Hiring the right commercial vehicle accident attorney after an accident involving commercial vehicles is crucial to seek justice for any injuries sustained.
Commercial vehicle accident attorneys determine the outcome of a commercial vehicle accident case. They’re the difference between getting adequate compensation for all the losses accident victims experience and getting less or nothing.
Finding the perfect commercial auto accident attorneys can be daunting, particularly if you’re unfamiliar with the jargon used in the legal field. We’ve prepared this guide to help you understand what you need to do to hire a commercial vehicle accident attorney who’ll fight for you to get the settlement you deserve.
Hiring The Right Commercial Vehicle Accident Lawyer: What To Do
There are three critical steps you can take to hire the best personal injury lawyers following commercial vehicle accidents:
Step 1: Consider Your Legal Needs
Evaluating your legal needs is the first step to hiring the perfect commercial vehicle accident lawyer. It will help you understand what type of personal injury attorney you should contact. For commercial auto accidents, there are two types of accident lawyers you can turn to for legal assistance:
- Regular car accident lawyers. These lawyers work on cases involving all types of car accidents, including those involving commercial vehicles like buses and taxis.
- Commercial truck accident lawyers. Commercial truck accident attorneys specialize in trucking accident cases.
To evaluate your legal needs after an auto accident, consider your situation and what you expect from filing a case against the at-fault party.
If you’re dealing with accidents involving commercial trucks, like semi-trucks, it’s best to hire commercial truck accident lawyers instead of regular car accident lawyers. Truck accident attorneys who exclusively work on truck accident settlement cases are better placed to help you get maximum compensation for all the pain and suffering trucking accidents cause.
Step 2: Research
Once you know the type of lawyer you need, start researching to find law firms whose services match your needs.
If you get injured in a semi-truck accident, for example, you can search online to find reputable law firms that focus on large commercial truck accidents.
You want to find truck accident law firms that have worked on truck accident claims for decades instead of newly established firms. A truck accident law firm with decades-long experience handling cases involving large truck accidents likely has more experienced truck accident lawyers than a law firm starting to handle truck accident cases.
Also, you can seek recommendations from your friends, family, and colleagues to ensure you identify a few law firms and increase your chances of hiring the best semi-truck accident attorney.
Step 3: Choose Your Truck Accident Lawyer
Comb through your list of potential law firms you can work with and narrow down your search to identify the most suitable lawyer for your specific case. This is easy to do if you consider the following factors when hiring a truck accident attorney.
Experience
Has the trucking accident lawyer handled personal injury cases similar to yours? If yes, how many? Generally, the more commercial truck accident claims a trucking accident lawyer has worked on, the more experienced they may be.
Be keen to identify an attorney with the right expertise because the experience of a commercial truck accident attorney is critical to the success of your truck accident case for two main reasons:
Commercial truck accidents are more complicated than regular car accidents. More than one party can be responsible for a semi-truck accident, including the truck driver, truck company, truck manufacturer, etc. An experienced truck accident attorney can identify all the liable parties in a truck collision and pursue compensation from each party.
Handling a truck accident claim requires specific knowledge of the federal and state trucking laws governing the industry. Experienced truck accident attorneys have mastered these regulations. They can accurately calculate all the damages you should collect, including medical expenses, lost wages, property damage, pain, and suffering.
Reading peer and customer reviews of the lawyers you’re considering hiring will be helpful here. You’ll get insight into their services and abilities from a legal and client standpoint.
Success Rate
If your potential lawyers have worked on several personal injury claims, how many have they won? And how much compensation have they recovered for various truck accident victims? Winning more cases and recovering high settlement amounts is proof of the lawyer’s expertise.
Also, check the lawyers’ success rate in handling truck accident lawsuits. Settling truck accident cases out of court and handling a truck accident lawsuit are two different things. It would help if you had a lawyer who can do both, so you’re sure they’ll fight for you to win.
Resources
Nearly all the defendants involved in a truck accident claim will try to jeopardize the case or shift blame to avoid paying the settlement amount requested. These include commercial truck drivers, the trucking companies they work for, and their insurers.
Hire a lawyer or law firm with enough resources to collect enough evidence and prove that all liable parties mentioned are responsible for all truck accident injuries incurred. The lawyer should have direct access to a team of trucking accident experts, including accident reconstructionists and medical experts.
Check out our in-depth guide on the factors to consider when looking for trucking accident attorneys to learn more about this.
Step 4: Negotiate Terms And Sign Contract
Most accident lawyers work on a contingency fee. They don’t take any payment upfront. Instead, they take a percentage of your settlement if you win the case. You should look out for and negotiate these terms when hiring a lawyer. Ideally, your attorney’s cut should be a third of your total reward or less.
Usually, this last step happens during your initial free consultation with your potential lawyer.
Final Thoughts
Hiring a good truck accident lawyer requires effort, but it’s worth it. The right accident lawyers help truck drivers and other accident victims get fair compensation so they don’t have to worry about medical bills or property damage repairs. Instead, truck drivers can focus on their recovery to get back on the road.
If you ever need help purchasing a new truck or financing truck repairs after a semi-truck accident, contact us. We offer various commercial vehicle loans and can tailor our services to your situation to get your business up and running sooner.
