How a Truck Accident Lawyer Can Help You Get Legal Support
by Jo Rodriquez
If you drive a truck for a living, your vocation involves assuming risks for your employers. Thus, if you've been involved in an accident, you should never feel like you're facing the legal aftermath alone.
Here are some of the ways that an experienced truck accident lawyer can help make sure that you get the legal support you need after an accident.
1. Sharing the Blame
In many states, fault in an auto accident is assessed in percentages. This allocating of the blame can dictate how much legal liability you're likely to face in court.
In legal terms, individuals or companies involved in a lawsuit are described as "parties." Although these parties don't involve festive carousing, they highlight the face liability is often assumed communally. A truck accident lawyer will likely start by considering who should be included in your legal party. For truck drivers, this normally includes their employer, but can also extend to multiple insurance companies (both your company and your employers'), contractors (and their insurance company), manufactures (and their insurance company), and government entities like your state's Department of Transportation.
You might be picking up a trend; it's not uncommon for a single truck accident to involve multiple insurance companies. Identifying the parties who share responsibility in your case can drastically reduce your financial and legal liability, which can save you thousands of dollars in legal fees.
2. Mediation
After identifying all the parties involved with your case, your truck accident lawyer will often try to keep the communal energy flowing by attempting to push for mediation. By pushing for mediation, your truck accident lawyer may be able to avoid lawsuits and courtrooms, which can be time-consuming and expensive.
The vast majority of truck accidents are settled out of a courtroom. Unfortunately, these settlements come only after the parties involved have sued each other. It's important to remember, that filing lawsuits entitles the legal teams involved to take a larger cut of any eventual settlements reached. This is true for both you and the other individuals involved in the case. An honest lawyer will push for mediation instead of just filing lawsuits. Honesty, however, isn't universal. One step you should take before hiring a truck accident lawyer is to see how many cases the lawyer has managed to settle via mediation.
To learn more about how to handle your legal case, it's wise to reach out to a local truck accident lawyer.
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About Me
We all know that lawyers are professionals who help people interpret and work with the law, but do you know how a law firm works from the inside out? I am a professional paralegal, and I have worked in both large and small law firms during my career. I can tell you that a successful law firm needs more than just lawyers to keep it running smoothly, and sometimes things can get really crazy! Take a tour through a law firm in my blog, and find out what really goes on behind the scenes of an active and successful law firm.