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Georgia’s roads are no stranger to tractor-trailers and other large commercial vehicles. Sharing the highways with these behemoths can be nerve-wracking on a good day, and it can lead to a devastating accident when something goes wrong.
Making matters more concerning, truck accidents tend to be quite serious. While they are rarer than other types of accidents, they produce major injuries and deaths more frequently by comparison.
When you have been hurt in such an accident, you may be facing steep medical bills — or even the loss of a loved one. The CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm is here to help you recover your medical costs as well as other damages you have suffered in your truck accident. We will provide you with an experienced Dalton truck accident lawyer to review your case, investigate the fault, calculate damages, and help you seek the maximum settlement available for your losses.
Find out why we are one of the fastest-growing law firms in the state and why we have such a stellar reputation for client service. Call (706) 890-0000 or contact us online to schedule a free, no-obligation case review with one of our attorneys and learn what you can do to pursue the maximum compensation possible from your truck accident claim.
What Types of Cases Will a Dalton Truck Accident Attorney Handle?
Truck accident attorneys typically handle a broad range of personal injury cases, including other motor vehicle accidents, slip and falls on properties, medical malpractice claims, defective product claims, and more.
When selecting a personal injury law firm in Dalton to handle your truck accident case, look for experience specifically with truck accident claims. These types of cases can involve rigorous investigations — particularly when the trucking company or others involved are reluctant to share all available evidence.
There are also nuanced questions of the law that can arise, such as whether the driver or their employer committed a violation of state or federal carrier regulations. The good news is that Dalton truck accident lawyers with experience and the right set of knowledge can handle a broad range of claims, including accidents involving:
- Tractor-trailers, also called semi trucks and eighteen-wheelers
- Buses
- Tanker trucks
- Delivery vans
- Construction vehicles
- Flatbeds
- Car haulers
- Logging trucks
- Dump trucks
- Box trucks
- Tow trucks
- Cement mixers
What Damages Can I Claim After a Trucking Accident?
Every personal injury case will involve a set of damages that is unique to the injury victim. However, most will seek damages in one or all of the following categories:
- Medical expenses made necessary because of the accident, including emergency treatment, hospitalization, follow-up care, and any long-term care or physical rehabilitation required
- Lost wages, referring to all income and benefits lost by the injury victim while they were unable to work, either temporarily or permanently, including situations where income is reduced because of shortened work hours or changed duties
- Out-of-pocket expenses inflicted by the accident, such as the costs of over-the-counter medications recommended by physicians or transportation to medical appointments
- Vehicle repairs and all other damages to personal property, including devices damaged or destroyed in the truck accident
- Pain and suffering compensation for the intangible suffering and loss of ability to enjoy life by the victim
- Wrongful death damages, which provide surviving loved ones or estate representatives with money for funeral and burial, as well as for the pain and suffering experienced by grieving family members
How Can I File a Claim After I Have Been in a Wreck With a Truck?
Your top priorities after you have been hit by a truck in Dalton are to:
- Call 911 to report the accident. Request an ambulance if anyone is hurt, and ask for an officer to come to the scene to gather a report.
- Collect information on the driver, their employer, and their commercial liability policy. Ask to see the driver’s commercial driver’s license and for their company’s insurance policy carrier and number.
- Seek medical attention as soon as possible, either after giving information to police officers or after emergency medical teams recommend transport to a nearby healthcare facility.
Using the information provided by the driver, you can open a claim with the insurance company representing the carrier that owned or leased the vehicle.
However, you will want to be extremely cautious when opening a claim because trucking companies and their insurers use many tactics to shield themselves from liability after an accident occurs. One strategy is to immediately begin cleaning up the wreck, making it challenging to prove causation or even confirm basic details of the police report.
Contacting a Dalton truck accident attorney early on in your case can provide you with the resources needed to quickly gather evidence and issue notices for the company to preserve any records or physical evidence they have in their possession. With an attorney assisting on your case, you can also avoid common mistakes, such as making a recorded statement to the insurance company.
Your attorney will help you handle your claim from start to finish. They will identify who, exactly, is liable, which can be a complicated legal question in these cases.
They will also serve to protect your legal rights, shielding you from tactics insurers and carrier companies use to weaken claims and avoid paying out damages to injury victims.
Who Is at Fault for My Truck Accident?
Any of the following parties can be considered liable, either solely or in combination with others:
- The trucking carrier that hired or contracted the driver who caused an accident, which is the most commonly named party in truck accident claims in Dalton
- The driver, if they are an independent owner-operator and have a commercial liability policy of their own
- The owner of the vehicle, trailer, or other hauling equipment if lack of maintenance or other forms of negligence led to a defect that caused the crash
- A maintenance contractor, if substandard work or other forms of negligence led to a dangerous condition that caused the accident
- A vehicle or part manufacturer if they introduced a defect that caused the accident or contributed to its severity
- A state or local agency responsible for road maintenance if a defect in a public road contributed to the accident’s circumstances
Critically, a new law passed in March 2024 in Georgia forbids many lawsuits filed directly against insurance carriers representing the trucking company or driver responsible for the accident. Injured parties first must make every effort to sue the company or the independent driver directly before they can legally compel the insurer to pay for damages.
How Common Are Truck Accidents in Dalton?
With I-75 crossing directly through Dalton, the city experiences heavy commercial vehicle traffic throughout the year. Fortunately, though, truck accidents are somewhat rare in the city.
Information from the Georgia Department of Transportation’s Crash Data portal shows that just 551 truck accidents were recorded in Dalton from 2013 – 2022. Two crashes involved fatalities, for a total of four truck accident deaths during the period, and 91 crashes led to serious injuries. Crashes reached a high for the period in 2018, with 86 that year alone.
These seemingly low numbers can miss the general scope of the danger posed by truck accidents, especially considering that not every police accident report will accurately note that a truck was involved. Further, many truck accident victims can feel symptoms of injuries days after the crash, long after the preliminary police report data was gathered.
Nationwide, fatal truck accidents increased 18% from 2020 – 2021, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The total number of large trucks involved in injury crashes also increased 11% during the same period.
Try to Find Witnesses After Your Dalton Truck Accident
One of the most important resources in a truck accident claim is a neutral and objective source of information. If there were any eyewitnesses who stopped to assist after your accident, make sure to get all of their contact information.
Ask them to make a statement to the police, and consider recording a statement of your own on your phone or other available device, including a piece of paper if nothing else is available.
Work With a Dalton Truck Accident Law Firm That Knows How to Handle These Complicated Claims
Trucking companies and their insurers are highly experienced in avoiding liability. They know what to say and what information to keep vague to limit the impression that they were at fault for the collision.
They may even try to allege that you were responsible, in part or in full, in order to reduce the total amount of damages you could be eligible to receive.
Ali Awad, the CEO Lawyer, and his team will aggressively pursue all liable parties in order to help you seek to recover all damages you’ve suffered. We are willing to file a lawsuit and take the trucking carrier to court if that is what it takes to secure the compensation you need to recover and move on with your life.
Georgia has a two-year statute of limitations on injury claims, so be sure to act fast once your accident has occurred. Call us today at (706) 890-0000 or contact us online to schedule a free case review and start your claim.