After a serious semi-truck accident in Iowa, you may be looking for an attorney to help you get justice for your harms and losses.
During a phone call with a lawyer, you may get the impression that “truck crash cases are just like regular car accident cases.”
Don’t be fooled. There are many differences between these two types of cases.
Unlike most car crash cases, if a truck driver is involved in a serious crash, the trucking company will send out a team to investigate the crash within hours.
This team usually includes a defense lawyer.
This defense lawyer will start speaking with law enforcement, interviewing eyewitnesses, and examining physical evidence before the crash victim has even been discharged from the hospital.
Obviously, this gives the trucking company an important head start.
The only way to overcome that head start is to hire an experienced truck accident lawyer to start an investigation for your side as soon as possible.
This investigation typically involves inspecting the semi-truck, downloading electronic data from the truck, and taking steps to preserve all important company documents before the trucking company can destroy them.
A regular car accident is usually caused by a careless driver.
A truck accident is usually caused by a company who failed to properly hire, train, or discipline its professional driver.
A key step in any truck accident case is finding out whether the truck driver should have been behind the wheel in the first place.
The only way to take that step is to do a deep investigation into the trucking company’s safety practices.
Such an investigation typically involves reviewing the trucking company’s safety practices, training manuals, and other key corporate documents.
Law enforcement officers are typically first on the scene after a crash.
They interview eyewitnesses and examine the physical evidence.
However, most law enforcement officers look at the truck crash from the perspective of a car driver – not a truck driver.
Most officers have little or no training in trucking safety regulations or trucking industry standards.
The proper way to investigate a trucking accident claim is to have a trucking expert take a comprehensive look at all the evidence of the crash, not just the officer’s report.
Because federal trucking regulations for minimum insurance coverage have not changed since 1981, many trucking companies today are underinsured.
This means the trucking company’s insurance may not be enough to pay for all your harms and losses.
Any good truck accident attorney needs to explore all potential defendants and vehicles to sue in order to get you a fair settlement for your injuries.
This can mean investigating:
Not all Iowa attorneys know they need to investigate all these options.
If you have been seriously injured after a semi-truck crash, call 1-800-433-0283 today.
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