Truck accidents that involve negligence can cost commercial trucking companies millions of dollars in liability, and they know it. These kinds of accidents can be complex, and the companies have resources to put on these cases, and fight them tooth and nail. If you’ve been involved in an accident with a semi-truck trailer, call Bill Coats Law immediately. You will need a tough lawyer to go after these companies, and represent your interests every step of the way. You can start here with this contact form, and receive a free case evaluation.
Making informed decisions during this process will be incredibly important. If they haven’t already, you will get calls from the team working against your claim while you recover from the accident with their truck. However, if you have a lawyer, you don’t have to face this alone. Bill Coats Law works on a contingency fee basis, which means that no upfront costs for his help are paid by you. He will be able to give you a sense of what you can expect from your claim, and will work with you towards the best possible outcome.
If the truck company, or authorities at the scene have made it clear you were in the trucker’s blind spot, it’s very likely that you have a lot of questions. As you should. Before you sign off on anything they give you, call Bill Coats. Even if you have already made some agreement with them, or some concession, it may not be too late, but do not hesitate to call.
If I was in a trucker’s blind spot, who is liable?
You may be hearing that the driver of the truck didn’t see you because you were traveling in the truck’s blind spot, otherwise known as the “no zone”. While obviously trucks do have larger blind spots compared to other cars and trucks, it doesn’t mean that you are entirely to blame. Truckers must be trained in and must exercise precautions to compensate for this visibility limitation. The standards are as high as the stakes – trucks are large, heavy vehicles, and when an accident between one and other vehicles occurs, it is very likely that the smaller vehicle will bear the brunt of the damages.
If a trucker was driving aggressively, or speeding, was in any way impaired or distracted, or was in violation of service regulations, a trucker may be held accountable for his or her part in the collision. Also, trucking companies are required to maintain high standards in the people they hire to drive trucks for them. If their driver has any history of poor driving behaviors, such as negligent driving, losing a license for any length of time, then a trucking company can be at fault for hiring an unqualified employee. As you can imagine, if someone is busy texting or drunk or too tired, it is all too easy to disregard the extra precautions safe truck driving require.
After any accident, survivors experience chaos and trauma. On top of that, a truck company’s insurance agents move in quickly, as if well aware of the confusion and sometimes grief that occurs after an accident with a very large vehicle. Let Bill Coats manage this unwarranted attention for you so you can focus on what you need to do: recover from the accident. Call him at 360-303-0601.
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