River Side Truck Accident Attorney

Aiding those Injured in Riverside Truck Accidents

Commercial trucks are essential to Riverside. They carry goods to, from, and through Riverside on commercial trucks and eighteen-wheelers. Learn what you should do after being involved in a accident with one from our experienced Riverside truck accident lawyers.

We pass these trucks every day on Riverside streets and freeways, usually without a second thought. However, if you find yourself in the unfortunate position of colliding with a commercial truck, it could prove a life-altering situation.

In the aftermath of a truck accident, you may feel confused and unsure of what comes next. By speaking with a lawyer, you can find reassurance and guidance about what you should do to help ensure that the at-fault party is held accountable for your medical expenses. Truck accident injuries are extremely serious and also extremely expensive; this is a burden you should not bear.

If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident with a truck, the law may entitle you to compensation. To determine your eligibility to file a claim, speak with an experienced Riverside personal injury attorney today.

Riverside Truck Accidents Often Cause Serious Injuries

Truck accidents happen for many reasons. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, some causes occur more frequently than others. Some of the most common causes of truck accidents include the following:

• Brake problems
• Traffic congestion
• Drug use
• Speeding
• Unfamiliarity with the road
• Poor road conditions
• Fatigue

Each of these accident causes has one thing in common: human negligence. In each case, a human made a poor choice or did not act correctly, and that action resulted in a truck accident. Because of the sheer size and force of commercial trucks, you may have suffered severe, even life-threatening, injuries. When you face such dire circumstances, you may find yourself with massive medical bills and little-to-no income. This only serves to add stress to your life and could place a financial burden on your loved ones.

Big rigs can weigh up to 80,000 pounds; whereas the average car weighs about 4,000 pounds. Commercial trucks may weigh twenty times more than your vehicle. The amount of damage that extra weight can do is staggering, and that damage will not only include your car but also your body.

In the aftermath of your accident, you may experience the following:

• Multiple surgeries
• Extended hospital stays
• Extended time out of work
• High prescription drug costs
• In-facility rehabilitation
• In-home care
• Home renovation costs

Whether you were involved in a Riverside truck accident, Riverside car accident, or a Riverside pedestrian accident you need to contact our experienced riverside personal injury lawyers. Depending on the type of injuries you have suffered, you may find yourself out of work temporarily, permanently, or cannot return in a full-time capacity. This can greatly reduce your earning potential, your ability to save, and your ability to pay your medical bills.

Calculating Damages

One of the most frequently asked questions that we receive from clients centers around how much their truck accident cases are worth. There is no straight or simple answer to this question; it always depends.

The circumstances of your truck accident injury may vary greatly from another victim.

While your recovery amounts may prove different, the types of damages that we seek to recover for our clients are generally the same and include:

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Lost wages
• Lost earning potential
• Loss of companionship
• Loss of support
• Present and future medical bills
• Rehabilitation costs

Because of the sheer size of commercial trucks, it is highly likely that your injuries are severe and that you will need financial compensation to help cover your losses. The best way to get every dollar you deserve is to work with a seasoned truck accident injury lawyer in Riverside. With your best interests at heart, your lawyer can aggressively fight to protect your rights and maximize your recovery.

Riverside Truck Accident Complexities

Commercial trucks are large vehicles with many moving parts, and are much more complex than your daily vehicle. That means more people are involved in the building and maintenance of the truck, which means there are more opportunities for problems to arise. As a result, many different parties may share liability for your injuries, including the following parties:

Driver

The truck driver is the most obvious person who may face liability for your accident and injuries. Like a driver of a regular vehicle, the driver of a truck is responsible for its safe operation by complying with traffic laws. Truck drivers are also required to comply with additional safety laws. In fact, commercial truck drivers must log their hours and not drive over a certain number of hours each day. When truck drivers exceed the federally restricted number of driving hours, they could cause serious harm or death to themselves or others by driving with extreme fatigue.

Driver’s Employer

Like any company, trucking companies must take steps to hire properly trained employees. With truck drivers, this means that their employers must conduct thorough background checks to ensure drivers’ records are clean. The company is also responsible for properly training a truck driver, ensuring that he or she holds the right licenses, and ensuring that the driver follows the law. When a truck company does not take these steps, the company may face liability for the accident and your injuries.

Truck Manufacturer

In some truck accidents, the driver does everything right, but the truck itself has an issue. If a truck is defective in its design and assembly process, the truck manufacturer may face liability for the accident. Sometimes, brakes fail, the steering system malfunctions, or lights do not work properly. In each of these cases, maybe the truck was improperly assembled, in which case the manufacturer could bear fault.

Maintenance

Maintenance technicians and maintenance companies may also face liability for an accident in which you suffered injuries. Sometimes, a truck’s owner maintains a truck, especially when the owner is a large company. Even if the company conducts its own maintenance, however, the technician could still face responsibility for an accident if he or she failed to keep the truck safe.

Tools for Success

All of this means that you need certain tools to successfully prove that another person’s negligence, recklessness, or carelessness caused your injuries. Doing so will help to maximize your compensation and eliminate your worry and concern about how you will pay your bills.

The right tools come from hiring the right truck accident injury lawyer in Riverside for your case. Any accident involving a semi-truck requires a thorough investigation to uncover the parties responsible for the accident. This means working with a trusted expert. We have relationships with truck accident investigators whom we trust to uncover every detail in our clients’ cases.

Our experts will evaluate the truck in its condition as soon as possible after your accident. We want our experts to do this quickly so that we don’t lose any evidence. This is why it is so important for you to speak with a truck accident injury attorney in Riverside as soon as possible after your truck accident. While you work on your physical recovery, we can begin the process of investigating your truck accident and working to recover every dollar you deserve.

How to Prove Fault in Riverside Truck Accidents

Every personal injury case has a lower burden than a criminal case. However, do not assume that proving fault in your truck accident case will be easy.

Proving fault is a complex process; you need to prove the following four elements:

1. The at-fault party owed you a duty of care.
2. The at-fault party breached that duty of care by acting negligently, recklessly, or carelessly.
3. The at-fault party’s actions directly caused your truck accident.
4. As a result of the truck accident, you suffered injuries and damages.

Following a Riverside truck accident, it may seem clear and simple to prove the four elements of negligence. Our job is to make it that clear to the insurance company, the judge, and the jury.

We are deeply familiar with the personal injury claims process in California. We are also familiar with the tactics that insurance companies use to try to settle cases for less than they are worth. We have a deep network of expert investigators who work diligently to uncover every detail about your accident.

Together, we may engage in the following tasks:

• Review your medical records
• Speak with witnesses
• Review camera footage
• Review police reports
• Fully reconstruct the accident scene
• Review information from a truck’s electronic control module, also known as a black box

We do this to protect the evidence and to protect your rights. There is a lot of work that must be done quickly to allow you to recover for your injuries. When your focus is solely on your physical recovery, you need a trusted team working hard to help show who is to blame for your injuries. By choosing a lawyer as soon as possible after your accident, you can ensure that this work gets attention right away when the evidence is still fresh.

Settling Too Quickly Might Hurt You

Your truck accident injuries are likely severe and have you missing work. This can cause extreme financial hardship and place an unnecessary burden on the rest of your family. Besides that, you likely want nothing more than to get better and back to your regular life.

John Gomez, Riverside Truck Accident Lawyer

The insurance company representing the at-fault party knows this and will use it as an advantage. Insurance companies know that you have bills piling up, and they know you are likely out of work. As a result, they will offer you a quick initial settlement and urge you to take it quickly to put this behind you. What they will not tell you, however, is that their settlement amount probably won’t cover all of the bills that you have sitting on your kitchen table, let alone future expenses.

The job of the insurance company is to keep as much money as possible in its pocket and out of yours. Insurance companies’ interests don’t necessarily align with your goal of making sure you do not pay a dime out of your own pocket for your injuries and expenses. What’s worse, when you sign this low-ball settlement offer, you will likely waive any future right to bring a claim against the insurance company for this accident. This means that when you realize the settlement funds do not cover all of your bills, you will have no recourse and will have to pay out of pocket.

To avoid this situation, you need the help and guidance of a trusted Riverside truck accident lawyer. Our job is to advise you on the settlement and to make sure that the offer is sufficient to cover your needs. If it’s not, which is likely the case for the first settlement offer, we can then negotiate on your behalf with the insurance company in an attempt to increase their offer amount.

Nearly two-thirds of all bankruptcy filings every year result from medical bills. Do not let yourself become a statistic. Let the right Riverside truck accident attorney work for you by being your advocate and helping you maximize your compensation. If you did not cause the accident, you should bear none of the responsibility to pay your medical expenses.

Speak With Our Riverside Truck Accident Attorneys Today

After suffering injuries in a Riverside truck accident, you may have questions about what comes next and about how you recover. The right Riverside truck accident attorney can guide you through the complex truck accident injury claims process to maximize your compensation, so you no longer need to worry about how you will pay the medical bills associated with your truck accident.

Gomez Trial Attorneys have the resources that you need to pursue recovery from the at-fault party in your accident. Commercial truck accident injury cases in Riverside are often costly and time-consuming. Make sure you choose a Riverside truck accident lawyer with the resources necessary to properly investigate your accident and pursue maximum compensation.

Contact us online or by calling (619) 237-3490 today. We look forward to speaking with you and showing you how we can help get you back to your regular life.