Walking away from a truck accident can force you to reconsider your day-to-day life. The stress of these accidents, combined with the economic effect they have on your life, cannot be overstated. How can you go about recovering, then, if you’re faced with such severe losses? You can work with a truck accident attorney in Indianapolis.
Our team at Vaughan & Vaughan can represent you and uphold your best interests as you try to recover from an accident. Our team can file a personal injury claim on your behalf to help you fight for the post-accident financial support that you deserve.
Discussing Liability After a Truck Accident
If you want to secure compensation for your truck accident losses, you need to know who to hold responsible. Your first instinct may be to blame a truck driver for your accident. This may be a viable path forward, as truck driver negligence and recklessness can readily put you in harm’s way.
You need to consider the evidence at the scene of your accident before you name a specific driver as liable for your losses, though. The evidence that the scene may reveal that government officials, construction companies, or even truck loaders may be responsible for your losses. When we take your case, our attorneys only declare liability after assessing:
- Video footage of the accident
- Photos of the accident
- Bystanders’ input on the accident
- Expert witnesses
- Police reports
- Medical reports
- Statements from your insurance company
We must be able to defend your assertion of liability if we’re going to demand damages from another party. With that in mind, our team makes the most of the timeline afforded to you by the state of Indiana for an investigation after your accident.
Independent Contractors Can Complicate Liability Proceedings
Trucking agencies can complicate the process of assigning liability for your losses via their hiring practices. Specifically, if the driver you get into an accident with appears to be liable for your losses, you need to assess the nature of their employment with their company. Drivers operating on W2s may benefit from their company’s legal protection if they go to court.
Comparatively, drivers operating on 1099s or as independent contractors must defend themselves in civil court as they legally do not constitute a business’s employees. You can work with an attorney to determine a driver’s status and draft your complaint accordingly.
Knowing the Value of Your Case
Truck accidents can do severe damage to your health, personal belongings, and plans for the future. Fortunately, a truck accident claim gives you the right to demand compensation for your losses. So long as you can defend your request for certain damages, you can include all of the following in an estimate of your case’s value:
- Medical bills related to your accident
- The cost of repairing and/or replacing damaged property
- Compensation for lost wages and/or lost opportunities to pursue alternative employment
- Emotional distress
- Mental anguish
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of consortium, if applicable
- Loss of companionship, if applicable
- Wrongful death, if applicable
Our experienced Indianapolis truck accident lawyers can help you determine the damages you qualify for and how to defend your right to those damages during an initial consultation.
Challenging an Insufficient Insurance Settlement Offer
There’s always a chance that the party responsible for your truck accident may approach you before you’ve had time to fully assess your losses. These parties may offer you settlements designed to allegedly address the breadth of your economic losses. Unfortunately, insurance providers don’t always have your best interests at heart.
These parties may seem as though they’re offering you a comprehensive settlement when, in fact, they’re overlooking several of your losses. You need to compare an offered settlement against an attorney’s estimate of your case’s value if you want to secure the most possible compensation for your accident.
You can bring a settlement offer to our team without accepting it after an accident. We can then enter negotiations on your behalf and ensure that an insurance provider treats you fairly.
Filing Your Civil Complaint
You need to act quickly if you want to bring your truck accident losses to a judge’s attention. Indiana Code §34-11-2-4 dictates that accident victims only have two years from the day their accident takes place to bring their losses forward. Failure to submit a complaint within this deadline allows a court to dismiss your case.
Unfortunately, it can be tricky to gather all of the information you need to make your case without the help of an attorney. Fortunately, our team knows how to make the most of the timeline that the state awards you. You can contact an attorney at any point in your two-year period and discuss how best to use the remaining time to file a complaint.
Preparing for Truck Accident Civil Action
Once you’ve brought your complaint forward, you need to wait for the court to consider it. Should your complaint proceed, you can summon the party responsible for your truck accident. It’s up to you to determine if you want to negotiate for a fair settlement or if you want to place power over your right to financial support directly in the hands of a judge and jury.
Our team can prepare you for out-of-court settlement negotiations by contacting the defendant’s representatives and building your case. We can then calculate the possible value of your truck accident case and negotiate accordingly.
If settlement negotiations do not present a fair offer, we can initiate a lawsuit on your behalf. Once we’ve exchanged evidence with the defense, we can prepare your case for trial. You can count on our truck accident lawyers in Indianapolis, IN, to walk you through every single part of trial, from cross-examination to concluding our presentation with a strong closing statement.
Contact Our Team for Legal Guidance
Truck drivers are held to a higher standard of responsibility on the road than their peers in private vehicles. A truck driver who fails to uphold the duty of care owed to you on the road can be later held liable for the economic extent of your losses.
When you present your case to a civil judge, you have the chance to demand compensation from the truck driver, their insurance provider, or the employer. You can do so with help from Indianapolis truck accident attorneys. Contact Vaughan & Vaughan online or over the phone today to schedule a free case consultation with the team who can help you recover.
