If you’ve been injured in a truck accident, you may be entitled to compensation. Trucking companies and their employees have a responsibility to keep other drivers safe on the highway. When they fail to fulfill this responsibility, they can be held liable for their actions.
Because of their size and weight, large trucks can be particularly dangerous on our roadways. In an accident, these vehicles pose unique challenges that can only be overcome with experienced legal counsel. Some of these challenges have to do with the extensive damage and serious injuries that large trucks can cause.
Extensive damages cost liable parties money, so they’re motivated to fight claims aggressively. Other challenges result from the complex system of state and federal laws that govern commercial vehicles.
At DeMayo Law Offices, Your North Carolina Law Firm™, we’ve been protecting the rights of truck accident victims for over 30 years. Our experience helps us maximize settlements to ensure victims and their families are taken care of.
Call our truck accident law firm today at (877) 333-1000 for a free consultation, or tell us about the accident online.
DeMayo Law Offices experienced truck accident attorneys in North and South Carolina work on a contingent-fee basis, which means you don’t pay anything unless we win your case.
Truck accidents come with a mess of regulations and corporate interests that typical car crashes don’t. Because of their commercial function and the risks they pose, trucks are subject to regulations beyond those that apply to personal vehicles.
Some truck regulations are federal and apply nationwide. Other rules vary from state to state and thus depend on the exact location of the accident. This makes for a complex legal situation in the event of an accident – one that requires an expert DeMayo Law Offices truck accident attorney to navigate.
The trucking industry is as complicated as the legal system. It consists of many moving parts: a large distribution chain that includes drivers, employers, cargo loaders, maintenance crews, and parts manufacturers. Each link of the chain has an important role to play in the transportation of goods across the country They each play an important role in the overall safety of the industry’s operations.
When part of the chain is compromised, liable parties can be held responsible for damages. In some cases, multiple parties are liable for a trucking accident. When trucking companies are potentially liable, they hire powerful teams of attorneys to defend their financial interests. The multiple insurers involved can act just as aggressively to conserve their money.
It’s common to have multiple insurance companies negotiating settlements after an accident involving a large truck. Unfortunately, without an experienced truck accident attorney from DeMayo Law Offices, victims could miss out on important sources of compensation.
Luckily, an attorney with the necessary knowledge, like our North and South Carolina DeMayo Law Offices lawyers, will know how to investigate your accident, prove the at-fault parties are liable, and demand a comprehensive financial statement for your case.
DeMayo Law Offices, the multistate law firm, has protected the rights and interests of truck wreck victims in North and South Carolina for almost three decades. With over 150 years of combined legal experience and more than 92,000 resolved cases under our belts, we can approach your truck accident with both confidence and compassion.
The successes of DeMayo Law Offices have allowed us to grow and serve a wide client base across the region. With over 100 legal professionals working across our offices in Charlotte, Hickory, Monroe, and Columbia, South Carolina, we energetically pursue compensation for Carolinians who need it. Our years practicing law in the Carolinas have won us a deep understanding of the region’s trucking rules and regulations. We put this understanding to use in all the truck accident cases on our docket, to the advantage of our clients.
We settle most of our truck accident cases before they go to court, which makes the process more comfortable for our clients. Nonetheless, if it proves necessary in your case, we’ll represent your interests aggressively through litigation to win you the fair compensation you deserve.
Our North and South Carolina DeMayo Law Offices lawyers have often won large settlements for our clients. In total, we’ve earned more than $1,000,000,000 in settlements and verdicts for personal injury clients. These settlements cover a range of damages that irresponsible truckers and their employers inflicted. We will evaluate your accident and determine what kinds of compensation you might be eligible for.
At DeMayo Law Offices, Your North Carolina Law Firm™, our lawyers can help you pursue compensation for:
If you’ve been injured by a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) or other heavy transportation truck, you need a law firm that understands truck-industry rules and regulations.
If you’ve been injured, you need DeMayo Law Offices. Call (877) 333-1000 for a free consultation or contact us online.
Generally, CMVs and ‘large trucks’ refer to vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) greater than 10,000 pounds. This might include several types of vehicles, such as semi-trucks, tractor-trailers, flatbeds, 18-wheelers, buses, large shuttles, delivery trucks, etc.
These vehicles often include features that make them particularly dangerous on the road and in an accident. For example:
Because of these and a number of other features, operating and maintaining a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) isn’t easy. It comes with responsibilities that exceed what’s expected of other drivers and are enforced by both state and federal regulations. These regulations address the heightened risk that CMVs pose to other drivers on the road. They are meant to minimize the possibility of large truck drivers causing collisions with personal vehicles.
For example, commercial truck drivers:
Furthermore, there are rules and regulations that reach beyond driver behavior—these rules must be followed by other members of the supply chain to ensure safety on our roadways. For example:
There are lots of ways things can go wrong in the trucking industry. But if these rules are followed closely, it may help to limit drivers’ and their employers’ liability in the event of a crash.
On the other hand, if a driver or trucking company fails to follow all the applicable rules and regulations, they may be held liable for any injuries or damages they cause. If you have been involved in a truck crash, an experienced truck accident attorney at the North and South Carolina DeMayo Law Offices can conduct an investigation into whether any regulations were broken and if broken, how they contributed to the crash. From there, we can help you determine the best path to compensation for the damages you have suffered.
There are so many regulations in place to encourage trucking safety because there are so many types of accidents that result when the rules are disregarded or improperly followed. Sometimes, an accident can be credited to one particular misstep by a driver or trucking company. In other cases, multiple parties cause a crash.
When pursuing compensation for the damages caused by a truck accident, it’s important to accurately describe the kind of accident that happened. A thorough investigation and determination of the kind of crash, will result in the most fruitful sources of compensation.
For instance, if a truck driver was drunk at the time of an accident, your attorney may decide to seek compensation from that individual and their insurance company. In other scenarios, like if a vehicle was poorly maintained, the truck’s owner may be held liable. Some crashes are caused by faulty machinery, meaning a third-party parts manufacturer may be held financially responsible.
Here are some of the possible causes of truck accidents:
Recognizing different causes of truck accidents is critical to pursuing compensation after an accident. Our North and South Carolina DeMayo Law Offices truck accident attorneys understand trucking and how to investigate their operations. We’ll determine the cause of your crash and who can be held financially responsible for it.
Generally, yes. Truck accident claims can be more difficult because there are more factors that can contribute to the truck accident itself, as well as the ensuing claim. For instance, there are different rules and regulations trucking companies and truck drivers must follow. There are also more parties involved in the claim, such as the trucking company’s’ insurance, insurance on the truck specifically, and the truck owners’ insurance.
An experienced North or South Carolina truck accident lawyer at DeMayo Law Offices will be able to sort out all of the different factors for your truck accident claim, along with the truck accident information and all necessary medical records.
A truck accident is any traffic accident involving a passenger car and a commercial truck. Commercial trucks are on the road every day, and can include garbage trucks, tractor trailers, delivery trucks, gasoline trucks, and any other large, commercial vehicle.
Not necessarily. Simply because a truck jackknifes does not mean any resulting accidents are automatically the truck driver’s fault. Often times, the circumstances of the truck accident must be reviewed to determine who is liable for the truck accident.
If something such as another driver or undesirable weather conditions caused the truck to jackknife or if the driver purposely jackknifed the truck to avoid a catastrophic situation, the truck accident may not be the fault of the truck driver.
Truck accidents are more serious than car accidents because of the sheer size difference of the vehicles involved. An average commercial truck can weigh upwards of 70,000 pounds while an average passenger car weighs around 3,000 pounds. Truck accidents involve significantly more property damage and serious medical problems.
If you or a loved one has been involved in a truck accident and would like to file a truck accident claim, contact DeMayo Law Offices to schedule your free initial consultation.
DeMayo Law Offices encourage you to learn as much about your personal injury case as possible. The more information you have, the better chance you’ll have a successful personal injury claim.
According to the most recent data, there were more than 14,000 large truck accidents in North Carolina in 2016. More than 150 people were killed in these accidents, and thousands were injured.
Here’s a quick look at important facts and statistics related to large truck accidents in North Carolina and throughout the US.
In 2016, tractor trailers / semi-trucks were involved in the most crashes (4,464); subsequently, these vehicles caused the most truck accident injuries (1,238) and fatalities (62).
Single unit trucks, or those with two axles and six tires, were the second most common vehicle to cause a large truck accident: there were 4,179 accidents, more than 1,000 injuries and 38 people died.
Large truck accidents involve a range of vehicles including single unit trucks, tractor-trailers, semi-trucks, 18-wheelers, and other commercial motor vehicles (CMVs).
Commercial motor vehicles also include buses, garbage trucks, delivery vans, hotel and airport shuttles, moving trucks, and other common, heavy vehicles.
Our state tracks crash statistics for a variety of these vehicles as well. School and commercial buses, for example, were involved in almost 1,500 crashes, resulted in 6 fatalities, and injured almost 500 people.
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), large truck and bus accidents across the US increased by two percent year-over-year and 29 percent since 2009.
Click here access our video library and to learn more about large truck accidents.
Large trucks are designated by their weight. Typically, these vehicles have a gross vehicle weight or combined weight rating of 10,000 pounds or more; for perspective, most consumer vehicles weigh less than half that.
Large truck accidents pose serious risks to drivers and passengers on our roadways; the size, strength, and even the cargo they carry can increase crash severity for everyone involved.
What’s worse, many of these terrible accidents could have been avoided. According to FMCSA, at least one driver-related factor was recorded for 32 percent of the large truck drivers in fatal crashes, compared to 55 percent of the passenger vehicle drivers in fatal crashes.
Speeding of any kind was the most common driver error among large truck drivers and passenger vehicle drivers alike. However, distraction or inattention was more common among truck drivers; impairment was more common among drivers in passenger vehicles.
Sadly, when passenger vehicles are involved in a heavy truck accident, they often suffer the most damage: in 2016, 56 percent of large truck crashes killed the driver of the other motor vehicle.
The numbers don’t lie. Large truck accidents are on the rise in North and South Carolina and in the US.
If you’ve been in an accident involving a large truck or CMV, you don’t have to fight the truck driver or trucking company on your own. A DeMayo Law Offices attorney will stand by your side and help you secure the compensation you deserve from these well-resourced companies. We’ll protect you from their aggressive money-conserving tactics.
Truck accidents often result in complex legal disputes with multiple insurance companies. An experienced DeMayo Law Offices injury lawyer can protect your rights in truck accident lawsuits and help ensure no money is left on the table.’
If you’ve been injured in a truck accident, our injury lawyers have the knowledge and resources you need to secure compensation.
Even if you are unsure of whether you want to pursue legal action at this time, we can talk you through the legal options available to you for financial recovery. We understand that you have difficult decisions to make in the aftermath of your accident. We want you to be informed, so we offer free, no-obligation consultations to all potential clients.
Call DeMayo Law Offices located in North and South Carolina at (877) 333-1000 to discuss your legal options or tell us about the accident online to get started now!