Have you recently been in an accident with a large semi truck? Are your friends and family now giving you conflicting information about what you need to do next? When you're injured in an accident, there may be certain steps you need to follow, in order to protect your legal rights. If you don't follow these steps, it may be difficult or even impossible for you to receive the compensation that you would otherwise deserve. Because of this, you may want to consider hiring a trucking accident lawyer to help you with your case. Besides representing you in the actual courtroom, here are some things that a good attorney can help you with:
Deciding who to sue: Depending on your state and the accident itself, there could be several potential defendants for your case. You could potentially sue the truck driver or the driver's insurance company, the company or person who owns of the truck, the people who own the goods inside the truck, or the warehouse that loaded the goods into the truck in the first place. If you file suit against the wrong person or people, then you're wasting both their time and your own. A good trucking accident lawyer will help you decide whether it's worthwhile to sue any or all of the people who may have been involved in the accident itself.
Deciding where to sue: Most lawsuits are typically filed in your state of residence. But if the accident took place in a second state and the truck was owned and operated by a company or person in a third state, you may be able to file a more favorable lawsuit elsewhere. A trucking accident lawyer can help you to decide whether filing in another state is possible and if it is likely to have a more favorable outcome than filing in your home state.
Deciding when to sue: If you've been in an accident, your first instinct may be to file a lawsuit as soon as possible. After all, you do have a statue of limitations that starts to run out as soon as the accident occurs. However, by filing a lawsuit too quickly, you may not be able to be fully compensated for your injury. For example, you and your doctors may initially think that your injuries are relatively minor. But in a month or two, you could start to see various complications starting to crop up. You may need further surgeries to repair your injuries or you could require more extensive physical therapy than previously thought. A good trucking accident lawyer can help you find a compromise between filing too late to receive any compensation and filing so early that your losses aren't fully realized yet.
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