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Due to their sheer size and weight and the immense momentum of a truck, tractor-trailer accidents can have catastrophic results for everyone involved. If you or a loved one has been injured in a traffic accident involving a tractor-trailer or another large truck, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries. At Injury Lawyers of Illinois, our Skokie truck accident lawyers can work thoroughly to protect your rights at every step of the way. We can fight aggressively for you in a settlement negotiation or in the courtroom.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) describes a large truck as a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000+ pounds. Unfortunately, the NHTSA reported that an estimated 4,000 people died and 111,000 people were injured in truck accidents across the country in 2014, which is a typical set of statistics for any given year. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Highway Loss Data Institute, 11 percent of all motor vehicle accident deaths in 2016 occurred in large truck crashes.
Commercial trucks are subject to stringent regulations at both the state and federal levels, which are intended to promote safety and reduce the risk of truck accidents on the road. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sets forth the federal regulations, while each state provides its own additional rules. Truck accidents can have a variety of causes, including but not limited to:
When a truck collision leaves you seriously injured, a truck accident attorney in the Skokie area might be able to help you seek damages for your injuries. ‘Damages’ is the legal term for compensation. Examples of typical damages in a truck accident case include medical expenses, rehabilitation costs, lost wages, pain and suffering, costs of future care, and any other losses stemming from the accident. If you have lost a loved one in a truck accident case, you may be able to pursue wrongful death damages, such as funeral costs, loss of companionship, loss of consortium, and more.
Before any damages can be recovered, however, negligence must be established. Negligence takes place when a person fails to use the level of care that a reasonably prudent person would use under the same or similar circumstances, thereby causing an accident and injuries to a victim. To prove negligence, the injured person and their Skokie truck accident attorney must establish that the truck driver owed the injured person a duty of care, the truck driver breached this duty by acting carelessly or failing to take appropriate precautions under the circumstances, and the truck driver’s negligence was a direct cause of the truck accident and the resulting injuries. Truck accident cases are complicated and require detailed investigation, expert witnesses, accident reconstruction, and many other forms of discovery after a lawsuit is filed.
In some cases, you might be able to hold a negligent truck driver’s employer accountable for the truck driver’s negligence through the theory of vicarious liability. For an employer to be vicariously liable, the employee is required to have been working at the time of the accident. For example, a truck driver may be liable for an accident caused by excessive speeding if he or she was making a delivery for the employer at the time of the crash.
Truck accidents can lead to devastating results. Every driver on the road has a duty to drive safely, and truck drivers are not exceptions. If you or someone close to you was hurt in a car or truck crash caused by someone else’s negligence, we are here to help. Our legal professionals are skilled and experienced in handling complex truck accident cases. Contact Tony S. Kalogerakos, Esq.-Injury Lawyers to schedule a free consultation and a case evaluation with experienced injury lawyers of Illinois.
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