Despite the best efforts of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and its many regulations, commercial big rigs still cause serious car accidents across the United States.Due to their size and weight, even minor truck accidents can result in significant and life-changing injuries.
Truck accident lawyers in Stonecrest help victims get the compensation they deserve to make up for the costs and negative effects of their injuries. A skilled attorney can work with you at every step of your case, including filing the claim, determining who is at fault, negotiating your settlement, and taking the case to court if necessary.
Filing Your Stonecrest Truck Accident Claim
Attorneys can help you file a claim for compensation after a truck accident in Stonecrest. While Georgia law gives you two years to file your claim (Georgia Code §9-3-33) for most cases, there are some exceptions that require notification to be filed far sooner.
Sometimes, it’s difficult to know about these deadlines unless you speak with knowledgeable and experienced attorneys. For example, if the opposing driver in your case was working as a government employee at the time of the crash, you might have to send notification of a lawsuit within months rather than two years.
Filing your claim correctly and in a timely manner is important because failing to meet these deadlines typically results in you losing the right to pursue compensation at all.
Naming the Right At-Fault Parties in Your Claim
In addition to meeting the deadlines for filing, attorneys also help injured clients identify all parties with potential liability for the wreck. This depends on the context and details of your case, including the causes of the actual crash. Common at-fault parties include:
- The truck driver
- The trucking company that owns the truck
- Truck or car part manufacturers (in the case of faulty parts causing the crash)
- Government entities
- The government office or private company responsible for maintaining the road
By investigating all the possible events that caused the accident, your lawyer can identify everyone who owes you compensation for your injuries. This allows us to maximize your compensation package to better reflect what you truly deserve.
Negotiating Your Truck Accident Settlement in Stonecrest
After your wreck, you likely will get a phone call from the at-fault party’s insurance company. It’s important not to accept their first offer, as this will undoubtedly be a lowball settlement designed to lock you out of suing for compensation. If you accept any offer, you lose the right to pursue compensation in court.
Stonecrest truck accident lawyers can assist you with the negotiation process. Having an attorney by your side is important to protect your rights as well as to show the opposing party that you aren’t afraid to go to court if necessary.
The vast majority of these cases are settled long before trial, but it’s crucial that the other side knows you aren’t going to accept a settlement that doesn’t meet your needs.
Tallying Your Damages After a Truck Accident
The value of your compensation depends on the amount of damages you sustained in the accident (as well as how fault or blame is divided between you and the other parties). Damages are split between economic and non-economic harms. The former include all the financial ways that the injury has affected your life, such as:
- Medical bills
- Ongoing rehabilitation costs
- Car repair or replacement
- Lost wages due to missed work
- Lost earning capacity due to disability or disfigurement
Non-economic harms are the more subjective ways in which you have suffered due to your injury. The can include:
- Physical pain and suffering
- Mental and emotional anguish
- Loss of enjoyment in life
- Loss of consortium with a spouse
By cataloging all your damages, our lawyers can ensure that the value of your case truly matches the impact your injury has had on your life. We do this by collecting evidence of these issues and of fault in the accident, such as your medical records, police reports of the accident, eyewitness testimony, and more.
How Fault Can Affect Your Truck Accident Case in Stonecrest
The reason it’s so important to collect evidence of other parties’ fault is that any blame attributed to you will be used to reduce or disqualify your claim for compensation.
According to Georgia law, you can only sue for compensation if you are less than 50% at fault for the injuries you suffered. Also, any percentage of blame you do hold will lower your compensation by an equal percentage.
For example, someone who is 75% responsible for a Stonecrest truck accident would be unable to sue for any compensation from the other parties involved in the wreck. Someone who is 25% responsible is still able to sue, but their compensation would be reduced by 25% as well.
By establishing more fault for the opposing parties, attorneys help to maximize the amount of money you receive at the conclusion of your case.
Schedule a FREE Consultation With Stonecrest Truck Accident Lawyers
If you have been injured in a serious truck accident, get help from our Stonecrest truck accident attorneys. We provide potential clients with a 100% FREE initial consultation to discuss the details of your case and see how we can help.
If you take us on as your attorneys, we work on a contingency basis. This means we are only paid if and when we win compensation for you.
Schedule your free consultation by filling out the form on this page or by contacting us today.
