Looking for a Commercial Truck Accident Lawyer in Dallas?
A collision with a commercial truck can leave you facing serious injuries, expensive medical treatment, and lost income. These cases can be a lot more complicated than ordinary car accident claims.
The Dallas personal injury attorney at The Law Office of Fidel Alex Martinez, PLLC represents people who have been injured because of negligent drivers and careless trucking companies. Our legal team can investigate the crash, preserve evidence, identify liable parties, and pursue compensation for your losses.
You may need a Dallas commercial truck accident lawyer if:
- You suffered serious injuries in a truck accident.
- A loved one was killed or injured in a truck collision.
- The trucking company or its insurer disputes responsibility for the crash.
- Multiple parties may share responsibility for the accident.
- Poor truck maintenance or defective equipment may have played a role.
- Your injuries prevent you from working or require ongoing medical treatment.
- The insurance company offers compensation that does not account for the full extent of your losses.
Injured in a Commercial Truck Accident?
A commercial truck crash can leave you with serious injuries and mounting expenses. The Law Office of Fidel Alex Martinez, PLLC can seek justice from responsible parties. Call (972) 639-8170 for a free consultation.
Trusted Dallas Personal Injury Attorney
Fidel Alex Martinez takes the time to examine the accident, assess the available evidence, and evaluate the losses associated with a client's injuries. Choosing an attorney who understands these issues can make a big difference in how your claim is investigated and presented.
The Law Office of Fidel Alex Martinez, PLLC helps clients manage communications and negotiations with insurance companies throughout the claims process. We are committed to providing accessible representation to injured people in Dallas, regardless of their immigration status.
Here’s why so many people have come to trust our firm:
- Personalized legal representation for every client, with strategies developed around the specific circumstances of your truck accident, including the severity of your injuries, available evidence, liable parties, insurance coverage, and financial losses.
- A proven record of securing favorable results, helping injured individuals and their families pursue compensation and hold negligent parties accountable.
- Free initial consultations, allowing you to discuss your accident, ask questions, and explore your legal options without any financial obligation.
- Extensive experience handling serious injury claims, including cases involving prolonged medical care, ongoing rehabilitation, diminished earning capacity, and permanent disabilities.
- Spanish-speaking services, ensuring that clients who prefer to communicate in Spanish can receive guidance, ask questions, and stay informed about their cases.
- A practice dedicated to personal injury law, enabling our attorneys to focus their time and resources on representing individuals harmed by negligence and preventable accidents.
- Contingency-based attorney's fees, meaning you pay no attorney's fees unless we successfully recover compensation on your behalf.
- Featured on Univision, highlighting our firm's presence in the community and commitment to reaching the people we serve.
How Can a Lawyer Help After a Truck Accident?
A Dallas truck accident lawyer will begin by investigating how and why the collision happened. That may involve reviewing police reports, photographs, video footage, witness statements, medical records, trucking records, driver information, and vehicle maintenance documents.
Commercial trucking cases can involve evidence that may not exist in an ordinary passenger vehicle collision. This may include electronic logging information, inspection records, employment files, cargo documents, and information from the truck's electronic systems.
Your lawyer can identify responsible parties and communicate with their insurers. If multiple parties contributed to the accident, your lawyer can investigate each party's role and pursue available sources of compensation. Your attorney can also negotiate for a fair settlement and prepare your case for litigation when necessary.
Who Is Liable for Truck Accident Injuries?
There may be several liable parties after a commercial truck accident. Determining responsibility requires examining what each person or company did before the crash.
Liable parties may include:
- Truck Drivers
- Drivers in Other Vehicles
- Trucking Companies
- Truck Loading Companies
- Manufacturers of defective vehicle components
Protect Your Rights After a Commercial Truck Crash
You should not have to handle a trucking company or its insurer alone after an accident. Our commercial truck accident lawyer in Dallas can protect your rights and pursue maximum compensation. Call (972) 639-8170 to learn more today.
How Truck Driver Negligence Causes Accidents
Commercial truck drivers must use caution when operating large vehicles around passenger cars, motorcycles, pedestrians, and other road users. A careless decision can have devastating consequences.
DUI
Alcohol and drugs impair judgment, reaction time, coordination, and the ability to operate a commercial vehicle safely. Evidence of impairment can become an important part of determining liability after a crash.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations state that a CDL commercial motor vehicle operator subject to the rule is considered to be driving under the influence at a blood alcohol concentration of 0.04% or higher while operating a commercial motor vehicle.
Unsafe Turns
Large trucks require more room to turn than passenger vehicles. Drivers need to account for their vehicle's size, trailer position, surrounding traffic, pedestrians, and cyclists.
A truck driver who turns without sufficient clearance may strike another vehicle or force someone else from the roadway. Investigators may review witness accounts, video footage, physical evidence, and vehicle damage to determine how the turn occurred.
Running Stop Signs and Red Lights
A fully loaded commercial truck requires significant distance to stop safely. A driver who ignores a stop sign or enters an intersection against a red light can cause a severe side-impact or multi-vehicle collision. Running a traffic signal may result from distraction, speeding, impairment, inattention, or another form of unsafe driving.
Disobeying Traffic Laws
Commercial drivers must follow applicable traffic laws just like other motorists. Speeding, following too closely, failing to yield, and disregarding signs or signals can contribute to serious accidents. Evidence that a truck driver violated a traffic law may help establish how the collision occurred, although the complete circumstances of the crash still need to be investigated.
Illegal Lane Changes
Trucks have large blind spots on all four sides, making it difficult for drivers to see nearby vehicles. When a truck driver changes lanes without checking these areas or ensuring sufficient clearance, they risk sideswiping another vehicle, forcing a motorist off the road, or causing a multi-vehicle collision.
A semi-truck accident attorney in Dallas can review surveillance footage, witness accounts, vehicle damage, police reports, and other evidence to determine whether an improper lane change played a role in the crash.
How Does Trucking Company Negligence Cause Injuries?
Decisions made by a trucking company before the truck ever enters the road may also contribute to a serious crash. A company that is responsible for operating commercial vehicles should take appropriate steps regarding driver qualifications, vehicle condition, safety practices, and other aspects of its operations.
Negligent Hiring and Retention
Negligent hiring occurs when a trucking company fails to use reasonable care when hiring a driver who is unqualified or poses an unreasonable safety risk. For example, a company may fail to adequately review a driver's qualifications, commercial driver's license, driving history, prior safety violations, or other relevant employment information before allowing that person to operate a commercial truck.
Negligent retention happens when a trucking company continues to allow a driver to operate a commercial vehicle after the company knew or reasonably should have known that the driver posed a safety risk. This could involve repeated traffic violations, unsafe driving incidents, licensing problems, or other questionable conduct.
In a commercial truck accident case, an attorney may examine employment files, driving records, safety records, and other evidence to determine whether negligent hiring or retention contributed to the collision and resulting injuries.
Poor Truck Maintenance
Commercial trucks contain numerous components that must function properly for safe operation, including brakes, tires, steering systems, lights, coupling equipment, and other mechanical systems.
A maintenance failure can become dangerous when a truck is traveling at highway speeds or carrying a heavy load. Worn tires may fail, defective brakes can increase stopping distance, and other mechanical problems can contribute to loss of control.
Following a serious crash, maintenance and inspection records may help establish whether a mechanical problem existed and who was responsible for addressing it. If maintenance was outsourced, the actions of an outside repair or maintenance provider may also warrant investigation.
What Compensation Is Available After a Dallas Truck Accident?
Serious truck accident injuries can create expenses that continue for years. A Dallas big rig accident attorney can evaluate available evidence and help document both current and anticipated losses.
Depending on the case, compensation may be available for:
- Medical expenses: Costs for emergency treatment, hospitalization, surgery, medication, doctor visits, and other necessary medical care.
- Future medical care: Expenses for anticipated surgeries, rehabilitation, physical therapy, assistive equipment, and ongoing treatment.
- Lost income: Wages and other earnings that are lost when injuries prevent you from working during your recovery.
- Reduced earning capacity: Compensation for injuries that limit your ability to work or earn the same income in the future.
- Physical pain: Compensation for the physical pain and suffering caused by the accident and resulting injuries.
- Mental anguish: Compensation for qualifying emotional and psychological effects associated with serious injuries.
- Physical impairment: Damages related to limitations that interfere with your ability to perform activities or live as you did before the accident.
- Disfigurement: Compensation for permanent scarring, burns, amputations, or other changes to your physical appearance.
Filing a Wrongful Death Claim in Texas
Under Texas law, a wrongful death action is for the benefit of the deceased person's surviving spouse, children, and parents. One or more of those individuals may bring the action for the benefit of all eligible beneficiaries.
A wrongful death claim can address qualifying losses suffered by surviving family members, including lost earning capacity, lost care and support, lost companionship, mental anguish, and other damages available under Texas law.
Injuries Caused by Truck Accidents
The enormous size and weight of commercial trucks can make collisions particularly dangerous for occupants of smaller vehicles. Victims may suffer severe injuries that require extensive medical treatment, ongoing rehabilitation, and long-term care. Some of the most common commercial truck accident injuries include:
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs): A violent impact can cause concussions, brain damage, and lasting cognitive difficulties.
- Spinal cord injuries: Damage to the spinal cord may result in partial or complete paralysis, chronic pain, and permanent mobility limitations.
- Broken bones: The force of a truck collision can cause complex fractures that require surgery and lengthy recovery periods.
- Internal injuries: Damage to internal organs and internal bleeding can create life-threatening medical emergencies.
- Burn injuries: Truck accidents involving fires or hazardous materials may cause severe burns, scarring, and disfigurement.
- Amputations: Crushing injuries may result in the loss of a limb or require surgical amputation.
These injuries can significantly affect a victim's health, independence, earning capacity, and overall quality of life.
Reasons to Contact a Lawyer Right Away
Contacting a commercial truck accident lawyer soon after a collision can help protect your rights and preserve evidence that may be important to your claim. Trucking companies and their insurance carriers may begin investigating immediately, which makes it important to have someone working to protect your interests as well.
Commercial truck accident cases can involve evidence that may be difficult to obtain later. An attorney can take steps to collect evidence such as:
- Driver logs and hours-of-service records
- Electronic logging device data
- Truck maintenance and inspection records
- Driver employment and qualification records
- Dashcam and surveillance footage
- Cargo loading and securement records
- Witness statements and accident photographs
- Police and accident reports
Talk to a Dallas Commercial Truck Accident Attorney
The Law Office of Fidel Alex Martinez, PLLC provides free consultations and Spanish-speaking support. We handle personal injury cases on a contingency-fee basis, meaning there is no attorney's fee unless we get you a settlement or verdict.
If you were injured in a commercial truck collision, call (972) 639-8170 to discuss your case with a Dallas truck accident lawyer.
Frequently Asked Questions About Truck Injuries
What does a truck accident lawyer do?
A commercial truck accident lawyer investigates how a commercial vehicle collision occurred, identifies potentially responsible parties, gathers evidence, communicates with insurance companies, and pursues compensation for an injured client.
When should I contact a commercial truck accident lawyer?
You should consider contacting an attorney as soon as possible after receiving appropriate medical attention. Acting quickly can help preserve evidence such as photographs, video footage, witness information, trucking records, maintenance documents, and other information that may be important to your claim.
Who can be held liable for a truck accident?
More than one party may share responsibility depending on how the accident occurred. Liable parties may include the truck driver, trucking company, another motorist, cargo loading company, maintenance provider, or other businesses involved with the truck.
What compensation can I seek after a commercial truck accident?
Depending on the circumstances, compensation may be available for medical expenses, future medical treatment, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, pain, mental anguish, physical impairment, disfigurement, and other legally recoverable damages.
What evidence can help prove a commercial truck accident claim?
Useful evidence may include police reports, photographs, videos, witness statements, medical records, driver information, electronic logging data, inspection records, maintenance documents, and cargo records. Your attorney can collect and preserve important evidence.
What should I do after a Dallas commercial truck accident?
Seek appropriate medical attention, report the accident, and preserve any evidence you can safely obtain, including photographs and witness information. You should also consider speaking with a truck accident lawyer before accepting a settlement or signing documents from an insurance company.
Can I file a wrongful death claim after a fatal truck accident?
Certain surviving family members may be able to pursue a wrongful death claim when negligence causes a fatal truck accident in Texas. An attorney can review the circumstances, identify eligible parties, and explain the damages and legal deadlines that may apply.