San Antonio 18-Wheeler Attorney

Injured by an 18-Wheeler? San Antonio 18-wheeler Accident Attorney Michael Grossman Can Help You

Injuries sustained by victims in 18-wheeler accidents can often be quite severe, resulting in costly medical bills or other types of financial losses.

If you’ve had the misfortune to have been involved in an 18-wheeler wreck in San Antonio, your physical pain may be compounded by emotional and mental duress, in addition to the financial stress that often arises in the aftermath of a semi-truck crash. In instances where you may have lost a loved one due to the negligence of a truck driver, a truck driving company, or another liable party, the suffering of losing a loved one in an unexpected tractor-trailer wreck can be devastating. Whether you’ve been injured in a San Antonio semi-truck wreck or may have lost a family member in fatal semi-truck crash, San Antonio 18-wheeler accident attorney Michael Grossman can help you seek fair compensation for your injury or loss while simultaneously working to ensure that the negligent parties are identified and held fully accountable for their behavior resulting in your injury or loss. With more than two decades of experience in litigating truck drivers, trucking companies, truck insurers, and the other parties often involved in Texas commercial trucking accidents, Grossman Law Offices has the knowledge and reputation that can help you through this difficult time toward a better tomorrow.

Seeking Legal Action After an 18-Wheeler Accident in San Antonio

If you have never been in a situation before in which you can seek legal action against a liable party through a civil lawsuit, you’re likely unaware of your legal rights in such circumstances. The following basic information can guide you toward a better understanding of whether or not your 18-wheeler accident case may have merit. There are three foundational aspects that any personal injury or wrongful death case must have.

1. A liable party, also known as a defendant, must have owed the victim, also known as the plaintiff, some type of legal duty. That legal duty must have been subsequently violated by the defendant in some negligent fashion. In a large majority of San Antonio 18-wheeler wrecks, the legal duty owed is that of public safety. In other words, all drivers on Texas roads owe all other drivers a legal duty to drive safely so as not to cause harm to other drivers. When one driver crashes into another driver, resulting in the second driver sustaining some type of injury, the legal duty for public safety is said to have been violated. Both the legal duty owed and the way the duty was violated must be able to be proven for a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit to have merit. It should also be noted that a legal duty is highly contextual, meaning that the legal duty owed can change dependent on the specific circumstances of the accident as well as the relationships involved between the defendant and the plaintiff. Consequently, having an experienced San Antonio 18-wheeler accident attorney like Michael Grossman on your side can prove beneficial when unique cases have to be constructed against multiple defendants, which is often the case in 18-wheeler accidents in Texas.
   
   
2. The victim must have suffered some type of injury as a result of the negligent behavior of the liable party or parties. Such an injury is often physical in nature, but can also be mental or emotional. A plaintiff’s legal representation must be able to prove that the liable party’s negligent was either a direct or a proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury. In other words, the plaintiff’s attorney must be able to show how the defendant contributed to the accident causing injury.
   
   It should also be noted that the burden of proof in an 18-wheeler accident case in San Antonio rests with the plaintiff. In other words, a plaintiff must take the initiative to pursue legal action against a negligent party. Simply waiting for compensation to be awarded will likely result in much wasted time, as a liable party is not legally forced to voluntarily award compensation to an aggrieved party. The liable party must be compelled through a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit to award compensation to an injured victim or a bereaved family. As such, the plaintiff’s legal representation must be able to build a robust case on strong evidence that connects the liable party or parties to the semi-truck accident causing injury. When a strong case is built, a plaintiff can then stand to be awarded fair compensation for their injury or loss.
   
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3. The victim’s injury must have caused the victim to incur some type of damages. Damages is the legal term for the economic losses that accompany an injury. A common example of incurred damages is medical bills. If a plaintiff has not experienced any type of financial loss as a result of their injury, then no personal injury lawsuit can be brought, since the purpose of a civil lawsuit is for the plaintiff to be reimbursed, or compensated, for the economic losses they’ve experienced due the negligent behavior of another party. Certain types of damages can be sought in personal injury lawsuits, such as compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
   
   In the event of an 18-wheeler wrongful death lawsuit, two types of damages can be sought known as survival damages and wrongful death damages. Survival damages can be sought by the decedent’s closest living relative, and the damages refer to the financial losses that a decedent incurred prior to death and would have incurred had they survived the fatal accident. In other words, the plaintiff seeking survival damages essentially becomes a surrogate of their lost loved one, seeking damages on their behalf. Only one family member can seek survival damages. In contrast, wrongful death damages refer to the damages incurred by the family members as a result of losing their loved one, i.e. pain and suffering or loss of consortium. Multiple family members can seek wrongful death damages, which will often be asked for through the same wrongful death lawsuit. An experienced San Antonio 18-wheeler accident attorney will ensure that both types of damages are faithfully calculated so that a bereaved family can be fully and fairly compensated for their loss.

Assessing Liability in a Texas 18-wheeler Accident

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Michael Grossman has been fighting for 18 wheeler accident victims` rights for over 20 years. Call Mike to discuss your case. 1-855-393-0000

In a majority of 18-wheeler accidents in Texas, there is often more than one liable party. To many that are unfamiliar with the laws in Texas and the notion of proximate cause, the involvement of multiple liable parties in a tractor-trailer wreck in San Antonio may sound strange. However, the following information will help to elucidate why there are often multiple parties involved in big rig accidents in Texas.

Most people correctly assume that the liable party for an 18-wheeler wreck is the 18-wheeler driver. While this is not always the case, the truck driver will be the first entity investigated in order to see whether or not their negligent behavior may have contributed to a San Antonio big rig wreck. Such negligent driving can be caused by a vast array of circumstances. Some truckers are prone to pushing themselves to drive farther or to drive for longer periods of time in order to earn a few extra dollars or just to get home more quickly. Other truckers are under stress from their employers to accomplish their deliveries in a quick manner. These instances can lead to drowsy driving or reckless driving caused by a massive amount of steel speeding down a highway. Furthermore, some truck drivers choose to drink and drive, or choose to use drugs and drive while high. Such a combination of alcohol, drugs, and trucking is often results in a deadly outcome. As such, negligent truck drivers that cause injury or loss of life can be held accountable for their actions through a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit.

However, a truck driver is only the first liable entity in what could be a long list of possible defendants. Due to the legal notion of “respondeat superior” in Texas law, an employer is vicariously liable for the actions of their employees. Consequently, a Texas trucking company whose driver causes an 18-wheeler accident can be held partially liable for their driver’s wreck. When such a trucking company is involved in a civil lawsuit, their insurer will also likely be involved in the accident case. The involvement of such an insurer is often one of the larger challenges in seeking compensation for an injury sustained due to a Texas trucking accident, and this challenge will soon be discussed. Suffice it to say: in a majority of 18-wheeler wrecks in Texas, a truck driver, their employer, and the trucking company’s insurer will all likely be defendants in a civil lawsuit, each of whom will likely require a unique case to be built against them. Inexperienced attorneys without prior cases involving 18-wheeler accidents are often not able to rise to the challenge of seeking justice against multiple liable parties, but San Antonio 18-wheeler accident attorney Michael Grossman has 20 years of such experience, and can help see to it that the liable parties are held properly accountable for their specific roles in contributing to your accident.

In addition to those likely defendants, certain 18-wheeler accidents can involve even more possible liable parties, depending on the specific circumstances of the big rig accident. For example, many Texas trucking companies utilize the services of other companies to perform such tasks as route-planning or cargo-loading. If these third-party companies are negligent in their duties and such negligence can be shown to have been a proximate cause of an 18-wheeler accident, they can be held partially liable for the semi-truck wreck. For example, if a truck driver crashes into an overpass while following a route prescribed for them by a route-planning company, the outside company may bear liability for the accident. In the same way, if shifting cargo causes an 18-wheeler rollover accident in San Antonio, a cargo-loading company can be held liable for such an accident. Furthermore, defective mechanical parts can also contribute to 18-wheeler wrecks in Texas, and a parts manufacturer may be held liable in such a circumstance.

Lastly, if a truck driver happens to have been drunk at the time of the wreck, Texas dram shop law may come into effect if the truck driver became intoxicated at a bar or restaurant prior to the accident. As such, the alcohol-serving establishment could be yet another liable party in an 18-wheeler personal injury or wrongful death case. Taken as a whole, seeking compensation for an injury or loss caused by a big rig wreck can quickly become a very involved legal process. In such instances, enlisting the help of a broadly experienced San Antonio 18-wheeler accident attorney like Michael Grossman can prove beneficial toward seeking justice against all liable parties so that you can stand to be fully and fairly compensated for your injury or loss.

Expensive Insurance Policies, Aggressive Insurance Adjusters

One of the common challenges in seeking legal action against a negligent truck driver and their employer is the existence of expensive insurance policies on the trucks and their drivers. Since the amount of damage that a semi-truck can cause is exponentially greater than the amount of damage that a passenger vehicle can cause, the amount of a commercial trucking insurance policy is likewise high. Some injured victim may believe that such a “full-coverage” insurance policy would mean a quick and fair payout to them in the event of an injury, similar to the way that regular passenger vehicle insurance works. Unfortunately, this is not the case when dealing with commercial vehicle insurance policies. Because the amount of damages often incurred by a victim in an 18-wheeler accident can be quite high, the sum of compensation that an insurer might have to pay out can also be quite high. As a result, they will use as many means as possible in order to not be held ultimately responsible for paying out such a great sum, regardless of an injured victim’s need for compensation.

Consequently, trucking company insurers will often use their most veteran insurance adjusters to work such claims. With years of prior experience in seeing claims similar to yours denied or decreased, they will employ certain proven tactics in order to shift as much blame as possible away from their client. Should they be able to show that a victim was mostly responsible for an accident, then a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit may result in no compensation at all for the plaintiff. Going against such insurance adjusters without the aid of experienced legal help can leave you at the mercy of a likely merciless group of professionals. Equipped with knowledge regarding the law and the ways in which insurance settlements work, these highly-experienced adjusters often know too many tactics in which they can see your claim denied or severely diminished. With our 20 years of history in dealing with these types of adjusters, we’re quite wise to their oft-employed methods. Furthermore, they’re often just as familiar with our ways in defending our clients’ rights, and often know that they cannot take advantage of us or our clients.

Rapid-Response Defense Lawyers

Since 18-wheeler wrecks in Texas happen with an alarming regularity, most trucking companies and trucking insurance companies are ready to quickly respond to an accident. They will likely deploy well-trained defense lawyers to a big rig accident site, sometimes within minutes of the accident having occurred, in order to begin an investigation into the accident where they will search for any evidence that can be used to exonerate their client. Such an investigation is often conducted before a plaintiff may have even thought about contacting their own legal representation. Consequently, enlisting the help of an experienced San Antonio 18-wheeler accident attorney as soon as possible after a truck accident has occurred can prove to be a vital step toward the outcome of a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit since the defense may have a head-start, so to speak, in building a case against you.

Truckers’ Lie-Ability About Their Liability

Some truck drivers, faced with the prospect of possibly losing their jobs as a result of a severe 18-wheeler accident, may lie about their involvement in a semi-truck wreck. When few or no witnesses are available to possibly speak against a truck driver’s story, proving or disproving the story becomes an integral part of seeking compensation against a liable truck driver. As such, the San Antonio 18-wheeler accident attorneys at Grossman Law Offices will use a combination of tactful deposition skills and thorough investigative methods in order to verify the validity of a truck driver’s story. After two decades of experience in hearing many different types of stories from truck drivers that choose to gloss over the facts of an accident, we’re keen to instances where evidence and depositions must be used in order to disprove such a driver’s story.

Dealing with Self-Insured Trucking Companies in San Antonio, TX

Texas trucking companies are required by law to have insurance coverage; however, some trucking companies opt to self-insure. When seeking compensation against such a self-insured trucking company, an aggrieved party may experience certain unethical behavior in some instances, such as evidence manipulation, plaintiff threatening, or witness badgering. Such companies may act this way, whether through ignorance or arrogance, because they do not have to hold themselves to the same standards and regulations that traditional insurers must adhere to in order to not lose their licensure. Our San Antonio big rig accident law firm has helped clients in the past who have vainly attempted to seek compensation from such an unethically-acting company. Once legal steps have been taken to ensure that the company is acting ethically, we can then assist our client in seeking proper compensation. However, had these clients enlisted our help before attempting to seek compensation on their own against a self-insured trucking company, we likely could have prevented them from wasting time and effort and experiencing great frustration with the process.

Do I Need an Attorney’s Help in a San Antonio 18-wheeler Accident?

Choosing to represent yourself in an 18-wheeler personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit is a risk you likely cannot afford to take. In order to have the possibility of a successful outcome to an 18-wheeler lawsuit in Texas, a plaintiff’s legal representation must possess wide legal knowledge, years of practical experience, and a hard-earned reputation for helping their clients. Furthermore, personal injury and wrongful death cases are won based on the gathering of relevant evidence. A non-attorney often does not have access to the necessary resources to conduct a proper and thorough investigation into an 18-wheeler accident site. Additionally, since there will likely be multiple liable parties involved in an 18-wheeler accident case, a unique case must be built against each unique defendant, often requiring various legal actions to be deployed based on the type of negligence of the defendant. While you may have adequate knowledge in regards to the laws possibly surrounding your 18-wheeler accident case, knowledge of the law is not enough to see you through to a successful conclusion of a civil lawsuit resulting in fair compensation. Those laws must be applied in a court, and failure to follow proper court procedure can cause a case to be quickly dismissed. Furthermore, the insurance adjusters and defense attorneys that make a living in 18-wheeler accident cases in Texas will often know far too many ways to cause a non-attorney to commit a procedural error. As the sum of compensation that may be received through a successful verdict may be sizable in nature, and can likely help you in the recovery process, attempting to seek compensation without the help of an experienced San Antonio 18-wheeler accident attorney is a risk that could result in little to no compensation for your efforts.

Contact The San Antonio 18-Wheeler Accident Law Firm of Grossman Law Offices

18-wheeler accidents can result in severe personal injury or even death. The liable parties, whether such parties include a truck driver, a trucking company, their insurer, or another third-party, should be held accountable for their negligent behavior that has resulted in your injury or loss. We can help you seek compensation for your injury or loss while also working to ensure that liable parties are held properly accountable for their actions so that a future injury or death does not have to occur due to their continued negligent behavior. Contact our San Antonio big rig accident lawyers toll-free at 1-855-393-0000 for a free and confidential legal consultation where you can get answers to any pressing questions you may have. We can assist you through this difficult time so that you may be able to receive compensation for your injury or loss caused by an 18-wheeler accident in San Antonio, Texas.