Determining Liability in a Truck Accident Case

If you’ve suffered a severe injury in a truck accident or suffered the tragic loss of a loved one, you’re more than likely wanting to take legal action against those responsible. One of the challenges, of course, is determining just who is to blame for the accident. Determining liability in a truck accident case is much more complex than you might think. 

In order to do that, you’ll need the help of an experienced attorney who will have the resources and knowledge it takes to conduct a thorough investigation. That’s exactly what you’ll get when you turn to the law firm of Penn Kestner & McEwen. Our attorneys have handled truck accident cases for years, and we’ve helped our clients obtain tens of millions of dollars in compensation. If you put your trust in us, you can rest assured that we’ll do everything we can to fight for your rights and help you get the money you deserve.

If you would like to learn more about how we may be of assistance, you can contact us online or give us a call at (800) 732-3070 for a free evaluation of your case. 

Common Causes of Truck Accidents

There are a lot of reasons why a truck accident occurs. The driver of the truck could have been impaired due to drug or alcohol use, or they might have been speeding. A critical component, such as the brakes, the transmission, or something else, could have failed due to negligent design or manufacturing.  

Many Different Parties Can be Liable for a Truck Accident

You might not be that concerned about why the accident took place. All you know is that you’re going through a great deal of suffering, and you want someone to pay. But an attorney with Penn Kestner & McEwen will make it their mission to find out what happened. Once we do that, we’ll know exactly who to target with legal action. 

Here are just some of the potential parties that could face liability:

The Driver

Truck drivers are notorious for staying behind the wheel even though they’re fatigued to the point of exhaustion. Imagine trying to work behind a computer when you can barely stay awake. You probably know how difficult that can be. Now picture yourself in the cab of an 80,000-pound commercial truck, one of the most difficult vehicles to drive. There’s no way you’d be able to function.

Unfortunately, truck drivers do this far too often and cause an incredible amount of destruction in the process.

But truckers can be guilty of other dangerous behaviors as well, such as driving too fast or, as noted earlier, even operating a rig while drunk or high. If our investigation finds the driver was to blame, we’ll work passionately to make sure they’re held accountable. 

The Trucking Company

The truck driver might have been operating the truck in a safe manner, but a wreck still occurred anyway. The cause could have been a tire that blew out because it was worn to the point that it was dangerous. Or, the brakes might have malfunctioned at the worst possible time. How could this happen? The company that owns the truck might not have bothered with critically important maintenance. If that’s the case, we’ll do all we can to make sure that the company pays you every penny you have coming. 

The Loaders

Trucking operations will sometimes outsource the loading of their trailers in the name of efficiency. But that doesn’t guarantee the workers performing that job will do it correctly. If they don’t, and a load shifts during transit, that can cause the truck to lean to one side, resulting in a loss of control. If our investigation shows that negligent loading led to the accident, we’ll take action against the loading company. 

The Rental Company

What if the truck that hits you was a rental driven by a homeowner who was moving to another city or state? You could possibly take action against the driver if they were negligent. For example, they might have been speeding even though the road was slick due to rain or ice. Or, they might have been distracted due to talking on the phone instead of focusing on the road.

The rental company itself could be liable if it didn’t maintain the truck or failed to make sure it rented the vehicle to a licensed, qualified driver. 

The Manufacturer

What if the tire failure mentioned earlier wasn’t due to a lack of maintenance but some sort of manufacturer’s defect? This is another case where you could potentially sue that manufacturer. The tire might have had a defect in design, or some sort of negligence may have occurred when the tire was made. 

Multi-Party Liability in a Truck Accident Case

As you can see, multiple parties can share liability in a truck accident case. There could be two, three, or even more parties that contributed to the wreck. 

The driver might have been fatigued, for example, and wasn’t able to react quickly enough when a defectively-designed tire blew out. The brakes might have failed because of a lack of negligence. The cargo could have come loose, causing the truck to roll over. Because of this, it causes even more damage than if it had stayed upright.

In this instance, you can sue the driver, the trucking company, the tire manufacturer, and the company that loaded the cargo. In a case involving multi-party liability like this, a victim could be eligible to obtain a substantial amount of compensation – an amount that could potentially be much higher than if only one party was to blame.

Contact Penn Kestner & McEwen to Schedule Your Free Case Evaluation Today

But you won’t have a chance of obtaining that compensation unless you have a skilled attorney working on your behalf to gather the evidence needed to clearly show all the parties that were at fault. 

The attorneys with Penn Kestner & McEwen have that skill, and we’re ready to put it to work for you. Contact us online or call (800) 732-3070 to learn more or to schedule a free consultation.