Semi-truck accidents have the potential to cause severe injury and even death. Because commercial trucks are so much larger and heavier than regular vehicles, they often cause life-altering consequences.
Tractor-trailers are also much taller vehicles, meaning they can be top-heavy and more susceptible to rollover accidents. Rollovers can be especially dangerous because many cars could be involved in the accident, resulting in tragic injuries.
If a truck rollover accident injured you or a loved one in New Orleans, you may pursue compensation from the at-fault party. To help you determine who is to blame for your accident and how you can collect compensation from them, partner with a trusted and experienced New Orleans truck rollover accident lawyer right away.
Truck Rollover Accident Lawyers
Truck rollover accidents are not only terrifying to witness, but they can also cause life-altering injuries. And that is where you need to put your focus: on getting better. To achieve that goal, partner with a trusted New Orleans truck rollover accident attorney as soon as possible after your accident. The right personal injury attorney can relentlessly pursue justice for their injured neighbors and work to hold the negligent driver responsible for their actions.
Getting better and recovering from your injuries should be the only thing on your mind. Let a trusted legal advocate shoulder the burden of proving that you deserve money from the negligent truck driver. If a New Orleans truck rollover accident injured you or a loved one, speak with a personal injury law firm today.
What Causes Truck Rollovers
Truck accident rollovers have many causes. The best way to determine the cause of your truck rollover accident is to speak with a lawyer who can investigate your accident and reach an accurate conclusion about the cause. Your lawyer may want to partner with truck accident reconstruction experts whose sole job is to comb through the evidence, turning over every stone to make sure they accurately determine the cause of your crash.
#1. Speeding
One of the most common causes of any vehicle accident is speeding. Speeding is especially dangerous for semi-trucks because of their top-heavy nature. If they are traveling too fast, even the slightest weight shift can cause the truck to roll over, resulting in countless injuries.
#2. Sharp Curves
Trucks must take turns and curves at reasonable speeds. Think of the I-10 and 90 interchange in downtown New Orleans. If a truck takes that interchange too quickly, they could easily rollover. Not only could that cause serious traffic problems, but it could also cause tragic injuries to people in nearby cars, including you.
#3. Distracted Driving
Like any other driver on the road, truck drivers must avoid distractions. From adjusting the radio to texting, if a truck driver is distracted and takes their eyes off the road, they may not see a potential collision coming. At the last second, they try to take evasive action to avoid a crash but turn too quickly and cause their truck to roll over, resulting in serious injuries.
#4. Drunk Driving
Truck drivers must obey drunk driving laws just like every other driver on the road. If a truck driver has had too much to drink, their inability to react to hazardous situations can cause them to roll over. If a truck driver causes an accident because they are intoxicated, you may be able to collect compensation from them for your accident and injuries.
#5. Drowsy Driving
Drowsy driving occurs when someone gets behind the wheel without getting enough sleep the previous night. This can have catastrophic consequences, as drowsy driving affects the body similarly to being drunk. When truck drivers are fatigued, they are more likely to cause a rollover because their reaction time is severely delayed.
#6. Unsecured Loads
When trucks are transporting goods, their loads must be properly secured. If they are not, they could shift as the truck moves. If the load is heavy enough, it can cause the trailer to flip over, causing a rollover accident.
#7. Worn Tires
Just like you should check your regular car tires, truck drivers and maintenance teams need to ensure truck tires are in proper working order. That includes checking their treads and ensuring they have the right amount of air. If this maintenance is not done, a blowout can occur, which could cause the truck to roll over.
Who Is Responsible
While it may not seem important to you right after your crash, figuring out who is responsible for the accident is key to helping you collect maximum compensation. When you get injured in a truck rollover accident, the last thing on your mind is filing a personal injury claim against the at-fault party. But that is precisely what you need to do so you can get back to focusing on what really matters—your health and well-being.
#1. Truck Driver
After a truck rollover accident, the truck driver is likely to have at least played some role in the crash. Whether the driver was speeding, inexperienced, or distracted, a truck driver may hold responsibility for a rollover accident where you suffered injuries. To hold the negligent driver accountable, you should partner with a trusted legal advisor who can help you prove the driver was to blame.
#2. Truck Company
In many cases, the trucking company could also be responsible for the rollover accident. If the company employed the driver and the driver was to blame, the employer could hold liability because the driver was on the job at the time of the crash. Employers must take specific steps to ensure their employees have the requisite credentials to drive a semi-truck and conduct background checks to ensure the driver does not have a history of crashes or violations. If the trucking company is also at fault for your accident, it could substantially increase the amount of money you can collect.
#3. Maintenance Company
Large trucking companies may hire their own maintenance technicians to work on their fleet of trucks. Other companies outsource this task to third parties. Whether the job is to change the oil, repair a flat tire, or do a full check-up on the truck, if a rollover happens because of negligent maintenance, the maintenance company could also be responsible for your crash.
#4. Government Entity
When a rollover happens because of poor road conditions, the fault may sit with the city or municipality where the crash occurred. Suing a government entity presents unique legal challenges, so make sure you partner with a lawyer who has experience dealing with lawsuits against government entities.
Aggressively Fighting to Protect Your Rights
More bankruptcies are filed every year because of extreme medical bills than any other reason. Because of this, you need to consider your legal options after a truck rollover accident. You may face a lifetime of medical care and attention, something that does not come cheap. To help you attempt to recover maximum compensation, there are several ways your legal team can help while you focus all of your attention on your recovery.
Personal Injury Lawsuit
To help you get what you deserve, you may need to file a personal injury claim against the negligent party. That could be the truck driver, their employer, or someone else. It could also be several people or companies to blame.
While you know what happened and you are reasonably confident that you know who is to blame, you have to be able to prove your claim with evidence. This is why a lawyer can help. Your focus is on getting better. Your legal team can work to collect the evidence that shows someone else caused your truck rollover crash and owes you money.
To prove someone was negligent, you need to show:
- Someone else owed you a duty of care to act or drive reasonably
- That person or company breached their duty of care
- The breach caused a rollover truck accident
- Where you suffered injuries
Do Not Delay
You may think you have time to decide whether you want to file a personal injury claim. You may think that you should wait until you get better before filing a lawsuit.
Time is severely limited for you to file a personal injury claim against a negligent party. Under a statute of limitations, Louisiana law limits your time to just one year after your accident. That means you only have one year from the date of your rollover truck accident to collect evidence and build a case against the negligent party.
This time limit is why it is so crucial that you speak with an attorney as soon as possible after your truck rollover accident. Your lawyer can handle all of the legal work so you can focus on your recovery.
Consider everything you may have to face during this short year:
- Multiple surgeries
- Extended hospital stays
- Long periods out of work
- In facility rehabilitation
- In-home care
You need an aggressive legal advocate fighting to protect your rights. Do not settle for just any lawyer, either. You need a lawyer at your side who has clear success in helping other truck rollover accident victims recover maximum compensation for their injuries both by settling and at trial.
Settlement Negotiations
The right lawyer will also be able to negotiate with the insurance company on your behalf aggressively. Soon after your truck rollover accident in New Orleans, you will probably get a call from the insurance company representing the at-fault party. Many victims get excited about this call because they see dollar signs. Unfortunately, the insurance company is the only one on this call seeing dollar signs.
The representative will likely try to pressure you into taking the settlement. They may say the offer is only good today, and it is the best they can do.
The insurance company is in the business of making money. They do not make money if they pay you the full value of your claim. So they may do whatever it takes to make you go away for as little money as possible. They do not care if you have to pay out of pocket for your medical bills. All they want to do is increase their profits.
And that is precisely what may happen if you take the initial settlement offer—you may be on the hook for medical expenses and financial losses incurred from your truck rollover accident, an accident you did not cause. When you sign a settlement offer with the insurance company, you waive your right to bring any future claims against them for this truck rollover accident. That means that months or years later when you still have medical bills to pay but the settlement funds have run dry, you can do nothing to recover additional compensation.
You cannot just go back to the insurance company and ask for more money.
The best way to avoid this tragic situation is to partner with an aggressive and experienced truck rollover accident lawyer. Your legal team will have your best interests in mind, working diligently to maximize your settlement.
Contact a Truck Accident Attorney Today
A truck accident attorney with experience in truck rollover accident cases who have protected the rights of injured victims can help. Call a truck accident attorney for a free consultation if a New Orleans truck rollover accident injured you. Because most truck accident attorneys take cases on a contingency fee basis, you will not owe attorney’s fees unless they win your case.