investigation is so crucial to ensuring all those at fault are identified

How long will my claim take?

“About how long does a claim take to resolve?” Julie asked.

“That will depend on a couple of factors,” said Attorney Christian. “The first is how long it takes you to reach maximum medical improvement. We’ll need you there before we can wrap up determining your damages. When you get there, we’ll know the value of your entire claim and can send a demand letter to the insurance company.

“From there, the timeline of your claim will rest with the insurance company or companies. If they are agreeable to working out a fair and reasonable settlement, we’ll be all set to wrap up your claim. If, on the other hand, they refuse to negotiate in good faith, we’ll file a lawsuit.

“As you may imagine, going to court will draw out the timeline of your claim, but if that’s our only recourse to bring you the compensation you deserve, that’s where we’ll go.

“Please try not to let the possibility of a trial worry you, though,” said Attorney Christian. “Our firm has a long and successful record of winning claims both through negotiation and at trial. We’ll be ready to fight for you, whether it be at the negotiating table or the courtroom. That’s why no matter whom you decide to retain for your claim, I urge you to make sure you hire a personal injury trial lawyer with a record of winning truck accident cases.”

As Gus walked Attorney Christian to the door, a young lady entered the living room carrying a large tray in front of her.

“I made you soup and grilled cheese, Mom,” Sharon said with a smile as she set the tray on the coffee table beside her mom. Julie thanked her, enjoying the smell of warm tomato soup. She felt her shoulders relax for the first time since the accident and allowed herself to believe things could all work out.

Julie and Gus were satisfied they’d gotten the answers they needed during their free legal consultation. They retained Christian & Christian Law, and Attorney Matthew Christian succeeded in getting Julie over seven times the amount initially offered by the insurance company.

Call Our Greenville Truck Accident Lawyers Today

We hope you’ve gained some helpful insight into your truck accident claim. Since every case is unique in many ways, please reach out to our Greenville truck accident lawyers as soon as you can to find out how we can help you with your case. Don’t take on your truck accident claim alone. Call and let us ease your burden.