Are Ohio Truck Accident Cases Hard To Win?
Ohio truck accident cases are no harder to win than other types of auto accidents. In fact, certain aspects of truck accidents make them more desirable to personal injury lawyers and easier to settle or win in court.
Why Attorneys Like Truck Accident Cases
Attorneys like truck accident cases because of their scope. Everything is bigger with a truck accident than with a regular car accident. The size of the vehicle is larger, the injuries are more severe, the property damage is greater, the insurance policy is bigger, and the number of liable parties increases. All this amounts to larger damages and ultimately higher compensation.
Damages are Easier to Prove in Ohio Truck Accidents
The large scope of semi-truck accidents also generally means that certain things may be easier to prove, especially injuries and property damage. It’s hard for a trucking company or its insurance carrier to deny the devastating injuries that these types of accidents often leave victims with. Truck accident injuries include:
- Back injuries
- Neck injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Head injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
- Burns
- Amputated limbs
- Broken bones
- Internal bleeding
- Organ damage
- Scars and disfigurement
- Cuts, bruises, and lacerations
Injuries like those above are damning for the liable party because they generally mean that the victim is sure to be compensated for them. The above list only includes physical injuries that will result in medical expenses. It doesn’t include any emotional or psychological injury the victim may suffer as a result of the accident, the impact the injuries have on their daily lives going forward, or property damage.
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Per a study funded by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the average cost of police-reported truck accidents involving trucks more than 10,000 pounds is $91,112. According to the study, “that amount represents the value of all costs over the victims’ expected life span. They include medical-related costs, emergency services costs, property damage costs, lost productivity, and the monetized value of the pain, suffering, and quality of life that the family loses because of a death or injury.”
The average cost of non-fatal injury crashes is $195,258, and commercial truck accidents that result in fatalities cost even more, averaging $3,604,518. Even crashes that cause only property damage cost an average of $15,114. Those are some pretty sizable numbers for truck accident attorneys to sink their teeth into and motor carriers to deny.
Liability May Be Easier to Prove in Truck Accidents
Commercial truck accident lawyers also relish truck accident cases because liability may be easier to prove. Driver error is responsible for 87% of large truck accidents, according to a causation study published by the FMCSA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). That means that Ohio semi-truck accident attorneys know going into the case that they will likely be able to find evidence of driver fault.
Attorneys Can Pull Semi-Truck Black Box Data for Evidence in a Truck Accident Claim
Some of that evidence is even handed to them in a black box. Most commercial trucks are outfitted with a black box. Similar to the black box on an airplane, the semi-truck black box is an event recorder that stores data about the physical properties of the truck. The information stored on a black box can supply key evidence in a truck accident. It can show driver performance and tell what happened prior to the crash. Types of information recorded by a black box include:
- Truck speed just before the crash
- How often the truck went above a certain speed
- Acceleration or deceleration activity
- Usage of the brakes
- Whether the driver was wearing a seatbelt
- Airbag deployment
- Tire pressure
- Whether cruise control was engaged
- Communication between trucker and dispatcher/trucking company
Truck Drivers’ Logbooks Supply Additional Evidence
Attorneys can cross-reference the information from the black box with the trucker logbook to check for hours of service or truck maintenance violations. For example, truck drivers are required to spend 10 hours off the road after 11 hours of driving. Sometimes drivers fabricate their logged off-duty hours.
If their black box data indicates that they drove for longer than the allowed time provided by federal hours of service regulations, they may have caused the accident due to fatigue and broken the law. The black box may also indicate if there were issues with parts or maintenance of the truck. This is useful in determining other liable parties.
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To Win a Truck Accident Case, You Must Show the Other Party Was Negligent
In general, a motor vehicle accident, including a truck accident, is not hard to win as long as you can prove negligence. Your semi-truck accident attorney must show four essential things:
- The truck driver or other liable party had a duty to act with a reasonable amount of care.
- They breached that duty by acting in a negligent fashion.
- Their failure to act with care caused your truck accident.
- You suffered damages (injuries or losses) due to their negligent acts.
If you can prove negligence, you can establish liability and demand the compensation you deserve.
Isaacs & Isaacs Will Fight to Win Your Ohio Truck Accident Case
An Ohio truck accident lawyer at Isaacs & Isaacs Personal Injury Lawyers can help you gather the evidence, prove negligence, demonstrate your injuries, and file a personal injury insurance claim or lawsuit against the at-fault party.
An Ohio truck accident doesn’t have to be hard to win. With an experienced and knowledgeable personal injury attorney on your side, you can recover the compensation you deserve. Call us today for a free case review.
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