When you suffer injuries in a truck accident, you will likely seek compensation from one or multiple parties whose negligence caused the collision.
Due to the transportation industry’s complexity and the likely severity of your injuries, this process will take time. How much time depends on many factors, including how long it takes you to recover and whether your pursuit of compensation requires litigation versus settling out of court.
Your Case Might Not Require a Lawsuit
This raises an important point: Tampa truck accident lawyers do not typically launch straight into a lawsuit. Rather, we begin the process of financial recovery by filing an insurance claim on behalf of our client. When you hire our firm, we will file a claim against the negligent individual or entity’s insurer. If attempts to settle with the insurance company do not succeed, we will proceed with a lawsuit.
You will be in a better position to anticipate the timeline for your truck accident claim or lawsuit if you understand the process that lies ahead.
Seeking Medical Treatment
Even if you do not detect any injuries following your truck accident, you should strongly consider getting checked out by a medical professional. A doctor who knows you have experienced a truck accident can check for injuries that might not yet have symptoms.
The sooner you visit a doctor, the better—for several reasons. First, you can receive immediate treatment and prevent your injuries from worsening. Second, medical documentation will make it for a jury to connect your injuries to the time of the accident.
Hiring a Truck Accident Lawyer
Once you know you have suffered an injury, contacting a personal injury law firm with experience handling truck accidents makes a logical next step. When you contact our law firm, we will talk to you about your truck accident and explain your options for moving forward toward recovering damages.
The process will benefit you because our firm can investigate your case and negotiate with the insurance carrier(s). Florida’s statute of limitations under Florida Statutes §95.11(3)(a) gives you a set amount of time after your accident in which to file a lawsuit. If negotiations with the insurer do not succeed, we must file the case within the statute’s specified deadline of four years.
Establishing Liability
Before we talk to insurance companies or file lawsuits, our lawyers must establish the defendant’s legal liability for the accident that caused your injuries.
By the terms set in tort law, we must prove that:
- The defendant had a responsibility and obligation to keep you free from harm.
- The defendant failed to fulfill this duty of care.
- This violation of duty caused the truck accident that caused your injuries.
- You sustained damages (physical, financial, and emotional).
Investigating Your Truck Accident
Our lawyers will gather evidence to support each of the above criteria, ensuring that insurance companies and courts acknowledge the viability of your claim. We will do this by:
- Visiting the accident scene to collect evidence
- Interviewing witnesses
- Obtaining the police accident report
- Working with accident reconstruction specialists
- Reviewing surveillance camera and traffic camera footage
- Studying the truck driver’s driving log
- Analyzing the trucking company’s safety records and hiring practices
This investigation could point to one or multiple liable parties. For example:
- The truck operator
- The trucking company
- The truck driver’s employer
- The company that loaded the cargo
- A contractor
- The truck manufacturer or parts manufacturer
- A service provider responsible for maintaining the truck
Filing the Claim
Equipped with the evidence to support our claim of liability, our legal team will file a claim with the liable party’s insurance provider. The amount we seek in our demand letter will depend on the circumstances of your case. Some of the types of damages often associated with a truck accident include:
- Medical treatment and expenses (past and future)
- Lost wages and work benefits
- Diminished earning capacity
- Diminished life quality
- Pain and suffering (physical and emotional)
If your loved one died due to a truck accident, we could pursue a wrongful death case on your behalf.
Negotiating a Settlement
It is unlikely that the insurance company will immediately agree to our demand for damages. More likely, the insurer will counteroffer with a substantially lower settlement amount.
Our legal team will present our arguments and evidence, showing the insurer that we built a strong case—one they probably do not want to risk facing at trial. Eventually, we should reach a settlement amount to which both parties agree.
Filing a Lawsuit
We find ourselves at the stage of filing a lawsuit only if the insurance company refuses to agree to a fair settlement.
Pretrial/Discovery
Before the trial begins, both sides engage in a discovery process that involves depositions, document requests, and exchanges of evidence. We will still negotiate for a settlement during this stage, and more often than not, we can reach one.
Going to Trial
If the two sides do not reach a settlement agreement during pretrial proceedings, the case moves on to trial.
Our lawyers will present your case and evidence to the jury. They will decide the defendant’s liability and how much—if any—to award you, the plaintiff.
Let Us Handle the Timeline for Your Truck Accident
If you experienced a truck accident and suffered an injury due to another party’s negligence, we are here to help you get the compensation you deserve.
Call the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine today for a free consultation.
