To sue a for a personal injury claim against a Pennsylvania trucking company, you must prove you suffered a serious injury, leading to one or more of the following consequences:
- An inability to perform everyday life functions
- Disfigurement
- Broken bones or fractures
Big rigs, semi trucks, and 18-wheelers can weigh as much as 80 tons when fully loaded with freight. Their weight impacts braking capacity, stopping distance, and ability to handle quick turns to avoid a collision. It also means when they make an impact, their force tends to cause severe, life-altering injuries or death for victims in other vehicles.
Truck accidents can also be more complicated than accidents involving two passenger vehicles.
Depending on the cause, the fault could lie with many different parties. To help you make sense of the subject, we’ll explain which parties can be held legally responsible for a truck accident.
Why Truck Accident Litigation is Different
-
- The severity of truck accident injuries means victims often need more expensive medical care and long-term rehabilitation. For more about truck accident injuries and injury recovery, read our recent blog post about what to do after a truck accident injury.
There are various questions to consider in complex truck accident cases.
- Who owns the truck?
- Who was responsible for vehicle maintenance?
- Who owns the load on the truck? Which company operates the truck
Evidence gathering involves multiple steps to prove fault. The responsibility may lay with human factors such as fatigue or illness or maintenance issues such as historic truck performance and repairs. Truck accident lawyers must also research how the operator schedules their drivers and whether there’s a link between heavy work hours and the accident.
Which Parties Can Be Held Responsible in a Truck Accident Lawsuit?
Filing a truck accident claim in the Pennsylvania courts requires you to name the party responsible for your injuries and explain how those injuries resulted from their negligence. The right truck accident attorney will be instrumental throughout the process, and at this stage, they can explain the potential parties involved in your lawsuit.
Truck accident lawsuit litigants may include:
The Trucking Firm
The trucking company that employs the driver and maintains the trucks is the first party to be considered when liability issues arise after a truck accident. Trucking companies can be found liable in the following cases:
-
- Accidents where the training of new hires is in dispute
-
- Accidents related to fatigue due to over-scheduling of drivers
-
- Accidents related to improper loading of the vehicle at the point of origin
Truck Loading Crews
Loading the truck is a precise science, requiring an understanding of vehicle balancing and braking capacity to match the truck’s performance. Issues with vehicle loading can cause brake failure. An unstable load will also cause the vehicle to tip, jackknife, or rollover. Liability may fall on loading crews when:
-
- Crash scene investigators determine an imbalance load causes the crash.
-
- Investigators determine the truck exceeded its maximum weight before the crash.
-
- The loading crew failed to complete the paperwork before the accident.
Truck Maintenance Teams
Maintenance teams are responsible for truck upkeep and repair. They get trucks ready for drivers to transit the cargo to its destination. Truck maintenance staff can be liable for a trucking accident when:
-
- Reports show the truck maintenance does not meet the standards set by FMCSA regulations.
-
- Crash scene investigators show the truck suffered a maintenance issue, such as a tire blowout or defective couplings, and the trailer came loose in transit.
-
- Investigations show maintenance logbooks were fraudulent, covering up potential safety issues during routine vehicle inspections.
Truck Accident Lawyers are Essential to Your Lawsuit Success
The legal process in a truck accident case can become complex because multiple parties have varied interests at stake. Most truck accident cases settle out of court after a negotiation process between the trucking company’s insurance and the victim’s injury lawyer.
Present your case expertly by hiring a truck accident lawyer who knows how to fight back against the large insurance firms trucking operators hire.
The opposing party’s legal counsel represents a multinational insurance organization with deep resources and vast knowledge of personal injury law. Consequently, your lawyer must be well-equipped to enforce your legal rights backed by decades of experience in truck accident injury litigation.
Book Your Truck Accident Case Review to Explore Your Next Options
Whether you wish to file your truck accident claim immediately, or find out if you have a case given the circumstances around your injury, your next best step is to call Jeffrey Penneys. Why? Because Jeffrey works with truck accident victims like you regularly. He knows the insurance and legal industries and is able to help you precisely determine the chances of success in your case.
Build your ideal truck accident legal strategy. Book a free case review with Jeffrey Penneys today