The Florida Truck Accident Guide was created by Victory Law Firm to help injured residents obtain maximum compensation. Call our lawyers for a consultation.
Have you been seriously injured in a truck accident and don’t know what to do next? We are terribly sorry that you have had to go through this and we are here for you every step of the way on your journey to justice. Our Florida truck accident lawyers care deeply about the success of our clients’ cases and we fight tirelessly and fiercely to ensure that the end results are as full and as fair as they can possibly be. If you are looking for fierce and dependable representation, we hope you reach out to our office and set up a free consultation right away. You deserve justice. Call as soon as you can.
Fighting for Your Justice
It’s common to feel isolated and alone after you’ve been seriously injured, especially after a truck accident. These types of accidents can leave you with catastrophic injuries and make you feel like justice is not within reach. Our Florida truck accident lawyers want you to know that you can receive justice. We are dedicated to providing you with the legal representation needed in order to get you the justice you want. You should know a few things about how we do this.
First, we want you to know that when we are seeking justice for your case, we are getting it for you in the form of financial compensation. This financial compensation is going to be determined based on your case details and how your truck accident has impacted you. If you ever meet with a lawyer who tells you that they can get you a guaranteed compensation award without first knowing all the details of your case, that’s probably not the lawyer for you. Our Florida truck accident lawyers thoroughly investigate your case to make sure that we have identified all possible liable parties and we make sure that we have our evidence together, as well as a better understanding of what your medical recovery will be. You need to get to a point of maximum medical recovery for us to know what your compensation award would be.
Your maximum medical recovery can also be thought of as your return to health. In some cases, you might be able to return to full health as you were before the accident in a matter of months. There are other cases in which your doctor is going to say that this is about as good as you’re going to get and you will be left with permanent damage from this truck accident. It is vitally important that we have this information put together before we can start determining the value of your case.
The value of your case can be broken down into two types of damages: economic and non-economic damages.
Your economic damages are meant to reimburse you for all the financial loss you have had to suffer because of this truck accident. Financial loss can come in the form of lost wages if you had to use your paid time off at work to recover from your injuries, as well as any medical bills and expenses that you incurred following your truck accident.
Non-economic damages are more subjective ways that the truck accident has affected your life. You might end up with depression and anxiety due to your truck accident. You might suffer permanent damages that leave you in chronic pain. Your past and future pain and suffering play a role in what your non-economic compensation will look like.
Benefits of Having a Lawyer
When you were considering talking to Florida truck accident lawyers about your case, there may be things that are holding you back from hiring a lawyer. First off, you might be worried about the cost of a lawyer. Please note that you will never be charged any upfront fees or out-of-pocket expenses to have a lawyer fight for your personal injury case. We work on a contingency fee basis, which means we don’t get paid unless we win your case.
You also might be wondering if it’s worth having a lawyer. We have found that people who are represented by lawyers end up with better results. It is worth it, too, if you value your time. You would have to become an overnight expert on truck accident litigation in Florida to get the same results as a lawyer would get you.
Don’t Delay Reaching Out
In Florida, the statute of limitations is four years. The statute of limitations is your legal deadline in which you are allowed to bring your civil case against the liable party. If you were, for some reason, to let your truck accident slip your mind, then four years could get away from you before you file your claim. We understand that life gets in the way but we need you to prioritize getting in touch with our Florida truck accident lawyers to ensure that you are filing your case in a timely manner.
Even if you let this fall off of your list of priorities for just a year or so, a lot of things can happen in that time that could ruin your case. Most importantly, your case is time-sensitive. If you hadn’t already collected evidence at the scene, then after many months, there’s likely no chance of any evidence remaining. Even CCTV footage from nearby businesses could have been deleted or recorded over, which would leave us with even less evidence. Overall, this is just harder for us to work with if we can’t collect quality evidence. You don’t want to wait so long that your witnesses forget what happened.
If you were to try to file your claim past this deadline, unfortunately you would be barred from receiving compensation. It would be a tragedy for you to miss out on receiving justice simply because you didn’t call our lawyers right away. We urge you to reach out as soon as you possibly can. It’s deeply important that you act quickly.
Ways to Avoid Ruining Your Case
It is important for you to know that when you file a claim for compensation you are attempting to get an award from the insurance company that represents the liable party. These insurance companies tend to want to save themselves money, so they might act in a way that benefits themselves and does not have your best interest at heart. They know as well as our Florida truck accident lawyers that in Florida we follow pure comparative negligence.
When we have a case against a liable party, the insurance company is often going to try to pin you with some of the blame for the accident In order to reduce what they owe you. If for example they could blame you for 10% of the accident, they only have to give you 90% of your compensation award. We are going to fight to protect you from this happening but if you don’t reach out to us right away, the insurance company will try to get to you first and ask you to give them a recorded statement. You are not legally obligated to speak to them about the accident and we strongly encourage that you don’t because they are trained to get answers out of you that would harm your case.
They can ask you something as simple as how you are doing and, while this might seem like a greeting that warrants a polite response, if you said something along the lines of you’re doing well, then they’re going to take that to mean that you are fine following your truck accident.
It would be a terrible mistake for you to lose out on compensation that you deserve because you gave the insurance company leverage over you when you agreed to give them a recorded statement. We strongly advise against you talking to them without first speaking to your attorneys about it. Most attorneys are going to tell you not to talk to them and let them handle communication with the insurance company on your behalf so that your rights continue to be protected.
We don’t have tolerance for insurance companies that want to short you on your settlement award simply because they’d like to make a profit. You deserve better than that.
We are always going to treat your case as if it is going to trial even though sometimes that might not be the case. If we cannot come up with an agreement with the insurance company, then we might end up going to trial.
Frequently Asked Truck Accident Questions
After a Truck Crash, Is It a Good Idea to Talk to the Insurance Companies?
Just the other day we were speaking to a client who had asked us about a situation in which they were in. They were involved in a trucking accident here in Florida, Florida. They had been contacted by the insurance company for the truck that hit them, and they were also contacted by the attorney for the company of the truck that hit them. They asked me, “Should I talk to them? Is that ever a good idea?” Our simple response was, no, that’s not a good idea.
The reason why is because any representative from the insurance company or an attorney that’s representing the trucking company, they’re trained in special ways to be able to gather evidence and statements from you that they will use, in turn, to fight your case or to deny your claim. We’ve seen this many times in the past, and we let our client know that unless you speak to us or you have an attorney on the phone with you when you’re being interviewed by the insurance company or an attorney, it’s never a good idea to speak to them on your own. Many times these tactics are used, and the client is unaware, and they give away information that, again, will be used against them and could affect their case in the future.
If you have any other questions about commercial motor vehicle accidents or the interaction between commercial motor vehicle accident insurance representatives or attorneys, please don’t hesitate to contact our firm.
Do You Recommend Taking the Insurance Company’s Initial Offer?
Do you ever recommend taking the initial offer from an insurance company that represents a trucking company for a commercial motor vehicle accident in Orlando, Florida? We were just talking with a client about this when we were trying to resolve the case here in Orlando, Florida. They had been in a commercial motor vehicle accident. The trucking company and the insurance representatives reached out to them immediately, and they tried to negotiate with them and essentially tried to settle the case. The answer to that is no. In our experience, unless they’re offering full policy limits – which they rarely do – then it is never a good idea to accept the initial offer from the insurance company. There are many reasons to that.
One, even if they do offer the insurance limits, there could be other sources of liability. There could be other insurance sources. If you resolve your claim, you could be signing away your rights to getting that other compensation. Also, if it’s a larger insurance policy and they have not tendered their policy limits, accepting the lesser amount could bar you in the future from getting anymore for your claim. Usually, for the most part, at the beginning of a claim, if an insurance company or the attorney offers you an amount to settle the case, it’s never a good idea to accept that, only in the rarest of circumstances where you do have them offering you the policy limits and there’s no other way to get any other compensation in the case.
You really need to be careful of that. If any time you’re in a commercial motor vehicle accident here in Orlando, Florida, make sure you contact an attorney. Sometimes, the insurance representatives or an attorney for the company will reach out to you that same day or the day after the accident, and you may not have an attorney by then. We would, again, always recommend, one, getting an attorney that’s knowledgeable in these types of cases and, two, don’t accept any initial offer without first consulting your attorney in these types of cases. Many times, these insurance companies are obviously trying to protect their claim, they’re trying to protect their clients, and they’re not out there to help you.
If you have any other questions about commercial trucking cases and whether or not you should accept the initial offer from an insurance company, don’t hesitate to contact our firm.
How Do I Determine the Value of My Truck Accident Claim?
One of the most important ways that we can determine the value in a trucking accident here in Florida is making sure that you are prepared. Once you are involved in a trucking accident in Orlando, Florida, the most important thing you need to do is hire an attorney that is experienced in handling those types of cases. The reason why we say that is because these attorneys, an attorney that is knowledgeable in those areas, they’re going to best prepare your case for the ultimate resolution, and to be able to get you the best compensation, and the compensation that you deserve in these types of cases.
Now, in particular, your compensation and the value of your case is going to be dependent on several things. First and foremost, it’s going to depend on the actual injuries, it’s going to depend on your medical treatment, and it’s going to depend also on the evidence that’s gathered, the ability to gather all this evidence and put it together in a cohesive unit, that way we can show the jury, we can show the insurance company, hey, this is what you’ve lost. This is what you need to be compensated. Aside from the medical expenses and the injuries, we also have what’s called pain and suffering. You can be compensated for pain and suffering. You can be compensated for loss of enjoyment of life. Also, you can be compensated for lost wages.
All of these things are put together so that we can determine the value of your case. Again, the most important thing is to make sure that you hire an attorney that is knowledgeable with trucking cases because they know exactly where to look, how to gather that evidence and to put it all together to benefit you the most. If you have any other questions about trucking accident cases or the value of what your case may be, please contact our firm.
How Do I Select the Best Truck Accident Attorney?
We were talking to a client that came into the office last week, and we were discussing how you pick the best trucking accident attorney in Orlando, Florida. The most important thing to do is to pick someone who you have sat down with and spoken with, and you can get a sense from them that they have the experience, that they have the knowledge, that they have the resources on how to handle a trucking accident.
Trucking accidents are very different than automobile accidents in the sense that they involve federal regulations. They involved many moving parts that are very different than a regular auto accident case. We would say the most important thing is to pick someone with experience in those types of cases. Just having experience in auto cases is simply not enough. There are many things that need to be done for a trucking accident case that only an attorney experienced in those cases is going to know how to handle.
How Is a Commercial Truck Accident Claim Different from an Auto Accident Claim?
We were asked a question by a client who came in last week, “How are commercial motor vehicle cases different than auto cases in Orlando, Florida?” First and foremost, trucking cases are different because they’re governed by federal regulations. Any trucking or commercial motor vehicle has to follow certain federal regulations, which could have an effect on the case in the sense that you need to find an attorney who’s familiar with these federal regulations. We have to look into whether these federal regulations were complied with. We have to make sure that the driver of the commercial motor vehicle was trained properly. There are many different things that go into a commercial motor vehicle case, as opposed to a regular auto case.
Auto cases don’t involve the proper training of a driver, for example; that’s just everyday drivers who drive a motor vehicle. Commercial motor vehicle drivers have to get a special license, and we have to make sure they’re in compliance with that. Commercial motor vehicles deal with heavy equipment. That equipment needs to be maintained properly; it needs to be updated as often as possible. Trucking accident cases also often deal with severe injuries and greater property damage than regular cases. Many times you’ll see a large semi-truck or a truck versus an automobile. Most of the times, the commercial motor vehicle truck is going to win and you’re going to have substantial injury or property damage.
You need to make sure that whatever attorney you hire is familiar with dealing with those types of things, with dealing with the federal regulations, with dealing with accidents that involve serious injuries and serious property damage, as well as someone who’s familiar with dealing with all the other training issues or the additional issues that come along with commercial motor vehicle cases. If you have any other questions about that, feel free to contact us.
How Long Is It Going to Take to Resolve My Truck Accident Injury Claim?
The length of time it takes to resolve a truck accident case in Orlando, Florida, depends on the unique facts and circumstances of each case. In our experience, we have cases that can be resolved quickly, in a matter of months or less than a year, but we also have cases that can drag on for at least a year or more. It really depends on the unique facts and circumstances of the actual accident or crash and also the individual insurance company or trucking company that is involved in the crash. You have some smaller trucking companies that have little or no insurance, and those cases may be resolved quicker, as opposed to trucking cases where the trucking company has large amounts of insurance and is a big company. Oftentimes, those cases will be fought tooth and nail and they can drag on for an extended period of time.
The most important thing to know and the best way to get an answer to that is to interview and hire an attorney that is familiar with trucking accident cases, in particular here in Orlando, Florida. Any other region might be dependent on the particular facts and circumstances of the court systems there, but here in Orlando, Florida, we have the experience to handle those types of cases. We can answer any other questions you might have regarding trucking accidents.
What Are Common Mistakes People Make if They Have Been Injured in a Truck Accident?
Some of the most common mistakes that individuals make when they have a truck accident case in Orlando, Florida, is not getting an attorney that is experienced in that type of law. Many attorneys in the personal injury field practice many types of injury cases such as auto accidents or slip and falls, or things of that nature, but trucking accidents – ones that involve commercial motor vehicles – those are a different animal, and people need to hire someone who is experienced in that field.
When you’re interviewing an attorney, make sure that you ask them, “Have you had any of these cases? Have you litigated any of these cases?” Those are going to be critical for the long-term viability of your case and the compensation that you might get. Sometimes we have attorneys that will just get these cases, may not have handled these cases, but since they’ve done car accidents before they’ll take it on. Maybe they’ll get a decent settlement or resolution for the client, but if you need an attorney to get you the top dollar for your commercial motor vehicle case, then you need to meet with an attorney and hire an attorney that has handled these types of cases personally. That is one of the most important things.
Also, if you’re involved in the accident, try to take some documentation yourself. Take photographs. Take pictures. Take videos. Once that accident day is gone, then some of those items might be lost forever. You can help yourself by, one, getting an attorney that’s experienced in this type of law and, two, making sure you document the scene of the accident as best you can.
If you have any other questions about commercial motor vehicle accidents, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
What Should I Do if I Was Injured in a Commercial Truck Accident?
The first step you need to take after being injured in a commercial motor vehicle accident is to make sure you contact the authorities, if you’re able to. Also, contact your loved ones. Make sure you let them know that you’re okay. The most critical thing, in terms of your case, is to please contact an attorney that is experienced in these types of case.
One of the most important things in these types of cases and a key that’s critical to the resolution of your case and to make sure you get the most compensation for this type of accident is to make sure that you hire that attorney that is knowledgeable in these types of cases. The reason why we say that is because the attorneys that have this kind of knowledge know that these cases are built with evidence. One of the most important things to do is to get someone involved in your case right away. They can get a team of experts out to the scene of the accident. They can document everything. They can preserve this evidence because once that day is gone, that scene is gone forever and that could affect your case in the future.
The most important thing, again, really is to get someone involved who knows how to handle these cases, and make sure that you preserve the evidence. Make sure that you document everything, that way you can get the compensation that you deserve. If you have any other questions, please contact our office.
Call Our Florida Truck Accident Lawyers Today
If you have suffered a serious injury in a truck accident case, we are truly sorry that this is happened to you and we want to offer you our support and representation while you pursue justice from the liable party. Call our office as soon as you can to set up your first free consultation with our Florida truck accident lawyers.