Richmond Truck Accident Lawyer

Truck accident victims often experience devastating, life-altering injuries that require months or even years of medical care. These treatments can be expensive, placing a financial burden on victims and their families.

When the negligence of commercial truck drivers, trucking companies, or other parties involved in the industry injures people, the victims are often legally entitled to compensation for the losses they incur from the crash.

Unfortunately, trucking insurers are often reluctant to pay victims, even with valid claims. Furthermore, even when they concede liability, they often do everything they can to frustrate victims into accepting settlements for far less than the damages they’ve incurred.

If you or a loved one were injured in an accident involving a commercial or semi-truck, you’ll need a dedicated accident lawyer. The Richmond truck accident attorneys with Cantor, Grant, Buckner, & Bucci can help you approach the trucking insurers and get the compensation you need after your accident. We will be more than ready to take on the insurance company in court if it’s not willing to offer you a fair settlement for the suffering you’ve been forced to endure.

Truck Accidents vs. Car Accidents

 Truck accident cases are usually more severe than car accident cases. A large truck can weigh up to 20 times more than an average passenger car, which means that thousands of pounds of metal are involved in a collision. Often, these trucks travel at high speeds, which is why truck accidents occur more frequently.

These accidents can have tragic consequences when combined with any dangerous materials that a large truck may be carrying, ranging from flammable materials to toxic chemicals.

5 Causes of Truck Accidents

Truck crashes take many forms, and the collision can reveal many things about who is at fault.

Given the weight and size differential, any truck crashes involving a passenger vehicle and a heavy truck will dramatically affect the passenger vehicle.

Causes of truck accidents may include:

• Rollover accidents are often the most severe and result in one or both vehicles being turned on their side. Top-heavy vehicles like semi-trucks are prone to these kinds of vehicle accidents. This is why there are particular signs for trucks to slow down on tight turns.
• Head-on accidents result from distracted driving or drunk driving and can have devastating consequences for the individuals involved. 
• Jack-knife accidents are common in the trucking world when a semi-truck trailer loses traction and slides toward the tractor. This action mirrors a pocket knife folding in, hence the name of the accident. Any vehicles caught in the truck’s way during this type of accident may face serious injuries due to the impending impact of both sides of the trailer and the car. Road conditions or negligent driving can push the truck into this shape.
• Underride accidents occur when a small car becomes trapped underneath a semi-trailer truck. There are often few protections for the driver and passengers of the vehicle during these accidents. Therefore, the accident can lead to extreme injuries, including brain injuries. 
• Blindspot truck accidents or “no-zone” accidents occur when truck drivers change lanes and do not notice a car in their blind spot. Large vehicles have more significant blind spots, and this is why there are many warnings on the rear end of trailers to keep other drivers out of them.

Why Should You Hire a Richmond Truck Accident Lawyer?

The truck accident attorneys with Cantor, Grant, Buckner, & Bucci are committed to representing the rights of accident victims and do not hesitate to take on large trucking companies. We are skilled negotiators who understand how to get insurance companies to settle. We’re also aggressive litigators who will readily take a case to trial should our clients’ best interests demand it.

Hiring a lawyer provides a legal representative on your side, protecting your rights and pursuing your best interests throughout the legal process.

Commercial truck accident cases are incredibly complicated because of the multiple parties involved. Additionally, it is known that injury victims who retain legal help often receive significantly higher settlement awards from a trucking company than those who try to pursue personal injury claims on their own.

Pursuing Full Compensation

If a fair settlement is not reached, accident lawyers are ready to go to court if necessary. Our Richmond truck accident lawyers have decades of experience handling different truck accidents. We are familiar with the tactics a trucking company may use to devalue your claim, and we know how to investigate accident scenes to prove negligence and establish liability to seek maximum compensation for you.

What Can a Richmond, VA Truck Accident Lawyer Do For You?

First and foremost, an accident lawyer’s goal is to make sure victims get a fair settlement.

If you have been injured or lost a loved one in a crash involving a tractor-trailer (semi-truck), protect your rights by hiring an experienced attorney as soon as you can do so.

Comprehensive and Timely Investigations

Attorneys with the law firm of with Cantor, Grant, Buckner, & Bucci will send a team of investigators and experts to the crash scene and take steps to ensure the tractor-trailer, maintenance records, shipping records, cell phone records, logbooks, and other substantial evidence is neither lost nor destroyed.

Analyzing Evidence

Our personal injury lawyers will examine all evidence involved in your case to determine the cause of the truck accident and identify all parties who should be held responsible. In many cases, a truck accident is caused by violating Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations. The personal injury attorneys with Cantor, Grant, Buckner, & Bucci will have a firm grasp of these trucking regulations and know the role they can play in your case.

Litigation

The parties involved in a truck accident often refuse to turn over important information such as driver records, logbooks, or maintenance records. Our truck accident lawyers can file all necessary motions to compel those parties to comply with requests for information. We can also challenge any motions that would be harmful to your case.

Fair Settlements

Your Cantor, Grant, Buckner, & Bucci truck accident lawyer’s goal will be to resolve your case as efficiently as possible while, at the same time, obtaining a maximum amount of compensation for you and your family. They will carefully prepare your truck accident claim for settlement discussions with all parties at fault in your crash.

Taking Your Case to Court

A truck accident lawyer Richmond will take your case to court if necessary. Personal injury lawyers are skilled and experienced. They will be ready to file a lawsuit on your behalf and go to trial to seek fair compensation on your behalf.

Proving Negligence in Truck Accidents

Four elements of negligence should be present to be eligible for legal action:

• The at-fault driver had a duty to drive safely and follow traffic laws
• The at-fault party breached this duty of care by failing to act safely or reasonably.
• Their breach of safe driving caused an accident, and
• The at-fault party’s breach of duty resulted in damages, such as medical expenses or loss of income.

Proving negligence for a truck accident can be challenging. A Richmond personal injury lawyer with Cantor, Grant, Buckner, & Bucci will be prepared to protect your best interests throughout the legal process.

What to Do When You’re Dealing with Different Insurers  

All truck accidents are not the same. If you choose to pursue a case on your own, you could deal with different insurers and even uninsured truckers.

The purpose of a personal injury lawyer is to make sure you’re prepared for truck accident litigation no matter who you have to face. 

Trucking Insurance Companies

It is essential to keep in mind that insurance companies are in the business of making money. They will work to settle a case efficiently and expediently. But this will not always mean that you will get the best outcome.

If you have been injured in a trucking accident, the other side’s insurance company will probably have contacted you shortly after the accident. Seek the legal counsel of a Richmond truck accident attorney with Cantor, Grant, Buckner, & Bucci before speaking with the other side’s insurance company. 

If you are unrepresented by counsel, the insurance company may make you an unreasonably low settlement offer to take advantage of your inexperience with truck accident lawsuits. If you accept such an offer, there is little chance that you may recover any additional compensation in the future, even as your medical bills continue to pile up.

Other Insurers

In some trucking accidents, you may encounter harassment from more than one insurance company, depending on the insurance status of the truck driver, the employer, and any other party that could be liable for what happened.

Dealing with multiple insurers is a tough job, and none of them will want to pay out what you’re genuinely owed unless your attorney can provide compelling evidence. The Richmond truck accident attorneys with Cantor, Grant, Buckner, & Bucci will find that credible proof and go to trial if necessary. 

Uninsured Truck Drivers

A truck driver will likely be required to carry insurance by their employer, but independent truckers on the road may not. If you are caught in the unfortunate situation of an uninsured truck driver accident, speak with a Richmond truck accident lawyer for advice on what to do next.

If an uninsured driver is involved in an accident, they must cover the cost of any related expenses out of pocket.

Retaining an attorney to represent you is in your best interests, even if the other party concedes liability. Attorneys who cannot come to a reasonable settlement arrangement with any insurance company may file a lawsuit on your behalf and represent you in court. At Cantor, Grant, Buckner, & Bucci, we have a long track record of success in taking insurance companies to court and beating them.

How Long Do You Have to File a Personal Injury Case in Richmond, VA?

Virginia’s statute of limitations, which defines how long you have to file a case, provides personal injury victims two years from the date of the accident. Failure to file within the two-year window will likely result in the court dismissing the case, and barring you from obtaining compensation.

It is also important to note that certain exceptions could require you to file sooner or later. For this reason, do not delay contacting a lawyer with Cantor, Grant, Buckner, & Bucci for legal advice. They have extensive knowledge of Virginia laws and apply them to your situation.

What Injuries Typically Result From Truck Accidents in Richmond?

• Back and neck injuries – include minor neck pain to spinal cord injuries such as dislocated discs or paralysis. Severe back and neck injuries can have a long-term effect on your work and daily life.
• Head injuries – Brain trauma may range from mild to severe. Such damages may not be immediately apparent. Symptoms include headaches, nausea, cognitive impairment, and loss of motor functions. Head injuries tend to be life-altering and heartbreaking.
• Burn injuries – Cuts, lacerations, and burns from truck accidents can be excruciating and leave the victim massive scars.
• Broken bones – The powerful impact of a truck crash often leads to multiple broken bones.
• Seat belt injuries – We all know that seat belts save lives, but in some cases, they can also cause injuries, such as whiplash.
• Wrongful death – A wrongful death lawsuit is a personal injury claim brought by the family or heirs of someone who has been wrongfully killed in an accident.

What Kinds Of Damages Can I Pursue In a Richmond, VA Truck Accident?

As the truck accident victim, you are likely suffering from extreme injuries. Trucks are large, multi-ton vehicles that cause a great deal of damage in even the most minor car accidents. Unfortunately, any victims in passenger vehicles suffer serious injuries such as concussions, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and burn injuries. 

Your Richmond truck accident lawyer with Cantor, Grant, Buckner, & Bucci will hold the responsible party liable for any resulting injuries after the accident and the amount in damages, including:

• Loss of income if you were unable to work while recovering
• Emergency care, including the cost of ambulance transportation
• All reasonable medical expenses
• Property damage
• Pain and suffering
• Mental anguish
• Loss of enjoyment of life

Learn more about how a Richmond truck accident attorney with Cantor, Grant, Buckner, & Bucci can help you when you schedule a free consultation. This will be a no-obligation opportunity to get answers to your legal questions, including what you can expect from a truck accident case.

 Who is Liable for Your Truck Accident Damages?

Driving tractor-trailers or other large commercial trucks is not like getting behind the wheel of your family SUV. Semi-truck vehicles can weigh 20 or 30 times as much as a standard passenger vehicle and take up much more space. As a result, they handle much differently than anything that most of us have ever driven before. They are slower to accelerate and need much more room to turn. They dramatically restrict visibility.

In addition, driving a large truck involves using equipment not found on passenger vehicles, such as air brakes and coupling devices.

Because driving commercial trucks is so different from driving passenger vehicles, commercial vehicle drivers must undergo specialized training and obtain commercial driver’s licenses to drive them legally. 

Unfortunately, commercial truck drivers continue to make mistakes and drive carelessly despite these measures, often resulting in serious accidents.

Driver negligence that often leads to such accidents include:

• Reckless driving
• Driver fatigue
• Impaired driving
• Failure to yield
• Following too closely
• Improper turns
• Failing to signal lane changes
• Driving on the wrong side of the road

In truck accidents, negligence can often prove hard to spot, so victims should always review the facts of their case with an attorney—even if the truck driver was not doing something wrong at the time of the car accident.

What do Lawyers Look for in a Truck Accident? 

Negligence and Tort Law

Negligence in semi-truck accident cases could include the actions of a truck driver who sent a text from his smartphone while driving, which is not the actions of a reasonably prudent truck driver. This can also mean the actions of a truck driver who did not adequately have his truck inspected. 

Some semi-truck crashes occur due to driver error, such as braking too quickly on slick roads, reckless driving at excessive speeds, or failing to slow down in work zones. A trucker’s negligent driving often causes a jack-knife accident.

Contributory Negligence Laws in Virginia

Virginia is a contributory negligence state, meaning that if victims of truck accidents are even one percent at fault, they may not be eligible to bring a claim for damages. 

Therefore, if a victim’s injuries were exacerbated by their actions, the victim could be prevented from bringing a claim for the extent of their injuries. Other states often split the fault on a percentage basis, but not Virginia.

If you are partially liable, it might be best to consider the options of a settlement with the insurance company. Still, you should always consult with a knowledgeable truck accident attorney in Richmond before deciding so you can get an expert opinion.

Federal Trucking Regulations

Complex state and federal regulations apply to the trucking industry. Most of these are based on safety considerations. Violating these regulations can constitute truck driver negligence or find the trucking company at fault.

When you’ve suffered injuries at the hands of someone else, primarily because of recklessness or carelessness, that person is responsible for the harm caused. Negligence is the failure to use the proper care expected of a reasonable person in a similar situation.

All drivers must use ordinary care by keeping the vehicle under control at all times, driving while alert, and obeying all signs, signals, and rules of the road.

Negligent drivers may be held financially responsible for any damages. For example, injuries caused by a failure to obey traffic signals or an accident resulting from drunk driving are generally considered negligence.

How Much Will a Richmond Truck Accident Attorney Cost?

In the aftermath of tractor-trailer accidents, you are likely looking for ways to save money—not take on additional expenses. This logic often makes accident victims question retaining an attorney—after all, if the insurance company seems ready to settle, why not handle the matter yourself?

In most personal injury cases, you will incur no out-of-pocket costs from retaining a truck accident lawyer. Most attorneys employ a contingency fee arrangement with all injury clients, which means they will not collect any legal fees unless they successfully recover compensation from the party or parties responsible for your injuries. You will owe them nothing if they do not secure a settlement or award on your behalf. 

Your mind should be on your recovery and not on any additional expenses. Attorneys will handle your claim for damages for you so that you can focus on your family and your recovery. If you would like more information, or you’d like to schedule a free evaluation of your case, contact Cantor, Grant, Buckner, & Bucci as soon as you can.