Scottsdale Truck Accident Lawyer

When it comes to motor vehicle accidents, size matters. Getting into an accident with a truck can be significantly more dangerous due to the vehicle’s size. The larger the truck, the higher your risk of serious injury or property damage. 

Because of the greater stakes involved in truck accident claims, having experienced truck accident attorneys on your side in settlement negotiations is a good idea.

If you live in Scottsdale, Arizona, and need legal help after a truck accident, our truck accident lawyers can help. Call us today at (480) 498-8998 to set up a free consultation about your truck accident claim.

How Serious Are Truck Accidents in Arizona?

About one in every five motor vehicle accidents in Arizona involves a truck of some kind. Every year, these truck accidents cause hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries that can lead to financially crippling medical bills and require ongoing medical care.

Collisions involving trucks include a variety of truck types. All of these trucks have the potential to cause devastating damage when they hit you.

What Causes Truck Crashes in Arizona?

One of the first steps in obtaining financial compensation for a truck accident in Arizona is determining what caused the crash. This is particularly important due to Arizona’s use of a tort-based, or fault-based, insurance system. This means that the driver who is responsible for the crash must pay for it. Reach out to a Scottsdale personal injury lawyer experienced with trucking accident claims before making any sort of payment to ensure that you are not the driver at fault.

Truck driver error in commercial truck accidents in Arizona can include:

• Careless truck drivers 
• Distracted driving
• Making an unsafe lane change
• Cell phone use behind the wheel
• Drowsy or fatigued drivers
• Aggressive truck drivers with road rage
• Operating under the influence of drugs or alcohol
• Speeding
• Following too closely
• Improper control of the large truck
• Poorly loaded or secured cargo
• Inadequate truck maintenance and part breakdowns

What Are Some Common Scottsdale Truck Accident Injuries?

Truck accidents can cause life-changing injuries. For example, commercial trucks are typically much larger and heavier than standard motor vehicles, and their kinetic energy in a crash can cause incredible damage.

A truck accident can cause you any of the following as an injury victim:

• Spinal cord injuries
• Traumatic brain injuries
• Neck or back injuries
• Fractures or broken bones
• Burns
• Death

If a truck accident results in one or more fatalities, then a Scottsdale wrongful death attorney can represent your family to recover compensation for lost wages, loss of companionship, the costs of medical expenses before death, and other legal damages.

Who Are the Responsible Parties in a Scottsdale Truck Accident?

Multiple parties can bear responsibility for a truck accident in Arizona. In some cases, a truck driver may be solely responsible for the crash. Other times, however, it may be that the trucking company or another motorist caused or influenced the collision.

A truck driver may be held responsible for a collision if that person commits driver errors like:

• Driving recklessly or speeding
• Failing to obey traffic laws
• Not giving the right of way
• Being intoxicated or impaired
• Driving distracted
• Knowingly operating a truck loaded in excess of its weight capacity

When a truck driver is found liable for an accident, the trucking company that employs the driver may also be held responsible for the driver’s actions. Arizona law refers to this as “vicarious liability.” For this to happen, the truck driver must have carried out work-related functions during the accident. The trucking company may also bear liability for its own negligence. 

If the trucker is self-employed, the driver may be found solely liable for any damages in the collision.

A trucking company may be directly liable for causing a crash if it:

• Did not undergo proper inspections or repairs on their commercial fleet
• Encouraged the driver to operate outside of the driver’s legal service hours
• Did not check a driver’s background

Arizona is a comparative negligence state, meaning that if you are partly responsible for a truck accident, your recovery in a lawsuit is reduced by your percentage of fault. For example, if your damages are $100,000 but you were 10% responsible for the accident, your award will be $90,000.

If you get into an accident with a truck, you can expect the trucking company to look for any reason to blame at least part of the accident on you. This is one reason why your insurance company, and any lawyer you hire for a personal injury claim will advise you to never admit fault in the immediate aftermath of a motor vehicle accident.

What are the Elements of a Truck Accident Claim?

The legal elements of a truck accident personal injury lawsuit in Arizona are the same as for personal injury claims. However, they can involve some additional areas of law that you might not otherwise encounter.

The base elements you will need to show what happened are:

• The truck driver owed you a legal duty of reasonable care and breached that duty. This duty can be as simple as operating the truck safely, keeping it properly maintained, or hiring a qualified driver.
• Because of the breach of the driver’s duty to you, you suffered any or all of a personal injury, property damages, or mental distress.

One additional element you may need to show in a truck accident claim is if the driver was working for an employer when the accident happened. Under Arizona law, the driver may be an agent of the company. That, in turn, can make the employer company liable for compensation if you win your lawsuit.

How Can a Scottsdale Truck Accident Lawyer Help You?

The truth is, if you get in a truck accident in Scottsdale, you may not always get what your claim is worth, but you will get what you negotiate.

Truck accident cases almost always settle short of a jury verdict. This means that your personal injury attorney needs to be an expert negotiator and an expert litigator.

When you make an insurance claim after a truck accident, you often deal with one or more insurance companies.

Specifically, your path to fair settlement will have to run the gauntlet of the insurance claims adjusters and sometimes insurance company lawyers. Their jobs are to zealously represent the interests of their side. One way they do this is to get you to settle your claim for the lowest amount possible.

These adjusters and attorneys are professionals, and if you engage with them, you will probably be at a serious disadvantage. This is where you can benefit from having a Scottsdale truck accident lawyer on your side.

A Stone Rose Law truck accident lawyer can help you with:

• Gathering evidence. The evidence used in a truck accident lawsuit may include truck driver logs, the truck’s black box or event data recorder, the trucking company’s compliance history, the driver’s employment record, truck inspection reports, and other unique types of evidence that do not exist in other Scottsdale car accident lawsuits.
• Negotiating with a powerful adversary. Trucking companies have a lot of resources, including aggressive legal teams and experience in combating injury claims. Without a truck accident attorney protecting you, a trucking company may take advantage of you as an injured accident victim.
• Recovering from severe injuries. The injuries involved in a trucking accident are often catastrophic or permanently damaging. A case involving a severe or permanent injury often requires legal representation to achieve fair financial compensation for your present and future medical treatment costs. 
• Understanding applicable federal laws. All trucking companies in the United States must obey certain federal laws, which are enforced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. These laws include hours-of-service restrictions, cargo-loading rules, requirements for truck driver training and truck maintenance standards. Violating these laws is a common cause of trucking accidents.

Our truck accident lawyers in Scottsdale allow you to properly navigate all of these elements during a truck accident injury claim. With assistance from the right attorney, you can improve your odds of achieving a positive case result without putting the burden of a lawsuit on your shoulders.

Compensation for Truck Accident Victims in Arizona

A successful truck accident case can repay you for any losses that you suffered in a commercial truck accident. The law may entitle you to financial recovery to pay for medical expenses, ongoing health care costs, vehicle repairs, legal fees and other costs associated with the lawsuit, lost wages, pain and suffering, and more.

The value of your settlement or judgment award will depend on many factors, including the gravity of your injuries. A local Scottsdale truck accident lawyer can accurately estimate your case’s worth before you accept an insurance settlement.

Speak With a Truck Accident Lawyer in Scottsdale Today

If you were recently injured in a semi-truck accident, the attorneys at Stone Rose Law have everything that you need to seek compensation for what you need to make yourself as whole as possible again.

We care about the Scottsdale truck accident victims we serve and will do everything we can to help you through this difficult time. Our lawyers know how to achieve the results you deserve. 

• Our goal is to provide legal representation at affordable rates. We want to diligently represent injury victims in need for fees they can afford.
• You will be heard and helped by an experienced truck accident attorney at every step of the legal process. You’ll never be left in the dark about the status of your case.
• Our case results demonstrate our determination to recover maximum financial compensation for our clients, even if that means going to trial against a trucking company.

Start by requesting a free case evaluation with our local Scottsdale truck accident attorneys. We can answer all of your legal questions and let you know if we believe your truck accident case has merit – all at no cost or obligation. Contact us by calling our law office at (480) 498-8998 to speak to an experienced attorney as soon as possible.