Tucson Truck Accident Attorney

I-19 from Tucson to the Mexican border is one of the most dangerous roads in the area for both cars and trucks. It is a remote desert road, and drivers like to take chances by driving aggressively and speeding when they think that no police officers will ever catch them. In actuality, this stretch of road has among the highest fatality rates in the country.

In addition, trucks heavily use I-10 between Tucson and Phoenix, and drivers also try to take advantage of the road conditions to speed. The road itself lacks a center dividing barrier in some places, and wide trucks could end up in a head-on crash that will seriously injure the driver.

The rise of online shopping has been making roads more dangerous in Arizona and across the country. There are more trucks on the road throughout the state, making deliveries to homes and distribution centers. These trucks have to share the highways with cars. Even with the expansive highway system in Arizona, things get crowded in cities like Tucson.

The largest Walmart distribution center in the entire world is in Arizona. Trucks fan out from that location across the state and on I-10 to Las Vegas and California. Much of the traffic heading out to California will go straight through Tucson. In addition, Amazon keeps opening massive fulfillment facilities throughout the state, putting more drivers on the road. This leads to trucking companies struggling to find enough drivers to keep up with demand. They may hire poorly trained drivers to get behind the wheel.

Truck accident investigations are much more complex and involved than the ones after a truck accident. One of the key pieces of evidence is the truck’s black box. This will tell you things like:

• The speed before the crash
• Whether and when the driver applied the brakes
• The hours of operation for the truck
• How often the truck driver was speeding

The trucking company is only required to keep the black box data for a period of time. After that, they are free to write over it or even get rid of it. If they know that the data holds the story of an accident where they can be liable, they may destroy it even sooner. There are other corporate records that you would need that could help your case, such as the driver’s records or maintenance logs. When you hire an attorney, they can put a litigation hold on this evidence. Otherwise, you could lose the chance to use this to prove your case.

Federal trucking regulations are very detailed. They could touch on things like:

• Limitations on the number of hours that a driver can operate the truck
• Maintenance requirements for the truck
• Qualification requirements for drivers

There are many more regulations that these companies must follow. There is a concept in personal injury law that, if you can prove that someone failed to follow a law or regulation, it can be evidence of negligence. This is why you need a lawyer who is familiar with truck accidents. These are far more complicated than car accidents. Your attorney would gather evidence about your accident and compare them to the numerous and detailed federal regulations, looking for evidence that the driver or trucking company failed to follow them. This could help you win your case.

Most likely, yes. When the truck driver is a corporate employee, they are an agent of the trucking company. This means that anything that they do on the job is also an act of the trucking company when it comes to liability. The company acts through its employees. As long as the truck driver committed negligence within the scope of their employment, the company would need to pay for their actions.

This might lead to the best possible outcome for an injured motorist and their family. Truck accident injuries can be prohibitively expensive, and in many car accident cases, accident victims run up against the limits of insurance policies. Trucking companies will have much larger insurance policies to protect their own assets. If the insurance policy in place is not large enough, you can go after corporate assets. There are increasing numbers of news reports of trucking companies going out of business because jury verdicts were so large that they had to sell assets to pay them.

The usual rule is that companies cannot face lawsuits for the acts of independent contractors because they are not employees. Some companies specifically designate drivers as independent contractors to avoid all liability. However, the trucking company does not get the final word. A legal test determines whether the driver is an employee, and it depends on the level of control that the company has to control an employee.

In addition, the company could still face a claim for negligent hiring and training. For example, FedEx operates with almost all independent contractors. However, plaintiffs still manage to sue FedEx on these grounds because the company still has a legal obligation to use due care in selecting and training drivers.

You may have suffered injuries in an accident where the truck driver did nothing wrong. Trucks are complicated pieces of machinery. Anything that can haul almost 80,000 pounds has to have sound construction and engineering. While it is rare, the truck itself, or one of its parts, may cause an accident. For example, tire blowouts can cause truck accidents. Only the best truck drivers can prevent an accident when they lose a tire.

When that happens, you can sue the company that made the truck or the part in a product liability action. You would generally need to prove defects in:

• Manufacturing
• Design
• Marketing

These can be complicated lawsuits, but if you are successful, the financial compensation can be significant.

That is always the million-dollar question in a truck accident claim. Since truck accident injuries are often more severe, and there is a larger insurance policy, you may be talking about a larger settlement check or damage award. You can rest assured that the trucking company’s insurance carrier has an exact idea of the value of your claim, right down to the dollar. They are banking on the fact that you don’t have the same knowledge. This is where your trucking accident lawyer enters the picture.

Your attorney can also value your claim because this is what they do for a living. Your attorney knows every element that you can recover for in a truck accident claim and may work with economic experts to place a value on your claim.

Truck crash damages break down into two parts: economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are about money. Specifically, this is either actual money that has come out of your pocket or money that should have come into your pocket but did not. It can pay you back for costs such as medical bills and the cost of rehabilitation. Economic damages can also compensate you for lost wages that you would have earned, including any reduction in your earning capacity.

Non-economic damages compensate you for your experience after the accident. This pays you back for what you have gone through and will continue to go through for the rest of your life because of the accident. It includes:

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional anguish
• Disfigurement
• Loss of enjoyment of activities

Wrongful death is a special kind of lawsuit that family members can file when their loved one died due to someone else’s negligence. Usually, the deceased person’s spouse is the one who will file this lawsuit. The children may also be able to join the lawsuit. There is a wrongful death statute in Arizona that lays out the order of priority for who can file the lawsuit.

These lawsuits will pay the family for what they lost when their loved one passed away. These damages could include:

• Funeral and burial costs
• The wages that the person would have earned for the rest of their life
• The loss that they suffered by no longer having their loved one’s support
• The surviving family’s pain and suffering

In addition, the family can also file legal action to recover for what their loved one went through before their death.

There is always a possibility that you can recover punitive damages if your case goes to a jury, but it does not happen often. If you settle your case with the insurance company, you will not receive these damages. Punitive damages are the jury’s way of sending a message to the defendant that their behavior was grossly shocking and wrong. If the company has a pattern of not following truck laws, or if they intentionally hid misconduct, it may be enough to anger the jury.

These usually only apply to cases that involve extreme recklessness or intentional conduct. If you receive punitive damages, it can greatly increase the size of your verdict.

If you or a loved one suffered serious injuries in a truck accident, you are possibly looking at a large settlement or jury award. Some states try to limit things like non-economic or punitive damages in a personal injury case. Arizona is not one of those states. There are no limits to recovery in a truck accident lawsuit. Not only that, but damage caps are expressly against the Arizona Constitution, which forbids any limits in personal injury or wrongful death cases.

One of the first questions that many prospective clients ask us is how long their truck accident case will take. Like anyone, they want to know that they will be receiving a check for their injuries and when they will get it. This is not an easy question for an attorney to answer because there are so many variables. Much of what happens in a claim is beyond your control.

In large part, how soon you can get your money depends on the insurance company. They need to be reasonable in settlement negotiations, but you can also expect that they will not write a large check quickly. If they refuse to even come close to what you deserve, you may need to file a lawsuit. This can add even more time to your case. This is another way of saying that anything can happen, and we do not want to create unrealistic expectations.

Money is one thing that you do not have to worry about when you are considering your legal options. It’s not that lawyers work for free, but you do not need to invest money upfront in your case. Our lawyers work on a contingency basis, and they do not ask for a retainer, like many other lawyers. They get payment at the end of your case, but only if you win. For purposes of paying your lawyer, winning refers to getting a settlement check or jury award.

If you do not win your case, you will not be getting a bill from your lawyer for their services. They do not receive a payment if you do not. This should remove one big fear that may prevent you from hiring a lawyer.