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Truck Accidents

If you have been involved in an accident involving a commercial truck or tractor-trailer you undoubtedly know that these accidents are significantly more complex and nuanced than regular automobile accidents.

However, the knowledgeable and experienced attorneys here at Flynn and associates have all the expertise to guide you through this very difficult time after your commercial truck or tractor-trailer involved accident. 

At Flynn and associates, we have all the necessary resources to aggressively pursue your case with an entirely personal and client-focused approach. 

Accidents involving commercial trucks or tractor-trailers can be extremely costly and time consuming, especially when it comes to evidence collection and courtroom procedure. 

Due to these factors having an experienced and knowledgeable truck accident attorney in Cherry Hill NJ is vital to the strength of your case and the amount of compensation you receive. 

Factors that cause Truck accidents

While there are thousands of different possible factors that could have caused your commercial truck or tractor-trailer accident, we have provided a list of the most common factors that could have affected you. 

These factors have been provided by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and make up the top factors involved in commercial truck accidents across the United States. They are:

  1. The commercial truck has not received the necessary maintenance to ensure that the brakes are functioning efficiently and as intended. Due to the large weight and force behind these commercial trucks, the brakes must be properly maintained and not allowed to degrade. 
  2. Traffic has been stopped due to a large amount of congestion during high traffic times in high traffic areas or an accident has occurred on the roadway.
  3. The commercial truck driver is under the influence of prescription drugs that impair their ability to drive their truck safely.
  4. A commercial truck is speeding or traveling too fast for the roadway conditions such as speeding during a snowstorm here in New Jersey. Because of the tremendous force of a speeding commercial truck, it can be nearly impossible to adapt to changing traffic and road conditions
  5. The driver of the truck is unfamiliar with the makeup and traffic laws of a certain roadway leading to distracted driving or illegal moves in traffic. For example, a truck driver turns left in a right turn only lane hitting someone in oncoming traffic.
  6. The road a truck driver is traveling on has issues such as incomplete or damaged roads or there are unknown hazards on the road such as a ladder falling off the bed of pickup truck and the truck driver cannot see it until it’s too late.
  7. The commercial truck comes across a crosswalk or traffic stop device that is meant to control traffic but is ignored by the truck driver.

Surprisingly even over the counter medication use can be a tremendous factor in a commercial truck crash

For example, a truck driver takes an over the counter medication that makes him/her drowsy and impairs their ability to safely travel the roadway. The truck provides the driver with an inadequate ability to see the road or cars to the side of the truck.

Finally, general fatigue of truck drivers that have been placed into working conditions that requires them to go without sleep for long periods. Without proper rest, it is extremely difficult and dangerous to drive a commercial truck.

Our knowledgeable and experienced attorneys here at Flynn and associates will work with you to thoroughly investigate your case with a personal touch. By collaborating to build your case we will collect all possible evidence for your case and craft powerful courtroom arguments to get you as much compensation as possible. 

Through all of this, you will have complete access to your legal representation to ask any possible questions or simply be updated on the state and timeliness of your case.

Necessary steps for a successful commercial truck accident case

When it comes to commercial truck and tractor-trailer accidents it is important to remember that litigation can be extremely expensive and time consuming. Due to the severe injuries sustained in this type of accident and the corporate nature of the defendants. 

Many attorneys working on small budgets and even more limited time are more likely to refuse commercial truck accident cases because of the substantial commitment. The other option is for them to take the case but provide substandard legal representation due to their lack of resources and time. 

This substandard legal representation leads to you not getting the money and compensation you are owed after your very difficult experience. However, here at Flynn and Associates, we are willing to put in the time, effort and resources to ensure that you get the compensation you’re owed.  

We here at Flynn and Associates promise that we will provide everything you need to get through this often a lengthy and arduous legal process. We pride ourselves on our client relations and ensure that you will be involved at every step of the way. However, we want you to focus on the important steps of healing in both mind and body and we hope to shoulder most of the burden when it comes to any legal proceedings. 

We Have a Winning Experience

The legal team and attorneys here at Flynn and Associates have represented thousands of clients injured in commercial truck accidents over the years. These years of experience have allowed us to simplify and breakdown the complexity of commercial truck accidents. 

Much of this complexity comes from the possibly numerous parties that are responsible for the injuries you sustained during your accident. With all these possibly responsible parties there is a significant amount of research and evidence collection that needs to take place to accurately and quickly assign blame to whoever is responsible. 

Research and evidence collection requires a substantial amount of money and time to be invested in the case to be adequately completed and set up your case for victory. Without a solid base of evidence and research, the case is often handicapped, and your compensation reduced at the end of a trial. 

Flynn and Associates have all the necessary resources and time to complete these vital steps for you with the best quality possible and in a timely manner. 

We Untangle the Complex Insurance Web for You

Dealing with insurance coverage in these commercial truck accident cases can often be a total nightmare due to the long and branching lines of insurance coverage. All these different insurance lines add to the complexity of the negotiations with the defendant insurance companies trying to muddy the water in a court case. 

Just as an example of the possible complicating factors in many cases the truck and the trailer are owned by two separate companies and are insured under several different insurance companies. While this does add complexity on our side it is possibly beneficial for you as all these companies can be held responsible for increasing the compensation you receive.

Dealing with all these commercial truck companies, insurance companies, and insurance adjusters requires extensive and powerful evidence collection as well as tough negotiation. With all these companies looking to lower your payout you need a strong, experienced and resource-laden legal team to have your back and guide you to the compensation you’re owed  

We Come Prepared With All the Necessary Resources

To adequately represent a commercial truck accident client, immense expertise is required to prove several very complicated factors. One of these factors may be proving that a specific part on the commercial truck or tractor-trailer failed and caused the accident you were involved in. 

Another example would be proving that a specific hiring practice or company policy led to your accident. Due to the complicated nature of the evidence collection for factors like the ones listed above these cases can be very expensive and time consuming. 

However, due to our extensive connections with experts and witnesses with extensive knowledge of factors related to commercial truck accidents we can cut down on costs and time spent on evidence collection and research.

Evidence Collection and Research

In these commercial trucks and tractor-trailer accidents, several possible responsible parties could owe you compensation. A possible claim could be filed in the case of inadequate or possibly negligent maintenance of the truck and its vital parts. 

To prove that inadequate or negligent maintenance was a factor involved in your accident we will critically review trucking logs, maintenance records, and the inspection records to build a strong case. 

Another possible factor that could have been involved in your accident is that the company had negligent hiring or retention policies. To prove that this was a factor in your accident we will gain access to and review the employment records, training practices, driver’s certifications, and qualifications as well as any citations for speeding or other traffic violations. 

Finally, the company may have work policies that put the driver in a dangerous scenario such as requiring them to work more hours than is safe. To prove that this may have been a factor in your accident we will examine company hours and work logs as well as policies regarding employee work hours. 

Commercial Truck Accident Causes

While many commercial trucks or tractor-trailer cases involve the driver as the cause of the accident they may also be the victim in the case. Truck drivers must deal with all the regular hazards of traffic like distracted or speeding drivers along with other more trucker centric dangers of the road. 

The most common danger truckers face on the road is fatigued or drowsy driving while on the job. This is due to the nature of a truck driver’s job and how they are paid since most truckers are paid by the mile or by the load, the only way to make more money is to make more runs. 

Unfortunately, you can only accomplish more miles and more runs by driving for more time and forsaking rest for work. While the time to rest for truckers is regulated by several government agencies, it is not always followed, and truckers are exposed to dangerous work environments.

Even if the truck driver is completely focused, and driving correctly there is still the danger of a misloaded trailer or unchecked locking points. Sometimes trailers or loads can go unchecked for safety and may not be adequately locked onto the semi-truck. 

When something goes mechanically wrong in this process it can lead to the loss of control of a tremendously heavy vehicle that can-do substantial damage to the cars and motorists around it. 

In some cases, the freight may fall off the back or side of the truck causing very dangerous accidents for the motorists driving on the same road as the truck. 

Because of the large mass of the commercial vehicles involved in these accidents, the likelihood of a fatal accident is increased exponentially. Also, the probability of serious bodily harm such as broken bones and nervous system damage rises as well.

Assigning Liability

A commercial truck accident is a unique type of accident due to a large amount of possibly responsible parties from which you can receive compensation. 

Some of these possibly responsible parties may be the commercial truck driver, the company that employed the driver, the company that manufactured the truck or even the business that owns the cargo.

Tired or Drowsy Driving

When it comes to commercial truck accidents the most likely negligent action on the part of the driver is driving while tired or drowsy. Driving a commercial truck or 18-wheeler while drowsy or tired is extremely dangerous and causes hundreds of accidents a year in the state of New Jersey.

The number of hours a trucker can drive and the rest time is regulated federally by the Hours of Service regulations:

  • The maximum number of hours a trucker can drive on a single run.
  • The amount of time taken off between runs and the rest required to make another run.
  • The number of hours a trucker can work weekly.
  • It is a common occurrence that truckers falsify or lie on their work logs to get more runs and miles and therefore more money. By trying to make a little extra money the trucker is endangering both himself and the motorists around him. 
  • Unfortunately, it is common practice for a trucking company to expect their drivers to falsify their records to allow for more total runs to be completed. This places unnecessary risk and danger on the truck drivers as well as motorists.

Here are some factors that can lead to driver fatigue:

  • Driving a lot of miles and long runs at night
  • Schedules that do not allow the trucker to create a routine and solid balance of work and rest.
  • Unhealthy diets of truckers on the road
  • Taking the responsibility of both loading and unloading cargo during a run
  • Negligent Maintenance Cases

Due to a large amount of federal and state laws regarding the maintenance and safety of a truck or 18 wheels trailer these cases can be extremely complex. Our legal team will dig into several factors that could have affected the safety of the truck.

Flynn and Associates thoroughly investigate the following maintenance factors:

  • Were the tires on the truck not adequately maintained with signs of uneven wear or entirely defective. Sometimes trucking companies may use retread tires to save money on the cost of tires for their trucks leading to a bigger safety risk.
  • Did the company regularly check the state and quality of the brakes, axels and any other vital parts of the truck? If any of these very important systems are not maintained correctly the safety of the truck driver and those on the road around him is affected poorly.
  • Did the trucking company keep thorough and up to date maintenance logs that could have kept the truck in a better and safer condition?

Flynn and Associates utilize the most knowledgeable and experienced experts in the state of New Jersey to investigate whether the trucking company took any shortcuts or shirked any responsibility that results in your accident and any violations of state or federal law. 

When it comes to investigating any negligent hiring or employee retention cases our legal team will dig into the driver’s past employment history and qualifications. We look at the training methods and history of the trucking company to determine whether the driver should have been allowed to drive such a dangerous vehicle. 

Another factor that our legal team will investigate is the criminal history of the driver along with any traffic violations they may have received. In the state of New Jersey, the hiring practices of trucking companies are regulated by both New Jersey State law as well as Federal law. 

Any violations of these hiring practice regulations may leave the trucking company partly liable for your accident.

Commercial Trucking Accident Settlements

First and foremost, you must seek out medical treatment or diagnosis for your injuries regardless of how minor they may seem from a practicing medical professional. Not only will this doctor visit help to diagnose or treat any injuries they may save you from possibly life-threatening complications showing up weeks to months after your accident. 

A doctor’s diagnosis and treatment can help to set the baseline for the damages you are owed from the responsible party. However, all these doctors’ visits and medical treatments can quickly bury you under a mountain of medical bills. 

These medical bills can be extremely difficult to pay off due to injuries sustained from the accident and any lost wages because of your injuries.  Unfortunately, insurance companies and adjusters know this and will often offer significantly lower settlements than you are owed. 

They hope that the pressure of the medical bills will force you into taking terrible offers just to pay off those medical bills. Do not fall into this trap as the first offer from an insurance company will always be pathetically low and your case is worth so much more.  

It is imperative that if you are the victim of a commercial truck accident whether you are driving the truck or an unlucky motorist that you know your legal rights. 

The most important of these is your right to recover any lost wages, medical expenses, and damages that you are owed after your commercial truck accident. We here at Flynn and Associates aggressively represent our clients and will fight tooth and nail to ensure that you get the compensation you deserve. We do this by maximizing your settlement offers or representing you in a court of law.

We promise that your case will be handled with the utmost importance and personal representation.

What Can We Do For You?

While our experienced and battle-hardened attorneys/legal team will provide the strongest of courtroom arguments or negotiations at the settlement table, this is the tip of the iceberg. 

Our network of experts and witnesses will help to provide powerful evidence in your case that can make the difference between substandard and maximized compensation. Without a terrific legal team at your back, this process will be even more frustrating and painful as well as taking away vital time that could be spent recovering from any physical or mental injuries. 

We here at Flynn and Associates also promise personalized legal representation that ensures you are kept up to date on your case and any questions or concerns you have will be taken seriously.

Whether you are the driver of a commercial truck or an unlucky motorist, if you are the victim of a commercial truck accident the legal team here at Flynn and Associates will fight to get you the compensation you’re owed. 

Call Our New Jersey Truck Accident Lawyers

Our team of NJ truck accident attorneys works extensively to build a solid case to support you and obtain the highest compensation possible. If you have been seriously injured in a truck accident in New Jersey, call us toll-free at (833) 513-9882 or fill out an online contact form to receive a free consultation on your legal rights.