New York City (NYC) Truck Accident Lawyer
Accidents between trucks and smaller vehicles often leave the drivers and passengers of the other car with serious injuries. These accidents may even be fatal for many drivers and passengers hit by trucks in NYC. Holding truck drivers and trucking companies responsible for these crashes is one of the many things that our NYC truck accident lawyers do to help injury victims across the city.
The first decision that you will have to make as a potential plaintiff is who was responsible for causing your injuries. Sometimes, you are limited to suing the truck driver, while in other situations, you may be able to target the trucking company or the truck manufacturer for their own role in causing the accident.
Whether you were injured in a truck accident or a loved one was injured or killed, The Carrion Law Firm’s experienced NYC truck accident lawyers can take your case and work to get you the compensation you need for your injuries. Call us today at (718) 841-0083 to get your free legal case evaluation.
What to Do After an NYC Truck Accident
If you want to recover compensation through a lawsuit for your truck accident injuries in New York, you will have to show that the party that you are suing was responsible for negligently or recklessly causing the accident and your injuries. The process of building your case starts immediately after the accident. Knowing the key steps ahead of time can help you act calmly and secure the information that you will need to get justice for the harms you have suffered.
Get to Safety
Your safety is your first priority. After you are in a truck accident, do your best to get yourself and all other passengers out of the vehicle and off to the side of the road so that you are out of danger of a secondary collision. If your vehicle is still drivable, attempt to move it out of the way of traffic to the shoulder of the road. If the car is disabled, put your hazard lights on or deploy flares to indicate the accident scene to other drivers.
Call 911
Any accident, no matter how serious, deserves the attention of the authorities. Do not let the other driver try to convince you that you can work out the details without the police. They may attempt to leave the scene without providing you with contact or insurance information. If the truck driver tries to flee, let the dispatcher know as many details about the driver and the truck as possible. When the officer arrives, they will compile information for an official police report which you can use in an insurance claim or as the basis for preparing your complaint.
In NYC and throughout New York, car accidents involving death, injury, or $1,000 worth of property damage must be reported to the police and the Department of Motor Vehicles within ten days. If you are unable to call the police immediately after a crash, your NYC truck accident lawyer can help you properly report your injuries within the necessary timeframe.
Talk to Witnesses
Sometimes, the people that see the accident first-hand are the best resources for your recovery. They are also incredibly difficult to track down once they leave the scene of the accident. If you are able, try to speak with everyone who may have seen what happened and get their contact information so that your attorney can reach them later. You may not end up needing them, but if you do, you will be happy that you took this step.
Take Photos
Photographs of an accident scene can be invaluable to an NYC attorney when building a case against a negligent driver. Try to take pictures of everything, from your injuries to property damage. Photograph the entire scene, leaving nothing out. If you are unable to take photos because of your injuries, ask first responders or eyewitnesses to do so for you.
Go to the Hospital
Getting medical attention shortly after an accident serves two purposes. First, the doctors can run tests and evaluate you to treat the injuries that you know about and discover the ones that you do not, preventing conditions from exacerbating. Second, getting documentation of your injuries immediately after the accident prevents the other side from saying that you suffered them from some other cause after the accident. Getting immediate and continuous medical care is crucial, so be sure to keep any upcoming visits with doctors and specialists after an NYC truck accident.
Call Your Lawyer
It is never too early to get legal help for your case. It can, however, be too late, so once you have received your medical treatment, look to enlist the help of one of our seasoned New York City truck accident lawyers at soon as you can. Truck accident victims only have three years to file a lawsuit for compensation in NYC, so hiring an attorney to immediately start building a case is crucial.
Common Injuries in NYC Truck Accidents
Your recovery is dependent on your establishing a medical record of your injuries. That is why it is important that you get a thorough medical evaluation as soon as you can after being involved in a truck accident in NYC. Even if you believe you escaped unscathed, many potential conditions, such as those mentioned below, may linger under the surface, causing you even more harm down the road.
Traumatic Brain Injuries
When a victim is involved in a car accident, they should be aware of the possibility that they may have sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBIs are caused when the brain makes forceful contact with the inside of the skull, causing bruising, swelling, or bleeding. These may cause serious conditions such as concussions that can inhibit a person’s brain function.
Broken Bones
Simply put, the human body is not built to withstand the force of a truck accident. Despite all of the recent advancements in car safety technology, a truck collision victim may sustain fractures in their face, hands, arms, legs, ribs, or collarbone. Some of these fractures may lead to internal bleeding, which can become life-threatening if not treated immediately.
Whiplash
Whiplash is one of the most common conditions that truck accident victims sustain after a collision. It occurs when the neck muscles are strained or partially torn and may affect many bodily movements that make day-to-day functioning possible. Whiplash is typically not permanent but may require costly physical therapy and medication in order to rehabilitate.
Other Injuries
New York City truck accident victims might sustain a wide range of injuries in a crash. What is important to remember is that no truck accident injury is insignificant. Even what might appear to be normal aches or bruising after a collision could indicate a deeper issue. Many seemingly minor injuries actually require expensive medical treatment and rehabilitation. If you are unsure whether or not your injuries warrant litigation, reach out to an NYC truck accident lawyer for clarification.
Holding Drivers and Trucking Companies Liable for Truck Accident Injuries in NYC
When a truck driver hits you, their trucking company will often come to their defense. This means there may be a strong legal team handling their case, whether from the trucking company itself or from the insurance company that covers them. It is important to have your own truck accident lawyer to stand up to these lawyers and get you the coverage you need.
After a crash, your insurance might help cover injuries and damages, but your needs might exceed what your insurance company can cover. The fact of the matter is that most insurance policies come with deductibles and limits that prevent you from getting full compensation, and most policies will pay nothing for pain and suffering damages. In many cases, our NYC truck accident lawyers will end up filing the case in court to claim full damages and then either settle the case or go to trial to get our clients what they deserve.
When you take your case to court, it opens additional areas of compensation. Not every case needs to go to trial, but if the insurance companies and trucking company refuse to back down and admit fault, we may need to go to trial to get the judge and jury to rule in your favor.
Whom to Sue After a Truck Accident in NYC
Truck accident injury cases are often complex because there are often more than two parties involved. In most auto accident cases, the victim sues the driver who hit them, and these are the only two parties to the case (aside from insurance companies and lawyers that might represent either side). In truck accident cases, other parties may be involved, and our attorneys can help manage the case and file claims against all the right parties to get you the compensation you need.
First of all, most truck drivers can be held responsible for their actions behind the wheel. If you were involved in a truck accident, the driver of that truck will be the first person you sue. If they broke traffic laws by speeding or driving drunk, the courts can hold them liable. If they committed other mistakes like failing to adequately check their blind spots or failing to take required driver breaks, the courts can also hold them responsible.
Most trucking cases do not stop at the driver. If the truck driver was an independent driver and owned their own truck, they may not have an employer that can be held liable for their actions. However, trucking companies can often be held liable in one of the following three ways for what happened in their driver’s accident:
Vicarious Liability
A trucking company can be held liable in their capacity as an employer the same way that any other company can he held liable for problems the people at the company cause. Since truck drivers are hired to drive for their employers, anyone who is injured by those activities can sue the trucking company for the driver’s errors or mistakes. This is the same as how you would sue a restaurant if a cook gave you food poisoning or a grocery store if a worker left a dangerous spill that caused you to fall; the company is “vicariously liable” for their employee’s negligence.
Shared Fault
Trucking companies – as a separate entity from the driver – can also make their own mistakes that could put them at fault. If the driver was so dangerous or had a history of bad truck accidents, then it may have been negligent for the trucking company to keep them on staff. This “negligent hiring” or “negligent retention” can put a trucking company at fault. Similarly, the trucking company might have made other errors and mistakes that made the accident more likely, such as forcing a driver to take illegal overtime or overloading their truck and causing safety issues.
Mechanical Issues
If the trucking company owns the truck that hit you, they could be liable for any mechanical issues. Trucking companies are legally required to service vehicles and inspect them to avoid equipment failure. Equipment failure is responsible for many accidents, from burst tires to lighting malfunctions to brake failure. If repair, service, or inspection mistakes led to your crash, the trucking company might be responsible for failing to catch those issues.
In addition to the trucking company being responsible for these kinds of issues, an outside mechanic or even the manufacturer of the vehicle part that failed could share liability. Talk to an NYC truck accident lawyer about other parties that could share fault in your case.
Statute of Limitations for NYC Truck Accident Lawsuits
If you hope to pursue recovery after you were injured by a negligent NYC truck driver, you only have a limited time to take action. The statute of limitations (or time limit for filing a civil claim) for truck accident injury victims in the State of New York is three years from the date of the accident. In other words, you must officially file your formal lawsuit in court within three years of the accident, or you will not be able to recover damages.
With truck accidents, there may be additional rules that move your timeline up even further. For instance, if the truck that caused your accident was owned or operated by a government agency, such as the New York Sanitation Department for accidents with garbage trucks, you will have to provide notice to that agency ahead of filing your lawsuit. The rules that govern this notice depend on which agency your claim is against and where the accident occurred.
When in doubt, always act early. Once you receive medical attention and receive a diagnosis for your injuries, look to contact a New York City truck accident lawyer as soon as possible to avoid missing any costly deadlines.
Proving Fault in an NYC Truck Accident Lawsuit
Holding a trucking company responsible for its negligence after an accident in NYC is crucial. In order for New York City truck accident victims to get the justice they deserve and the compensatory damages they need after a crash, victims should hire an experienced attorney. A skilled NYC truck accident lawyer can prove a negligent party’s fault so that you can focus on healing after a collision.
Truck accidents in New York City are often complicated. Because several parties might share fault, such as a truck driver and their employer, NYC victims may have difficulty knowing who exactly is to blame. Unfortunately, knowing who is at fault is not enough to recover compensation. New York City truck accident victims must prove that it is more likely than not that a defendant’s negligence caused their injuries. This can be challenging, so victims should hire an NYC truck accident lawyer immediately after a crash. Your attorney can use medical records, photographs, security camera footage, eyewitness testimony, and expert testimony to prove a negligent driver’s fault.
Truck accidents can be devastating, resulting in expensive medical care for victims. In an attempt to avoid financial liability for your injuries and losses, an NYC trucking company might try to argue that you contributed to a recent accident. This can pose issues for NYC victims, especially those unfamiliar with New York’s pure comparative fault laws. Sharing fault for a crash can cause your awarded damages to be reduced in proportion to your liability. When you hire an experienced NYC truck accident attorney, your lawyer can prove that a defendant is solely responsible for your injuries and that you did not contribute to or cause a crash.
Compensation for NYC Truck Accident Victims
Collisions between large trucks and smaller vehicles, like passenger cars, motorcycles, or bicycles, can result in expensive damages for NYC victims. Because of the financial and emotional toll these incidents often take on victims, New York City victims stand to recover substantial compensatory damages in truck accident lawsuits. Of course, compensation is never guaranteed, so it is important to seek help from a skilled NYC truck accident lawyer.
Economic Damages
When you file a lawsuit against a negligent trucking company after an accident in New York City, you may be able to recover economic damages. In order to do so, your attorney must prove a defendant’s negligence and provide proof of damages. Proof of damages may include records of hospital bills, lost wages, and other out-of-pocket expenses incurred after a crash.
Economic damages can compensate victims for past, present, and future expenses caused by a defendant’s negligence. In order to ensure you recover total compensation for financial losses, keep careful records and seek continuous medical care. Having detailed documentation of your losses to date, as well as expected expenses for future medical care and lost wages, is crucial to recover sufficient economic damages in an NYC truck accident lawsuit.
Non-Economic Damages
Truck accident victims often sustain severe injuries that profoundly impact their lives. Because of this, victims may be able to recover non-economic damages when they sue a negligent party. Proving the need for non-economic damages can be challenging, as these emotional losses have no inherent financial value. In order to show the emotional impact a negligent party’s actions have had on your life, an NYC truck accident lawyer may ask you to keep a journal or seek care from a therapist in the weeks and months following a crash.
Non-economic damages can compensate NYC truck accident victims for emotional difficulties and mental struggles caused by a defendant’s negligence. For example, suppose you have experienced depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, or other similar challenges after an accident. In that case, you may be able to recover non-economic damages in an NYC truck accident lawsuit. There is no cap on non-economic damages in New York, including NYC.
Punitive Damages
If a trucking company acted with gross negligence, causing your recent accident, you might be able to recover punitive damages in NYC. These damages are reserved for cases where a defendant went past normal negligence and acted recklessly or maliciously. For example, suppose a trucking company was aware of serious mechanical issues in a truck and cleared it for use. If those mechanical issues lead to your injuries, Punitive damages may be in play. It is important to note that these damages are not meant to compensate victims but to punish defendants. They are only available in certain cases, so ask your NYC truck accident lawyer if you are eligible to recover punitive damages.
Call Our NYC Trucking Injury Lawyers for a Free Case Consultation for Victims
If you were the victim in a trucking accident or your loved one suffered serious injuries or death in a truck accident, call The Carrion Law Firm today. We fight for victims against trucking companies and insurance companies to get our clients the compensation they deserve. Call our NYC truck accident lawyers at (718) 841-0083 today to schedule your free case evaluation.