Texas Truck Accident Lawyer

Do You Understand Liability Issues When You are Hurt in a Trucking Accident?

In Texas, we have a lot of modern highways, and we have a lot of big rigs using those highways, tens of thousands of them at least. They haul all types of goods to all parts of the state and country.

Nine out of ten of them are never a problem for Texas drivers, but what about the one-in-ten that’s logging long miles around our state, their drivers’ staring at the road as it rolls along mile after dreary mile, some of them carrying unsafe loads and other big rigs so unsafe they should be off the road for good? Accidents, injuries and even deaths are a near statistical inevitability when 18-wheelers are on the road in and around San Antonio and other Central Texas communities.

If you have been injured in a big rig accident, or if a loved one was injured or killed in one, the Texas truck accident lawyers at Grossman Law Offices stand ready to help you. We continue to win many judgments for our clients and have litigated hundreds of trucking accidents cases during our 20-plus years of service to injury victims. We know the pain you suffer and the financial weight you bear through no fault of your own, but whether you are to partially or completely recover from your injuries, your troubles are bound to continue. The difficulties you will face in your quest to seek fair compensation for your injuries can be just as arduous as the physical injuries and pain you now suffer from the accident itself. Fighting for a fair settlement, even going to court to secure a fair injury award, simply adds to your emotional stress and extends your fiscal problems. We feel it is important to share with you all legal avenues available so that you can take the right action to win a just and fair restitution.

Who is Liable for Your Damages and Pain From a Big Rig Accident in San Antonio, TX?

If you have been hurt in an 18-wheeler accident, the first thing you must know is whose fault it is, which usually determines who is legally liable for injuries suffered and your property damage. In many 18-wheeler accidents, many parties may share liability for damages. Often there can be more than one defendant. A legal concept in Texas law called “respondeat superior” states that employers of those determined to be liable for the wreck are ultimately responsible for the actions or inaction of their employees.

In a claim involving an 18-wheeler, any one, or a combination of a number of different parties, can be responsible, and subsequently held liable for the wreck: the trucker, the company he or she works for, the company that loaded the trailer, the person who planned the truck’s route, or the insurance company who insured these parities. Another source of liability is relatively new. Over the past few years, with the state outsourcing a lot of road maintenance duties, as well as highway construction to private industry, if a privately-owned company is performing road construction or maintenance creates hazardous road conditions that cause an 18-wheeler accident in which you are involved, they may also be held liable for a portion, or maybe all, of the liability arising from the accident. All private companies retained by the state to build and maintain Texas roads must document that they are properly insured, or provide a very large liability a bond.

To win your claim among a plethora of potential defendants, you need an experienced Texas truck accident lawyer on your side that also has the ability to investigate the scene of an accident to discover who is liable. Of course, local or state law enforcement officers investigate all 18-wheeler accidents. In many cases, so does the US Department of Transportation (DOT), especially if repeat offenders of statutes and federal laws governing interstate commerce are involved.

Although most of the time those investigations often reveal the primary, responsible parties such as the drivers or the company that owns the rig, if the 18-wheeler has bad brakes or some other safety violation, they stop short of the level of examination that reveals every liable party who was likely not involved at the scene of the accident. More stringent inquiries that identify everyone who is liable are conducted by experienced truck accident lawyers and their investigators. They know how to determine the degree of each responsibility party in every big rig accident. Occasionally, our thorough investigations turn-up other facts of the accident that law officials miss that might warrant further criminal investigation. We pass them along to the appropriate agencies for further discretionary action.

When you are injured in a truck accident you, the plaintiff, and your attorney, must determine whether the negligent truck driver caused the wreck, or if a mechanical malfunction might be responsible, or if someone else played an important part. What if the company that owned the cargo failed to correctly load it or didn’t properly secure the cargo which caused it to break free during transport and topple the trailer? Or, did the route planner negligently send the truck into an area not zoned for 18-wheelers? Or maybe hazardous cargo was loaded inside the wrong trailer that was not approved (or marked) to carry such dangerous materials and suddenly, unexpectedly exploded, seriously injuring you as you drove alongside it on an inner city freeway not approved to carry hazardous cargo. It is rarely easy to determine immediate fault in an 18-wheeler accident. This is why you benefit in many ways through the help of a San Antonio Texas truck accident lawyer who will make sure that all the liable parties for your injuries resulting from a truck accident in Central Texas are held responsible for your injuries, along with the damage to your vehicle, its passengers and other contents.

What are the Dangers of Self Representation if I Only Deal With an Insurance Company?

A non-attorney has a very hard time accumulating all the knowledge required to effectively negotiate a fair settlement with insurance companies, or successfully represent him or herself in court. Representing yourself is possible, but winning is no better than a very long shot. Litigation in trucking accidents is extremely complex. Inexperienced attorneys have only a slightly better chance than you alone of recovering any reasonable compensation. Why would you even entertain such an idea, especially when tens, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, are at stake? Would you perform complicated surgery on your dog or build your own house on a vacant lot you purchased?

Everyone has heard the old adage: "one who represents himself in a court of law has a fool for a client." And, it’s true that it’s never a good idea to legally represent yourself, but it’s doubly disastrous in any personal injury case, especially one involving an 18-wheeler because the laws and procedures involved are so complex. Plus, those who oppose you have deep pockets and years of experience at winning these kinds of cases. You need much more than general knowledge of the law to succeed in trucking accident litigation.

We’re going to let you in on a little secret. Legal knowledge doesn’t make up a third of all the necessary elements for success in personal injury cases. Successful litigation requires knowledge of procedure and the ability to develop the perfect strategy necessary to battle the insurance companies and their defense lawyers. Having your opponents respect doesn’t hurt either. This is why an experienced, respected Texas 18-wheeler accident attorney who has spent years taking on the insurance companies and their lawyers, and beaten them, is a powerful weapon in your fight for just compensation.

Also, if you have a relative or friend who is a lawyer, even though he or she might be looking out for your best interests and might be inspired to fight hard for your rights when an 18-wheeler accident has befallen you, often, that person might have a difficult time disassociating him or herself emotionally from issues surrounding your case. A specialized truck accident lawyer must be pragmatic, and focus solely on the facts of a case if you are to be successful. What happens if that friend or relative attorney doesn’t win the case, or accepts a less-than-fair settlement because he knows how badly you need the money now? How will you feel about your friend of relative then? Keep your family members and friends out of your legal business. You will be very wise to remember this when deciding who will represent your accident injury lawsuit to your greatest benefit.

Insurance Companies Make their Money by Saying “No” to Your Claim

The federal government requires trucking companies to purchase sizable insurance policies to protect against the inevitable accidents that occur. You may hold the misconception that the trucking insurance compensation process is quick and relatively free of surprises and all you have to do is file a claim and wait for that inevitable, and fair, compensatory check. Guess again. All insurance companies are in the business of taking in premiums and paying out as little as absolutely necessary in claims. Since insurance policies for 18-wheelers involve huge sums of money, much greater than your personal car insurance, the insurance company’s main focus is to keep from paying you fairly, and increase its high profits. So it comes as no surprise that insurance companies deny every claim possible, whenever possible, and for as long as possible. Without the right attorney on your side, collecting a fair settlement from an insurance company is anything but foolproof.

While the Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code provides the right for someone who has been injured in a trucking accident, or the family of one who was killed to seek compensation for their loss, the law doesn’t say reimbursement is automatically granted when a victim claims an injury or loss. This is the dirty little secret that insurance companies don’t want you to know until you find out the hard way by having to deal with an out-of-hand denial by an insurer.

You, as plaintiff, must first prove the liability of the party responsible for the accident and the injuries you suffered from that accident. Furthermore, in any liability case, the plaintiff holds the burden of proof. You must clearly show that the compensation requested fairly reflects the loss produced by the accident. The insurance company and the lawyers who represent them will do everything possible to deny a plaintiff’s claim, or argue that the level of restitution you seek is excessive and unreasonable.

The Insurance Company Is Armed with Adjusters Who are Not to be Trusted

Insurance adjusters are just as dangerous to an accident victim as their defense lawyers. Their goal is to not help you, plain and simple. They are interested solely in saving their companies money by denying your claim or underestimating the cost of the accident to you. An adjuster will act friendly towards you and behave like he is interested in assuring that all of your needs are met; however, insurance adjusters are very clever, and they know that you probably have a good relationship with your car insurance agent. So they imitate your “good neighbor” auto insurance agent and can ease you into a false sense of security. Often, they appear to innocently try and record you saying something that is later twisted into sounding like you’re admitting liability, possibly destroying your chance to receive fair, or any, compensation. The trucking company’s insurance adjuster gets paid to deny or hinder your claim so that the transport and insurance company can together turn bigger profits. Some unscrupulous adjusters even convince uninformed personal injury victims to sign away the legal right to sue in exchange for a small settlement that never comes close to compensating the victim’s injuries or other losses from an 18-wheeler accident.

Corporate insurance adjusters and defense lawyers love nothing more than to find a victim who tries to represent him or herself. They know how easy it is to lead a novice around by the nose. The behavior of insurance adjusters alone should be proof enough of why you need aggressive Texas truck accident lawyer who knows how to combat the tactics of the insurance companies and win your fair settlement. Only the history of success of an experienced personal injury attorney found in Grossman Law Offices will frighten the insurance company into a fair settlement, or beat them in court if they don’t.

Insurance companies are prepared to fight injury claims before the accidents even occur. They have defense attorneys already on staff. They’re very good and just waiting to take on personal injury claims. They specialize in cases like yours and know every trick to tilt the case in favor of their insurance company employers. Insurance defense lawyers race to the scene of an accident as soon as it happens and begin investigating to build a case against you while you are still deciding whether or not you even need to hire a lawyer. If you have been injured in an accident involving an 18-wheeler, you mustn’t hesitate in finding a Texas truck accident law firm to defend you. Tempus fugit (time flies), and once it’s lost, you never get it back.

You Can Pity the Poor Trucker, Just Don’t Trust Them in a Big Rig Accident

Don’t count on the kindness of strangers in a truck accident. With so much to lose, chances are you cannot trust the truck driver to tell the truth if he or she causes an expensive accident. If truck drivers are found to be liable for an accident, not only will they be fired, they might also find it impossible to land a new job after costing his or her previous employer enormous damages due to his or her negligence. Sometimes trucking companies will make the driver the “fall guy” and fire him outright, then cover the true and deeper responsibility, or some sort of negligence of the trucking company itself, for the accident.

If this isn’t the driver’s first wreck behind the wheel of a big rig, it’s possible to lose either his state trucking drivers license, or his DOT certification, which means the (former) truck driver has to find a new line-of work. With the high unemployment rates in the United States, the temptation for that driver to lie or behave dishonestly in order to save their job is too great because that driver now runs the risk of losing a nice paycheck that supports his or her family.

After suffering an injury in an 18-wheeler accident in which the driver of the truck claimed that our client was driving with his lights off at night, our investigators quickly examined the scene. They discovered a security camera outside a convenience store that was pointed directly its parking lot and the accident scene behind it. The footage clearly showed that our client’s headlights were shining brightly. We proved that the truck driver boldly lied. Witnesses and defendants can at-worst, lie and at-best, misrepresent the facts in trucking accident cases. The lawyers with Grossman Law Offices know how to question witnesses, uncover their lies, and pressure them with the truth to stop their misrepresentations. Over the past 20 years, we have conducted thousands of 18-wheeler accident investigations and deposed hundreds of witnesses to get to the bottom of the case and won for our clients’ fair and just compensation by shining the light on the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Self-Insured Truck Companies are a Completely Different, and Sinister, Can-of-Worms

Some trucking companies protect against personal injuries from accidents by reserving a percentage of their assets to pay accident claims, instead of purchasing a coverage policy from an insurance carrier. Although federal and state governments monitor the insurance industry, licenses adjusters and hold insurance companies to ethical standards as best it can, no such regulations exist for self-insured trucking companies. Seeking compensation from these self-insured trucking firms, or self-insured independent truckers, can be far more difficult, and as chaotic, as finding justice in the Old West.

You will pursue settlement with an officer of the company, not an insurance adjuster. This company officer’s salary likely depends directly on the company’s profits. Any amount paid to you for an injury comes directly out of the company coffers, which means that when the company’s officer compensates you, he or she is literally taking money out of their own pocket. This is why we’re seldom surprised when a self-insured company officer stoops to any means for denying your claim and protecting the company’s assets. Self-insured companies have been known to willfully destroy damning evidence, bribe witnesses, and even intimidate their victims. There have been times when those intimidation attempts were directed at our clients. This is why every time our attorneys are hired against a self-insured company, the first action we take is to prevent anyone with the company from behaving unsuitably toward our clients. Often, we are forced to demand that they completely refrain from communicating with our clients unless one of our attorneys is present.

Is it any Wonder That You Need Experience on Your Side?

Only after trying hundreds of cases can a lawyer learn how to develop the right tactics for success at trial or in negotiations with insurance adjusters and the companies they work for. Most people, and many inexperienced attorneys, don’t know the proper way to answer interrogatories, prepare demand packets, and conduct sophisticated depositions meant to get to the bottom of liability for the accident that caused your injuries and pain, perform in-depth accident investigations, or respond to lists of admissions. You need somebody who knows how to do all of this and aggressively look out for your interests at the same time.

Insurance companies only agree to a settlement that benefits you if you are protected by an attorney with a history of success in court. While insurance companies and their lawyers are eager to take on non-lawyers and inexperienced attorneys, they fear us. When we file a claim, the insurance companies are inspired to settle for a fair amount. They want to avoid a trial, especially if they already know they have a weak case. As a result, our clients can often get back to living their lives again quickly and with a minimal expense because we’ve negotiated a fair settlement on their behalf.

What Should You Do Now?

You need to take steps to preserve the evidence in your case now. That means you need to act quickly. You must hire a lawyer to begin investigating the accident scene immediately. Every moment you wait, evidence is beginning to spoil, witnesses’ memories fade, or their stories’ even “mysteriously” change. The accident scene also changes, and physical evidence that proves your case also might begin to “mysteriously” disappear. As soon as we are hired, Grossman Law Offices begins a thorough investigation of the accident scene to uncover the right evidence that works to prove the guilt of the liable parties, whether that’s a truck driver, the trucking company or any other third-parties. We inspect all the vehicles involved, measure the distance from skid marks to the point of impact, hunt for photographic and video evidence and assemble it all to clearly prove your case. We leave no stone unturned to uncover any evidence that will prove your claim beyond a shadow of a doubt.

For example, we were once hired by the families of two men who were involved in a terrible accident with a big rig. After the initial accident, the truck’s trailer was stretched across the unlit road on a moonless night. Only the taillights of the trailer by the curb were visible to oncoming drivers, and our clients rounded a curve and unknowingly smashed into the trailer. One man died at the scene. The other was left fighting for his life.

The force of the collision ripped off the roof of the vehicle, killing the driver and critically injuring the passenger. The next day we were hired, and flew to the scene of the accident to begin investigating that same day. Our client’s car had already been towed to a salvage yard by the time we arrived. After examining the vehicle, we noted its strange lack of headlights. Finding this odd, our investigators spotted a security camera on the premises and we asked to take a look at the video. It showed an official of the trucking company illegally removing the headlights. When the company tried to claim our client had been driving a car without headlights, we produced the video that caught them red-handed. We don’t have to tell who won this case. You can guess. But what you don’t know is that both law enforcement officials and the U.S. Department of Transportation found this video very interesting. And you get a better idea of what we mean when we say that evidence can sometimes “mysteriously disappear.”

If the loved ones of these two men who were driving down the road and minding their own business when tragedy struck, had waited any longer to hire us, this crucial evidence would have been gone forever. Normally, the salvage yard’s surveillance system didn’t save its video for more than two days before recording over it again. We can’t think of a stronger reason why victims of 18-wheeler accidents need to find a lawyer now, so the investigation can begin while the case, and evidence, is still fresh. Because lies and missing evidence can cripple your legal right to fair compensation for an 18-wheeler accident from the moment it happens.

We Can Help You Recover After an 18-Wheeler Accident

The best way for a victim in an 18-wheeler accident to seek full compensation is to find assistance from an experienced Texas truck accident lawyer who knows how to clearly prove the defendant’s undeniable liability, and then win equitable damages.

The Texas truck accident lawyers with Grossman Law Offices have over 20 years experience handling personal injury litigation in 18-wheeler accident cases. If you or a loved one has been in a trucking accident, we use every bit of our knowledge and experience to assure that you receive fair compensation for the injuries and pain you have suffered. We’ve helped deliver millions of dollars to hundreds of accident victims in Texas. So if you or a loved one has been involved in a trucking accident in Central Texas, let an experienced legal partner get the best compensation available to you. Call us today at 1-855-393-0000 (toll free), send us an email, or fill out the form at the top of this page for a free consultation to find out the legal avenues available to you and keep you from becoming a victim.