Recent Trends and Developments in Commercial Truck Crash Cases

Recent Trends and Developments in Commercial Truck Crash Cases
There is no such thing as a “standard” truck crash lawsuit. There are facts and circumstances that are specific to your truck crash that can impact your case. These cases are increasingly more complex as trucking companies grow more sprawling and the trucks themselves use more technology. A truck crash lawyer can investigate the cause of your truck crash and help determine who you may be able to sue in a lawsuit. Then, they would fight for you to receive full compensation for your injuries, holding the trucking company responsible for their carelessness.
The Rise in Nuclear Verdicts
One of the trends that industry participants have their eyes on is the rise in nuclear verdicts. When cases go to trial, juries are socking trucking companies with punitive damages more often. In some cases, these awards can be tens of millions of dollars and enough to put the trucking company out of business. When you have received a large punitive damages verdict, you are able to go after the trucking company’s assets, and you become a creditor. Trucking industries complain about activist juries who are raising their cost of doing business, but it is a risk that they take when they fail to settle your case before trial.
Increasing Use of Artificial Intelligence
Your lawyer will obtain a large amount of data, both in their post-crash investigation and when they are building your case through the discovery process. Now, your attorney has more advanced technological tools to sift through and analyze all the data that they would obtain to help you present a stronger and more effective case. In addition to working with a crash reconstruction expert, your attorney can also use technology to recreate the crash and figure out potential causes.
Regulatory Changes Help Determine Liability
There have been an increasing number of regulations from the federal government that apply to the trucking industry. These companies have more rules that they need to follow because the government is working to keep you safe. If you can prove that a trucking company violated a regulation, it could be considered evidence of negligence in itself. There is a legal concept called negligence per se, which means that the fact that something happened could automatically be considered negligence. Your truck crash attorney keeps abreast of new regulations and knows what to look for when trying to prove your case.
More of a Focus on the Trucking Company
Truck crash lawyers are increasingly focusing on the trucking company in a lawsuit. Not only will they investigate the crash and gather evidence of what the driver did, but they will also pursue more proof of what the trucking company may have done behind the scenes. They may scrutinize things such as the trucking company’s training program and whether they follow hours of service regulations. If you are able to obtain proof of trucking company misconduct, it increases the chance that you may receive a larger verdict if your case goes to trial.
Technology May Become Part of Your Lawsuit
Trucks now rely on technology that assists drivers when they are behind the wheel. While trucks are not completely autonomous, there is an increasing range of instruments that help them do their jobs. Truck crash lawyers now need to figure out whether it was the driver or the technology that was the cause of the crash. You may have the possibility of suing the company that manufactured the technology in a product liability lawsuit and suing the trucking company.
Contact the Albuquerque Truck Crash Lawyers at Buchanan Law Firm, LLC
The Albuquerque truck crash lawyers at Buchanan Law Firm, LLC stay on top of all litigation trends and look for any way possible to maximize your compensation. It is essential that you contact us as soon as possible to speak to a truck crash lawyer to learn about your legal options. You can call us today at 505-900-3559 or use our online form to schedule a free consultation. Our office is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and we serve clients in Santa Fe and the surrounding areas.
We have recovered tens of millions of dollars for our clients.
Hospital negligence resulted in catastrophic injury. This was a case involving a patient who entered the hospital for routine observation but left the hospital with catastrophic and permanent injuries due to neglect and improper treatment. This case involved extensive expert testimony on all aspects of the client’s care, both by hospital administration, hospital employees, and contractors who were involved in her treatment.
Semi-truck negligence caused wrongful death. This case involved a semi-truck driver who was intoxicated on illegal substances and killed our client. The key to this case was both aggressive discovery work, and understanding the trucking laws that regulate truck drivers and motor carriers, so we could prove how reckless it was to put the driver on the road that day.
Semi-truck negligence caused catastrophic injury. This case involved a semi-truck driver who lost control of his vehicle in a high-traffic area, causing devastating injuries to our client. We were able to reconstruct every step of the events leading up to the crash that day to piece together why this happened, using sophisticated experts in reconstruction engineering.
Semi-truck and corporate negligence caused traumatic brain injury. Our client suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of the defendant’s negligence in parking a commercial vehicle. The key to this case was understanding trucking regulations and local ordinances at play to show how the situation should have been handled safely.
Semi-truck causing wrongful death. This sad case involved the tragic death of our clients when a semi-driver was high on illegal substances. The key to this case was working closely with law enforcement and our reconstruction expert to identify all of the assets we could recover for these clients so that they could be as fully compensated as possible.