Santa Ana Truck Accident Lawyer

Truck accidents often cause victims very serious injuries because of the size and weight of these vehicles.  Californians sharing highways and freeways with 18-wheelers are always at risk of serious crashes.

If you were hit by a truck, call 911, get medical attention, and then call a lawyer.  Our attorneys can help you collect evidence and bring cases to recover damages for your medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and more.

For your free case review, call the Law Office of John J. Perlstein’s truck accident attorneys today at (213) 252-1070.

Trucker Liability

Truckers may be included directly in a truck accident case when they are involved in the crash.  If they were responsible for the crash – at least in part – then you can sue them directly.

Insurance

Most cases are going to be filed through their insurance, since individual truck drivers are typically not equipped to pay.  As drivers, they must have auto insurance, and as commercial drivers, that insurance is usually high enough to cover more expensive injuries and property damage.

Elements of Fault

When suing a driver for a crash, you need to show that they were negligent.  This usually means proving these four elements:

  1. The driver owed you a legal duty. This can be based on traffic laws or basic reasonableness behind the wheel.
  2. The driver breached that duty, typically by violating a traffic law.
  3. The breach caused the accident.
  4. The accident resulted in damages and/or injuries.

Trucking Company Liability

In many cases, you can also sue the trucking company.

Role as Employer

To sue them in their role as the driver’s employer, you do not need to show that the trucking company necessarily did anything wrong.  Instead, you show these elements:

  • The truck driver caused the crash through negligence.
  • The driver was working within the scope of their job duties when the crash happened.
  • The trucker was an employee, not an independent contractor.

When these elements are met, you can hold the trucking company liable in the driver’s place through what is called “vicarious liability” under a principle called “respondeat superior.”  Since the companies are often better equipped to pay damages, this helps you recover full damages.

Direct Liability

The trucking company may have also done something directly to cause the crash.  This could mean the trucker shares fault with the trucking company or that the trucker was totally innocent, and it was all the trucking company’s fault.

To prove this kind of case, you need to show the trucking company breached a legal duty in its own right, which usually requires something along these lines:

  • Negligent hiring of a driver they should have known was dangerous or unqualified
  • Negligent retention of a driver they knew had a history of dangerous crashes, DUI, or violations
  • A direct regulatory violation, such as driver training standards, hours of service rules, or equipment standards
  • Negligent upkeep, inspections, and maintenance on their vehicles.

Damages Available in Truck Accident Cases

Trucking accidents often cause very serious injuries, given that trucks often outweigh other vehicles by a factor of at least 10x.  This can leave victims with these costs, and more:

Property Damage

While your injuries are a more important focus for our truck accident lawyers, getting you compensated for the cost of repairing or replacing your vehicle is also vital.

Medical Bills

Truck accidents can result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses, from surgeries to hospital stays to physical therapy and rehab.  Even the costs of medication, mental health therapy, and other medical services can be covered.

Lost Wages

Your crash could leave you with injuries that stop you from working.  If this is temporary, we can calculate any lost wages until you returned to work.  If this is permanent and you can never work again, or you now work for a reduced wage, we can calculate the lost earning potential as damages.

Pain and Suffering

The toll the injuries take on you physically, mentally, and emotionally are not accounted for in the “economic” damages listed above.  Instead, these “non-economic damages” are paid to cover

  • Pain
  • Mental anguish
  • Emotional distress
  • Embarrassment
  • Lost ability
  • Lost enjoyment
  • And more.

Talk to an attorney about how to calculate non-economic damages, since there are no bills or financial records to reference.

Other Damages

Your accident may incur other costs and expenses, such as household services, childcare needs, and occupational therapy that you can also seek compensation for.

How Long Do You Have to Sue for a Truck Accident?

In California, victims get 2 years from the date of injury to sue.  This “statute of limitations” has to be complied with or else you can lose your case automatically.

How Do You Know Which Trucking Company to Sue?

You usually sue the driver’s direct employer, rather than the company whose cargo the trucker is carrying.  This would be the company that hired them, pays them, covers them with insurance, and provides them with a truck.

If the driver is an independent owner-operator, drives their own truck, and takes jobs directly – or perhaps through a middle-man – they might actually be self-employed.  When this happens, they still have to have commercial driver’s insurance, so even if there is no trucking company to sue, their insurance should be enough.

Is the Truck Driver Always at Fault?

We can never assume that the trucker is the one to cause the crash, and we have to run a full investigation of the facts to look for these potential alternatives:

  • Sometimes truckers are innocent, and it is actually their employer who is responsible for the crash.
  • Sometimes truckers share fault with their employer, as they both made mistakes surrounding equipment or inspections.
  • Sometimes other drivers are totally at fault or share fault in multivehicle crashes.
  • Sometimes mechanics (who typically work for trucking companies) or auto parts manufacturers are at fault.

Each driver or other at-fault party usually pays their share of the damages.

Can You Be Held Partially at Fault?

In some cases, you might not be totally innocent.  Fortunately, California law still allows you to recover partial damages for the other driver’s share of fault.

Unlike other states, we also have no cutoff point.  This means you can be 99% at fault and still sue the other driver for 1% of your damages, if you can prove they were 1% at fault.  Most cases, however, deal with a plaintiff who shares only a little bit of fault.

Call Our Truck Accident Lawyers in Santa Ana Today

If you were hurt in a truck accident, call (213) 252-1070 for a free case evaluation with the truck accident attorneys at the Law Office of John J. Perlstein.