What Can I Do to Protect My Rights After a Truck Accident?

You can call the team for a lawyer to protect your rights after a truck accident. In the interim, between your accident and speaking with a lawyer, you may protect your rights by not admitting fault or apologizing to anybody involved in your accidents. These are pieces of advice that a lawyer or their team would likely provide and are just the start of how a lawyer can protect you.

Multiple parties could attempt to violate your rights and may do so in different ways. Having a lawyer may help to protect yourself from anyone who would disregard or actively undermine your rights.

A Lawyer Will Stand Between You and Insurance Companies

One party that you may be concerned about violating your rights is insurance companies. The at-fault truck driver’s insurance company may generally compensate you as an accident victim; however, your own insurance company may pay a portion of your losses or all of your losses if the at-fault driver was uninsured. Your lawyer can protect your rights from insurance companies after a truck accident.

Some of the steps that your lawyer may take to protect you from insurance companies are:

• Encouraging you not to make any on-record statements to insurance companies without speaking with your lawyer first
• Advising you about what you may (and may not) say to insurance companies once you are ready to speak on the record
• Facilitating the processing of your claim
• Negotiating an insurance settlement
• Handling all insurance-related communications

Insurance companies may benefit from paying as little in claims as they can. As a result of this motivation, you may face resistance from insurance companies when it comes to securing fair payment. Your lawyer will handle negotiations with insurance companies as they fight for the coverage that you are entitled to.

Insurance and Lawsuits May Provide Different Coverages

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) outlines some of the coverages that truck drivers are required to have in order to be compliant with industry regulations. Like other forms of auto insurance, truck drivers’ policies may generally cover:

• Damage to your vehicle
• Your medical costs

Your lawyer will review both your own insurance policy and the policies for liable parties to determine what share of your losses insurance should cover. Unfortunately, the amount that insurance should cover may not be the same as the amount insurance companies offer you.

Insurance Companies Do Not Look Out for Your Best Interests

Insurance companies may offer you less compensation than you deserve. They may do so by claiming that you are partially or fully at fault for the accident. They may also claim that medical care or property damage should not be covered through insurance, which may result in an unfair settlement offer.

Your lawyer may explain the merits of bringing a lawsuit. If insurance fails, then a lawsuit could secure fair compensation through a lawsuit. You may be able to collect coverage for property damage and medical costs through a lawsuit. You may also collect coverage for:

• Past and future pain and suffering
• The cost of psychological therapy
• Injury-related lost wages

Those who have lost a loved one because of a truck accident may choose to bring a wrongful death lawsuit. Surviving family members, which may include you, may also collect compensation for the losses they have suffered.

A Lawyer Can Pinpoint Why You Deserve Awards

The strength of the case that your lawyer presents could be important for you to obtain fair compensation. Your lawyer will aim to collect as much evidence as possible in support of your insurance claim or lawsuit. Some of the parties they may collect evidence against are:

• Truck drivers, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) notes, are generally the cause of accidents
• Other motorists who contributed to your collision
• The trucking company that employs the at-fault driver
• Vehicle parts manufacturer whose product malfunctioned

You could deserve compensation from multiple defendants, and your lawyer may file insurance claims and lawsuits against those defendants as appropriate. Truck accidents can happen in many different ways, and a truck driver may be deemed negligent based on the fact that they caused your accident. Their employer could be negligent or could be liable for their employee’s actions even if the employer itself was not negligent.

A lawyer will determine who is liable for your losses, explain why they are liable, and pursue awards from those at-fault parties.

Call Our Team for a Lawyer Today

Hiring a lawyer will allow you to recover while your attorney defends your rights and seeks any compensation that you deserve. Call us today at (702) 707-5934 to participate in a free consultation.