Aventura Truck Accident Lawyer
An accident involving a massive commercial truck is one of the most terrifying and destructive events that can happen on our roads. The sheer size and weight of an 18-wheeler mean that when a collision occurs, especially on high-speed highways like I-95, the consequences for the occupants of smaller passenger vehicles are often catastrophic. Victims are left with life-altering injuries and face a powerful, well-funded opponent in the trucking company and its insurance carrier.
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You cannot afford to face this fight alone. The law firm of Ace Your Case provides the expert, detailed, and aggressive legal representation needed to win these complex cases. As your dedicated Aventura truck accident lawyer, we have the resources and the determination to hold negligent trucking companies accountable and secure the substantial compensation you and your family deserve.
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Truck Accidents are Different: Why You Need a Specialist
One of the most critical mistakes an accident victim can make is assuming a truck accident is just a bigger version of a car accident. The legal and factual landscape is entirely different and far more complex. A successful claim requires an attorney who has a deep understanding of:
- Complex Federal Regulations The trucking industry is governed by a dense web of federal laws from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). These regulations dictate everything from how many hours a driver can be behind the wheel (hours-of-service rules), to mandatory vehicle inspection and maintenance schedules, to driver drug and alcohol testing protocols. A violation of these regulations is often direct evidence of negligence.
- Multiple Liable Parties In a typical car crash, there is usually one at-fault driver. In an 18-wheeler crash in Miami-Dade, there can be numerous responsible parties, including:
- The truck driver.
- The trucking company (for negligent hiring, poor training, or pressuring drivers to violate safety rules).
- The owner of the truck or trailer.
- The company that loaded the cargo (if improper loading caused the crash).
- The truck or parts manufacturer (if a defect caused the accident).
- The Race to Preserve Critical Evidence Commercial trucks contain a wealth of evidence that trucking companies are known to lose or destroy. This includes the truck’s “black box” (Electronic Control Module), which records data on speed and braking, as well as the driver’s hours-of-service logs, maintenance records, and post-crash inspection reports.
Our Immediate Investigative Process
Trucking companies and their insurers deploy rapid-response teams to crash scenes to control the investigation and protect their interests. We act just as quickly to protect yours. Our immediate process includes:
- Sending a Spoliation Letter: We immediately send a legal notice to the trucking company demanding that they preserve all critical evidence related to the crash, especially the black box data and driver logs.
- Deploying Accident Reconstruction Experts: We work with top-tier accident reconstructionists who can analyze the physical evidence from an I-95 truck accident to scientifically determine its cause, from driver error to mechanical failure.
- Investigating the Trucking Company: We conduct a deep dive into the company’s safety record, hiring practices, and history of FMCSA violations to establish a pattern of negligence.
Common Causes of Truck Accidents
As your semi-truck accident attorney in Aventura, we have the experience to identify the root cause of a crash. Common causes of truck accidents include:
- Driver Fatigue: Drivers who violate hours-of-service rules to meet deadlines are a major danger.
- Improper Maintenance: Worn tires, faulty brakes, or other mechanical failures.
- Overloaded or Improperly Secured Cargo: This can cause a truck to become unstable and lead to a rollover or jackknife accident.
- Speeding and Aggressive Driving: Truck drivers are under immense pressure to deliver quickly, which can lead to reckless behavior.
- Driver Inexperience or Poor Training.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a truck's "black box" and why is it so important?
A truck’s “black box,” or Electronic Control Module (ECM), records vital data about the truck’s speed, braking, RPMs, and other factors in the moments leading up to a crash. This data can be irrefutable evidence that proves the truck driver was speeding or failed to brake in time.
Can the trucking company be held liable for its driver's negligence?
Yes. Under the law, trucking companies are generally responsible for the negligent actions of their drivers. They can also be held directly liable for their own negligence, such as hiring a driver with a poor safety record or failing to properly maintain their fleet.
Why are truck accident settlements often larger than car accident settlements?
Because the injuries caused by large trucks are typically much more severe and often catastrophic, the damages are significantly higher. A successful claim must account for a lifetime of medical care, a total loss of earning capacity, and immense pain and suffering, which often results in a high-value recovery.
Our Firm Is Here To Help
Plantation Personal Injury FAQs
When Is It the Right Time to Call a Personal Injury Lawyer?
The right time to call is as soon as possible after your accident. There are many reasons why you need to begin the legal process as quickly as you can. The legal process may even begin without you, with many calls from the insurance company trying to either rush you or to pressure you to give a statement. They may try to catch you unaware and trick you into compromising your legal rights. Hiring an attorney could prevent this from happening.
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Equally important, as time passes from the time of your accident, the evidence that could help your claim can become harder to find. People might quickly clear the scene of the accident, and you may lose the ability to contact witnesses. The witnesses that you have may begin to lose their recollection of what they saw. When you hire a personal injury lawyer, they will get to work immediately to gather the evidence before it is lost.
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Calling a lawyer to get started on your case is a crucial step in the legal process. Knowing that you have someone on the job with the experience and tenacity to fight for you can give you at least some peace of mind during an undoubtedly difficult time.
How Do Insurance Settlement Negotiations Work?
An insurance claim is just like any other negotiation. You have a number in mind for what you think that you should receive for your injuries, and the insurance company has a much lower number in mind for what it wants to pay. Your insurance claim begins when your Plantation personal injury attorney files a demand letter with the insurance company. This is when the adjuster goes to work to try to save money for their bosses.
The insurance adjuster may outright deny your claim or question liability. They may come back with a settlement offer. When the number seems low, and it will, know that this is just their opening offer. Your Plantation injury attorney will likely reject the offer and respond with your own demand.
Eventually, you will lower your number, and the insurance company will raise theirs, and you could meet somewhere in the middle. This is a time-honored dance that personal injury lawyers have been doing with insurance companies since the advent of courtrooms. Even when you seem very far apart from the insurance company, most cases eventually will settle.
What Happens After I File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Filing a personal injury lawsuit is an early part of the claim process. Most cases will never go far enough to see the inside of a courtroom. Statistically speaking, a vast majority of personal injury cases are settled out of court. However, if your case does make it to court, you should expect going into it that the trial process may take one to two years to complete. The legal system is far from rushed, as courts and judges have busy schedules and full dockets.
In the short term, you can expect motions and attempts to obtain evidence. Many people associate a lawsuit with a trial, but that only happens after many months of the nuts and bolts of the legal system. The phase of your case that will take the longest time is discovery. This is when the two sides obtain evidence that the other has in their possession. At this point, you may even need to sit for a deposition.
Filing a lawsuit will not cut off settlement negotiations. As was previously mentioned, most cases will settle without a trial. If anything, litigation may give each side more incentive to settle. The two parties usually continue negotiating right up until the point when the jury is seated.
What Evidence Can Prove My Injury Claim?
Negligence is the basis of every personal injury claim. When you file a lawsuit in court, you have the burden of proof. It will be up to you to show that what you say is more likely than not to have happened. You need to back your claim up with evidence.
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Your Plantation personal injury lawyer will work to gather things that can backup your side of the story, including:
— Witness statements from people who say your injury or accident
— Pictures of the scene of your accident
— Security camera footage
— Expert witness testimony that could reconstruct the accident
— Maintenance logs of the area or vehicle involved
— Medical records that can help prove damages
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These are things that can be difficult to get on your own and piece together to tell the story of what happened. Injury lawyers in Plantation, Florida, know how to both get the evidence and use it to prove that someone else was responsible for your accident.
What if I Cannot Work Due to My Injuries?
Your personal injury damages include both economic and non-economic compensation. Economic compensation aims to pay you back for the actual money that you lost. This includes bills that you paid and earnings you lost. This specifically pays you back for lost wages from your job when you are unable to work. Since you would have worked, this is money out of your pocket.
Lost wages in a personal injury settlement are much broader than you think. Of course, this includes the time that you have already missed from work. It also encompasses time that you will miss from work in the future. You do not need to outright miss work to receive compensation for this. For example, if you were qualified for a promotion but cannot get it now because your injury limits you in the type of work that you can do, you can get compensation for the reduction in your earning capacity.
Lost wages are often a very contested part of your personal injury claim because you can bet that the insurance company will see things differently to try to lower its bill. They may dispute what your possible earnings are or use a lower rate of inflation to calculate what they may be in the future.
Hear It From Our Clients
“Ace Your Case Excellent Attorneys”
Personal injury attorneys Craig Posner and Eric Feingold are both excellent attorneys, but more importantly, they are excellent people. I have seen first hand their hard work and dedication to clients. I would not hesitate to recommend their services to others.
“Great Guys Who Take Their Job Seriously”
Great guys who take their job seriously. They took care of me when I had my accident and made sure I was walked through 100% of the way.
“Pleasure And Blessing To Have Ace Your Case Represent My Family”
It has been a pleasure and blessing to have Ace Your Case represent my family. They always kept me updated on our case. The staff was excellent they always got back to me on questions I had. I highly recommend them and will continue to use them if needed.
“Not Only Very Efficient But Caring As Well”
These lawyers are not only very efficient, but caring as well. I would not hesitate to refer them to anyone.
“I Highly Recommend Them!”
Big thanks to Eric and Doug for doing a great job with the handling of my auto accident. I highly recommend them!
