You may recover financial compensation if you have suffered an injury in a truck accident. However, getting paid for your injuries can be complicated, and you may need to go through the insurance company first because it will write you the check. Insurance companies impose an entire process on you before you can receive any money in your account.
Unfortunately, in order to be compensated, you must jump through their hoops unless you want to file a lawsuit against them directly in court.
Taking on the trucking company without the legal firepower offered by an attorney is exceedingly tricky. The best way to prepare for the truck accident claims process is to hire an experienced Minnetonka Truck Accident Attorney, and you should hire one right after the accident because many things happen immediately following the crash. Your attorney can guide you through the complex process of filing a truck accident claim.
Your Lawyer Must Build Your Claim Before You File It
Without prior legwork, you cannot simply file an insurance claim out of the blue. That is a surefire path to the insurance company denying your claim entirely and forcing you into court.
Your attorney needs to do an extensive amount of work in two areas before you can even file a claim:
- Your lawyer will perform a complete investigation of the truck accident and gather any evidence to prove that the truck driver (and trucking company) was to blame for the accident.
- Your attorney will work with the necessary expert witnesses to estimate the amount of your damages, so you know how much to seek in your claim.
Your Truck Accident Lawyer Gathers Evidence That Can Prove Your Claim
Regarding the actual accident, there are various sources of evidence that your attorney can use to prove who was to blame for the accident. Before receiving even a single dollar, you must demonstrate that the truck driver was negligent. You have the burden of proof to show negligence by a preponderance of the evidence.
Some evidence you can use to prove your case includes:
- Testimony from witnesses who saw the accident;
- Pictures of the scene of the accident;
- Dashcam or traffic camera footage;
- Testimony from an accident reconstruction expert who can recreate the crash
Your Lawyer Must Estimate Your Damages Before You File a Claim
Then, you will need to know how much to ask for in your claim. There is no such thing as a rounding error in a truck accident claim, even when the dollar figures are so high. Every dollar you get represents the actual harm you have suffered and will continue to endure.
Your attorney can work with the following experts to estimate the value of your damages:
- Medical experts will know how your injuries in the future will impact you.
- Vocational experts will learn whether you can continue to do your job and what your career path may have been.
- Life care planning experts will understand what care and help with daily activities you may require in the future.
- Economic experts will explain how inflation can affect the value of your claim in the future.
Only after your attorney has done this work can they file and submit your claim to the insurance company. The amount of time it takes to prepare a claim is one reason why you need to contact a truck accident lawyer early after your accident.
The Insurance Company Often Takes Time to Respond
After your lawyer submits the claim to the insurance company, informally or as a demand letter, you must wait for the insurance company to respond. Insurance companies may take time to respond, especially when your claim is worth a significant amount of money.
The insurance company wants it's personnel to review the claim, and it also wants to run time off the clock. Insurance companies want you to be desperate because they believe it may make you more willing to accept their offer.
Insurance companies will respond to your claim in one of three ways:
- They can deny your claim entirely, forcing you to file a personal injury lawsuit if you want a chance at financial compensation.
- They may accept liability and make you a settlement offer, even though the amount they offer is not close enough to fully compensate you.
- They may make an offer that reflects their belief that you are partially to blame for what happened, effectively reducing your compensation.
Insurance Claims Involve Extensive Negotiation
Even when the insurance company makes you a settlement offer, it is just the beginning of a negotiation process that may or may not lead to an agreement. Insurance companies know they will need to negotiate, so they use all the tactics at their disposal to improve their position at your expense. Any dollar they pay you is one less dollar that they have, so they try to minimize your payment.
You can expect to reject the initial settlement offer as preposterously low, which is what insurance companies fully expect when they make you the initial offer. They also want to see your hand and what you are willing to take. Insurance companies want to know how much room you may have to compromise because you have likely begun the negotiation process with a high figure.
You may need to go back and forth while you see if reaching an agreement with the insurance company is possible. At some point, you may withdraw from negotiations and file a lawsuit against the trucking company. Your lawyer can use the threat of litigation to pressure the insurance company to raise the offer.
You Can File a Lawsuit Instead of an Insurance Claim
Know that there is no legal requirement for you to go through the truck accident claims process. Resolving the matter with the insurance company informally is a decision you will make on your own, in consultation with your lawyer. Everything depends on the facts and circumstances of your situation. If you have a substantial claim and expect the insurance company to be difficult, you may opt to begin the legal process in court with a lawsuit.
Even if you file a lawsuit, you will still see the insurance company on the other side of the table. Insurance companies must defend their policyholder, whether through negotiating a settlement of your claim or providing an attorney to represent the trucking company in court. They are subject to the possibility of a bad faith lawsuit if their policyholder owes money after they did not settle the case.
Given the challenges of truck accident lawsuits, you may forgo the claims process and begin with a lawsuit.
First, you may need the protection that the lawsuit process provides you. The trucking company can fail to preserve or actively destroy evidence you may need to prove your case. If there is an active lawsuit, and the trucking company has not preserved proof, it may have to pay a high price and face sanctions and punitive damages.
You May Need to File a Lawsuit First
In addition, filing a lawsuit may benefit you and your family to begin the legal process sooner rather than later. If you have just filed a claim and cannot resolve the dispute, you will have used up valuable time to negotiate in vain.
The lawsuit process can take years from start to finish, between the discovery phase of the case and a potential appeal if the trucking company loses at trial. You should begin immediately and can always do the negotiations during the claims process while your case is pending in court and making its way through the legal system.
Your case can even strengthen when you have obtained valuable evidence through the discovery process that you did not have before, such as:
- The truck's event data recorder information, which describes how the driver operated the vehicle during the accident.
- The truck driver's employment and driving records may show the trucking company hired a dangerous operator or failed to terminate them when necessary.
- The truck's maintenance and inspection records may prove the trucking company put an unroadworthy vehicle on the road.
You can always file a lawsuit if you have not successfully settled a claim with the insurance company. If insurance companies have denied your claim or are dragging their feet, you can leave the claims process and take your case to court. Your attorney will assess the situation and advise you about what is in your own best interests.
How You Proceed Is a Matter of Strategy Unique to Your Case
Your attorney will advise you on how to proceed in your case. There is not necessarily a one-size-fits-all answer for how to begin the truck accident legal process. Much depends on the amount of your claim and the insurance company involved. The one certainty is that you can never trust the insurance company to do the right thing.
In addition, you should also hire an attorney who insurance companies have come to fear because they have developed a reputation for getting results. An experienced lawyer has made insurance companies pay up to their other clients who have suffered an injury.
You Need an Experienced Truck Accident Lawyer
Issues of strategy like this are one of the many reasons why you need an experienced truck accident attorney for your case, as only some lawyers can handle these large and complex cases with many variables. Your attorney will advise you where to begin, depending on their read of the facts of your case and the insurance company you are dealing with.
The time to hire your truck accident lawyer is right after the truck accident. You want to avoid much, if any, time to elapse without you having your legal rights protected. The longer you are on your own, the more the insurance and trucking companies can do to compromise your legal rights.
In addition, you can lose valuable evidence that may help prove your claim. If you wait too long to hire a lawyer, you may need to take your case to court to beat the statute of limitations, and you may not have enough time to negotiate a claim with the insurance company, even if you want to go down that route.
Do Not Let Financial Concerns Stop You From Seeking Legal Representation
A skilled truck accident attorney understands the ins and outs of the claims process and can navigate the legal system on your behalf. They will gather evidence, interview witnesses, negotiate with insurance companies, and fight for your rights to ensure you receive the compensation you deserve.
By hiring a Minnetonka Personal Injury attorney, you invest in someone who will advocate for your best interests and help you obtain a fair settlement.
Never worry about money when hiring a truck accident lawyer. You will pay no money upfront or pay any bills to secure the services of a lawyer or while your case is pending.
In fact, if you do not win your case, you do not owe the lawyer any money at all. If your lawyer gets paid, it is after you receive a settlement check or jury award.
The one major takeaway you need to know is that no one will deny you legal help just because you may not have money to pay a lawyer at the outset of your case.
Do not let money concerns deter you from hiring a truck accident attorney. The potential benefits of having legal representation far outweigh the costs because of the complex and overwhelming truck accident claims process.
A lawyer with experience in truck accident claims can navigate the complex process of these cases, level the playing field, and relieve you of the burdensome tasks associated with the claim. With their experience and guidance, you will have a better chance of obtaining the compensation you deserve and moving forward after this traumatic experience.
Steve Fields
Founder | CEO | Principal | Attorney
Steve Fields founded Fields Law in 2001 and quickly established a reputation with his Personal Injury clients for being a lawyer who truly cares. After more than 20 years, those clients continue to refer their friends and family whenever they have been injured or become disabled.
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