Who To Pursue In A Personal Injury Suit Based On Injuries From A Commercial Truck Accident
Commercial trucks are very large vehicles that can cause significant damage when things go wrong. If you were recently involved in an accident with a commercial truck and suffered serious injuries due to the accident that have negatively impacted your quality of life, you don't just have to live with the injuries. You can pursue a personal injury suit to make sure that you get adequate compensation for how this accident impacted your life.
When you pursue a personal injury lawsuit due to a commercial trucking accident, you have a lot of options concerning whom you bring the lawsuit against. In cases like these, it is not uncommon to bring the lawsuit against multiple parties. Here are a few of the parties that you may be able to hold responsible for what happened to you.
#1 The Driver
The most obvious target to bring your lawsuit against is the driver. The driver was behind the wheel and made the direct decisions that lead to your accident. It makes sense to name the driver, especially if the police determined that the driver's actions were responsible for the accident that you sustained.
#3 The Truck Owner
When you are in an accident with a commercial vehicle, it is not like being in an accident with an ordinary vehicle. Generally, the driver of the vehicle is not the owner of the vehicle. The owner of the vehicle is responsible for any damage that their vehicle causes, regardless of who was driving it. It makes sense to name the owner of the truck in your lawsuit.
If there was something wrong with the truck as well, it was the truck owner's responsibility to make sure that the truck was maintained properly. Any mechanical failure that contributed to the accident fails in the lap of the owner of the truck.
#3 The Company Behind The Shipment
With commercial truck accidents, there are multiple layers of responsibility. The person who is driving the truck and the person who owns the truck may be different than the company that the driver was working for. The company that the driver was working for also bears responsibility.
Trucking companies are required to employ drivers with clean records; if your driver has a history of accidents, that puts part of the responsibility for your accident in the hands of the trucking company. If the driver had drugs and alcohol in their system, and had a known history of such behavior, that also places the responsibility on the trucking company as they are supposed to regularly drug screen all drivers.
If you were seriously injured in an accident with a commercial trucker, talk to a truck accident lawyer and figure out all the different parties that could bear some responsibility for what happened to you and what you are going through. Going after multiple parties can help ensure that you get the compensation that you deserve. You can find a lawyer at a firm like Scherline And Associates.
