San Antonio 18-Wheeler Accident Lawyer

San Antonio 18-Wheeler Accident Lawyer Michael Grossman Discusses Truck Accident Litigation

Known by many different names – 18-wheelers, big rigs, semi-trucks or tractor-trailers – large commercial trucks make up a sizable portion of the traffic on the highways in and around San Antonio.

Texas companies use 18-wheelers to transport their goods throughout the Lone Star State and to all corners of the country, while also permitting Texans to enjoy products from all over the world. Trucking is an integral part of our economy, but the benefits of that transportation come at a steep cost. Paid by the hour and often encouraged by their employers to meet demanding deadlines, truck drivers spend long hours on the monotonous road, guiding their enormous vehicles loaded down with the latest products or heavy machinery. Accidents can happen in the blink of an eye as a result of seemingly innocuous mistakes. Statistically, with so many trucks on the road, 18-wheeler accidents are bound to happen.

The effects of an accident with such large and heavy vehicles can be devastating, leaving drivers and passengers in other cars injured or in some cases dead, and tearing families apart. When the family tries to find out how the accident happened and who is responsible, they are often left puzzled. If you have been injured or a loved one has been tragically killed in an accident with a commercial truck, then the San Antonio 18-wheeler accident lawyers at Grossman Law Offices can help answer the questions you have and secure the compensation you deserve for your injuries or your loss. We will investigate the scene of the accident and all of the facts in your case to give you the answers you seek and help your family determine what legal venues you have available following the 18-wheeler wreck. To discuss the details of your case with a San Antonio 18-wheeler accident lawyer, call us today for a free consultation at 1-855-393-0000 (toll free).

Figuring out who to Blame for your Truck Accident

The first thing you need to determine if you or a loved one has been injured in an 18-wheeler is who is to blame for the accident. Any number of factors and parties could have caused or contributed to the cause of a commercial truck accident. Even if you or your loved one was partially responsible for an accident, you are still entitled to monetary compensation for your injuries, albeit, less than you would have been able to secure had you not been liable at all.

In many cases, multiple parties will be responsible for any given truck accident. Truckers who are employed commercially and cause accidents are not the only responsible parties for those accidents. In Texas, a legal doctrine called respondeat superior holds any employer responsible for the actions or inaction of his or her employees. Thus, if a truck driver causes an accident, then his employer is also accountable for any injuries suffered from that wreck.

Moreover, liability for injuries suffered in a truck accident is often not limited to just the driver or the company that employed him or her. Several third parties could have caused the accident in whole or in part. If a malfunctioning part due to an assembly or design error caused a wreck, then the manufacturer could be held responsible. If the company that loaded the cargo did not properly secure the payload, causing a load shift that resulted in an accident, then the loading company could be liable for the wreck. Improper maintenance causing an accident could point to the liability of the maintenance company, and of course it’s always possible another driver caused the accident that forced an 18-wheeler to hit your car. With so many different possibilities to consider, anyone injured in a wreck with a commercial truck needs the help of a skilled and experienced San Antonio 18-wheeler accident lawyer to investigate the accident and determine from whom compensation can be sought.

Why You Need the Help of a San Antonio 18-Wheeler Accident Lawyer

Figuring out who is to blame for an accident and making sure all liable parties are held accountable are not the only reasons you need the assistance of a skilled and time-tested truck accident lawyer. Truck accident law in Texas is extremely complex and involves many painstakingly intricate procedures. Every defendant in a truck accident claim will have an insurance company defending him or her, and all of these companies will be armed with adjusters and lawyers who are imminently familiar with truck accident law. These adjusters and attorneys know how to take advantage of the inexperienced, exploiting any mistake they make to deny their claims. Our San Antonio 18-wheeler accident lawyers have just as much experience, and we can protect you from these specialists.

Obstacles Our San Antonio 18-Wheeler Accident Lawyers can Help you Avoid

There are many pitfalls that can trip up truck accident victims, as they attempt to secure compensation, including:

• Sizable Insurance Policies
  The federal government requires trucking companies to purchase huge insurance policies to protect against the inevitable accidents and injuries that happen. While you might think that such policies would make obtaining compensation easy, you’d be wrong. With enormous amounts of money at risk, insurance companies will do whatever they can to protect their assets. Insurance companies are not in business to help people, but to make money. By minimizing the amount of compensation they have to pay to you, insurance companies can increase their profits. Thus, they will actively attempt to deny your claim.
  
  Moreover, the victim, also known as the plaintiff, holds the burden of proof for establishing that he or she deserves compensation from a trucking company or its insurer. Merely turning in your medical bills or pretending you know legal jargon will not be sufficient to secure the compensation you deserve from an insurance company. The only thing these companies respect is a San Antonio 18-wheeler accident lawyer whom they know can prove your right to compensation.
  
  
• Truck Accident Defense Specialists
  In order to defend their sizable insurance policies, insurance companies keep defense lawyer who specialize solely in truck accident cases on staff year round, just waiting for accidents to happen. As soon as the truck driver reports the accident, the trucking company passes along the information to the insurance company, which then immediately dispatches its fast-response attorneys to the scene of the accident for the purposes of conducting an investigation. They’re not interested in revealing the truth about what happened in the accident, but only any shred of evidence that could be used to divert blame onto the victim. In some cases, the insurance companies lawyers act so quickly that they’ll interview family members about an accident before they have even been informed about it. The insurance companies will hound the families of victims, pestering them in the hospital or constantly calling over the phone to convince them to sign away their legal rights in exchange for a settlement. While you’re discussing the situation with one insurance company attorney, several others are at the scene of the accident, interviewing witnesses, gathering evidence, examining the vehicles involved and recording everything they can find. Their only motivation is to try to find any evidence that will divert blame from the trucking company they insure. In many cases, the insurance company’s lawyers will have concluded their investigation and devised a legal strategy before the victim has even done an Internet search to find a lawyer. Call Grossman Law Offices for a consultation as soon as possible so that you can keep pace with the aggressive lawyers. The sooner we can begin our investigation, the better chance we have of finding the evidence you need to prove your case.
  
  
• Pushy Insurance Adjusters
  Since truck insurance policies are worth so much money, insurance companies reserve only their most experienced and ruthless adjusters to handle these cases. Nothing like your friendly neighborhood insurance adjuster who depends on your business, this commercial insurance adjuster known how to maximize profits by minimizing payouts. They’ll fly down from big cities like New York and Chicago, and they know how to get victims to admit their own liability and how to convince plaintiffs into surrendering their right to sue in exchange for settlements that do not come close to adequately compensating them for their injuries. To protect against these vultures, you need an advocate who knows their unscrupulous methods and tricks. You should not even converse with an insurance adjuster, let alone sign anything, without first consulting with an attorney of your choosing. By calling Grossman Law Offices today, you can secure the assistance of an experienced San Antonio 18-wheeler accident lawyer who is just as aggressive as the insurance adjusters.
  
  
• Untrustworthy Truck Drivers
  In all likelihood, if a truck driver is found to have negligently caused an accident, resulting in a sizable loss for his company’s insurer, then that truck will be hired. Moreover, a trucker with such a glaring black mark on his or her record is highly unlikely to find employment elsewhere with a reputable trucking company. As a result, many truckers will lie about their negligence in order to avoid liability and the consequences that go along with it.
  
  Our attorneys have encountered numerous examples of deceptive claims by truck drivers in an attempt to avoid liability. One truck driver claimed that the driver of the car he hit didn’t have his headlights on at the time of the accident at night, but surveillance footage on a nearby store showed the headlights of the other car were on, shining a light on the lie. Another trucker lied, saying the car he hit swerved in front of him erratically, only to have eyewitness accounts from bystanders establish that the opposite in fact occurred. In another case, the truck driver said he went through an intersection on a yellow light; however, the photographs from the intersection camera proved that the light had already turned red. Stiller another driver said the driver of the car he rear-ended had suddenly slammed on her brakes, but the cars internal computer showed no sudden decline in speed, and there were no skid marks on the road. Truckers will mold the truth, misremember details, exclude important elements, or outright lie. If you are relying on the good word and sense of decency of the trucker who caused your accident, then you’re making a big mistake. Over and over again, the San Antonio 18-wheeler accident lawyers at Grossman Law Offices have revealed the truth in truck accident cases with a timely and diligent investigation, coupled with a well-crafted deposition strategy. In order to get the compensation you deserve, you need to retain the services of a knowledgeable and skillful attorney like those at Grossman Law Offices.

Don’t Attempt to Handle Your own Case

The law certainly allows you to represent yourself in truck accident case, or any legal proceeding, but it’s seldom a wise decision to do so. If you lack significant legal experience, then there are just too many factors to deal with in such a case – the complexity of the laws, the aggressive insurance adjusters, the demands of a thorough investigation and devising a legal strategy. Without the help of an experienced and successful San Antonio 18-wheeler accident lawyer, you are setting yourself up for failure. You need more than knowledge of the law. You need someone who knows how to apply the laws to an infallible legal strategy that follows the proper procedures, incorporates the right arguments and evidence and convinces the insurance company to provide an adequate settlement or the court to rule in your favor. All the while, you need someone with the experience to avoid the obstacles that trip up non-lawyers who attempt to resolve Texas truck accident cases.

In the 20 years our attorneys have been litigating truck accident cases, we’ve built an impressive track record against both trucking companies and their insurance providers. When we threaten a lawsuit, they take us seriously because they know we mean business. Thus, they often offer our clients fair settlements to avoid the uncertainty of a trial.

Grossman Law Offices can Give you the Help you Need

Getting our clients and their families the compensation to which they are entitled after injuries suffered in a truck accident is the sole motivation of our legal team. With two decades of trial-tested experience and time-tested knowledge in Texas truck accident law, we know how to help you after a truck accident in San Antonio. If you or a family member has been injured in a truck accident, then our San Antonio 18-wheeler accident lawyers can help. Call us as soon as possible at 1-855-393-0000 (toll free) for a free consultation to discuss the specific details of your case, learn more about your legal rights and find out how we can help you fight for your legal rights.