Due to its bustling ports and strategic location near international borders, Washington is a thriving hub for the trucking industry. As critical as trucking is in Washington, it also causes congested traffic with large, fully-loaded commercial trucks crowding smaller cars and leaving motorists vulnerable to severe injuries in a crash.
If you or a close family member experienced a truck accident, call Sears Injury Law to speak to an experienced personal injury attorney in Everett about your right to compensation. Contact us today at (206) 203-1166 to schedule your free consultation.
Why Hire Sears Injury Law for Your Everett, Washington, Truck Accident Case?
An accident involving an immense truck not only often leaves injury victims facing overwhelming physical injuries, but also a frustrating legal experience due to the difficulty of pinpointing liability in a truck accident claim in Everett or elsewhere. With representation by Sears Injury Law, you have the following advantages:
- Representation by an Everett truck accident attorney from a law firm with over 100 years of combined experience dedicated to your best interests
- Access to accident reconstruction specialists and medical experts to make a compelling case for liability and your medical expenses
- A results-oriented approach that combines assertive legal action with deep compassion for the devastating impacts of serious truck accident injuries
Sears Injury Law offers a free evaluation of your case and will come to you if your injuries prevent you from reaching our office. With contingency-based payment, you pay nothing for legal counsel until the end of the case, after you’ve recovered compensation in your claim.
What Causes Trucking Accidents In Everett?
Trucks are challenging to maneuver and require special skills to operate successfully and safely. They make wide turns, have extended blind spots, and need long stopping distances. Unfortunately, they weigh up to 80,000 pounds compared to average family vehicles of only 4,000 pounds, leaving motorists vulnerable to severe injuries in accidents. They also have a tall, top-heavy design that makes them more likely to tip and roll, particularly when pulling trailers. Common causes of trucking accidents in Everett include the following:
- Distracted driving
- Speeding, or failing to adjust speed to hazardous road conditions
- Unsafe lane changes
- Failure to yield the right of way
- Improper merging
- Tailgating
- Improper passing
- Mechanical defects
- Unbalanced loads
- Tire blowouts
- Drowsy driving
- Impaired driving
A truck accident scene is chaotic and devastating, sometimes resulting in multiple collisions due to the extended length of a truck and trailer, which may block several lanes during a crash. If you’ve been injured in a motorcycle accident caused by a negligent truck driver, an experienced motorcycle accident attorney in Everett can help you pursue the compensation you deserve.
Why Is Proving Liability Challenging In an Everett Truck Accident?
Injury victims have a right to file claims for compensation after a truck accident, but they sometimes find the truck driver, trucking company, and insurance company denying liability and pointing the finger at others. This is because many separate entities are involved in putting and keeping a well-maintained truck on the road, driven by a qualified driver, and hauling a secure load. It takes an experienced investigation by a truck accident lawyer in Everett representing an injury victim’s best interests to determine the cause of the accident, identify the liable party or parties, and make a claim against the appropriate insurance policy. Common liable parties in Washington truck accident claims include the following:
- The driver
- The trucking company
- A negligent truck maintenance company
- A negligent freight loading company
- The manufacturer of a defective tire or part
In some cases, other entities are at fault or share fault, such as a negligent road maintenance or road planning agency, or a third-party driver. Proving liability requires showing evidence that the at-fault party owed a duty of care to take reasonable measures to prevent causing injuries, they breached their duty, the breach of duty caused injury to someone else, and the injury victim suffered damages from the injury.
Understanding Serious and Catastrophic Injuries In Washington Truck Accident Cases
Because of the immense size and weight of commercial trucks, around 70% of truck accident injuries and fatalities happen to the occupants of other vehicles rather than the truck driver. Common injuries in truck accidents in Everett include the following:
- Fractures, including those of the limbs, hips, ribs, pelvis, clavicle, and spinal vertebrae
- Neck injuries
- Back injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Soft tissue injuries, including sprains, torn ligaments, and tendon injuries
- Lacerations, contusions, and abrasions
- Internal organ injuries
- Burns
- Spinal cord injuries
- External head, facial, and dental injuries
- Traumatic amputations
Depending on the type of cargo, a truck accident can also cause chemical exposure to accident victims or result in dangerous fuel spills and explosions that impact nearby communities.
What Damages Can I Recover In a Truck Accident Case?
Even mild injuries can be expensive to treat and cause days of lost pay. More severe or catastrophic injuries may impede or prevent a truck accident injury victim from returning to work in their former capacity, or at all.
No two truck accident claims are the same, but common damages recovered in successful truck accident claims in Everett include the following:
- Reimbursement for medical expenses
- Future medical expenses
- Out-of-pocket costs
- Lost earnings
- Future income loss
- Compensation for pain and suffering
- Compensation for catastrophic injury damages such as loss of limb, scarring, disfigurement, loss of vision, hearing loss, PTSD, or diminished quality of life
If a truck accident caused the death of a loved one, a family member such as a spouse, parent, or child could recover compensation through a wrongful death claim in Everett.
What to Do After a Truck Accident In Everett
Many truck accident victims are seriously injured or incapacitated after a truck accident, leaving them unable to take any purposeful action. In some cases, however, a truck accident victim or an uninjured companion can safely use a cell phone at the accident scene to protect themselves physically and financially. After a truck accident, do the following:
- First, call 911 to report the accident and apply first aid
- Use the phone’s camera to take photos of the damaged vehicles, the truck, and the accident scene, including anything relevant like an intersection or traffic signs
- Photograph any visible injuries
- Add the contact information of the truck driver and any eyewitnesses to the accident
- Record what you remember about the accident while it’s fresh in your mind before trauma causes the memory to fade
Go to a hospital straight from the accident scene and undergo a full medical examination and treatment for emergency injuries. This sometimes reveals underlying injuries with delayed symptom presentation.
Inform your insurance company about the accident and obtain a copy of the police report.
Your medical report becomes a critical component of a successful truck accident claim.
Contact an Everett Truck Accident Attorney Today
Truck accident claims are complicated and sometimes end with an insurance company offering a settlement for far less than the full value of a claim or denying it completely. Call Sears Injury Law at (206) 203-1166 or fill out the form for experienced legal representation to maximize your chances of recovering full and fair compensation.