Who is liable when you’re in a wreck with a commercial vehicle?

On Behalf of | Dec 3, 2020 | Commercial Vehicle Accidents

A wreck with a commercial vehicle has the potential to devastate the life of everyone in your family. The road to recovery may be long and difficult, and the bills simply won’t wait.

That makes it particularly important to hold everyone liable for their share of the accident. Even though the truck driver made an error that caused the crash, there may be others who share responsibility for your losses.

Who might be liable for a truck accident?

Aside from the truck’s driver, there are numerous potential parties that could owe you compensation, including:

  • The trucking company: Generally speaking, trucking companies are responsible for the accidents their drivers cause.
  • The company’s client: Sometimes a big company, like Amazon, will contract their delivery services out to smaller services — but they often push the drivers in unreasonable ways.
  • The loading company: If a truck’s load was unstable or improperly secured, the loading company may be at fault.
  • The maintenance company: Commercial vehicles require constant maintenance. If the company in charge of that task slipped up, that could make them liable.
  • A manufacturer: Sometimes a truck wreck is caused by mechanical failures that had less to do with shoddy repair work and more to do with defective parts.

An attorney can help you identify all liable parties

One of the reasons it is so important to have an experienced attorney protecting your interests is that it can be very difficult to identify each party that contributed to your accident. Even worse, the parties involved may quickly start to play “the blame game” and try to defer liability to each other. When there’s been a wreck with a commercial vehicle, you need someone on your side.

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Imagine you are driving along minding your own business when a semi hits a median after crossing three lanes of traffic, blocking your lane. Unable to stop in time, you strike the truck’s cab with your much smaller vehicle. We don’t have to imagine that scenario because one of our clients lived it. Though he was unable to walk away from the crash without injury, we were able to help him walk away from the incident with a settlement that will make things easier for him and his family.