Commercial trucks already pose a risk of accidents due to their size and length. However, overloaded or overweight trucks can be at a higher risk of an accident.
Overloaded or overweight truck accidents in Richland can include collisions, rollovers, and jackknifed trucks as a result of extra weight in the trailer. If you have suffered an injury from such an accident, the dedicated truck wreck attorneys at Telaré Law stand ready to assist in your claim for compensation.
Many truck accidents occur due to vehicles carrying too much weight. There are both state and federal regulations on the trucks’ weight capacities, depending on where the vehicle drives. Weigh station data can also show a truck’s weight. A lawyer familiar with the trucking industry and its regulations can help you determine if an overweight truck caused an accident in which you were injured.
An overloaded truck becomes even more dangerous in an accident, as potentially thousands of pounds of extra weight can cause more damage. As a result, a victim’s injuries can be even more severe than those they might get in a regular car wreck.
For example, a head injury can easily become a traumatic brain injury. The sudden impact that hurts your back could turn into nerve damage when involving a heavy truck. Organ damage, broken bones, superficial injuries, and damage to your vehicle or other property can all be far more serious when caused by a overloaded or overweight truck.
Consulting with an attorney in Richland soon after an accident is crucial. We can gather evidence of your injuries and of what caused the accident in order to help you bring your case.
To get compensation after an accident involving overweight or overloaded trucks, you may bring a lawsuit against the driver or company. But bringing a successful suit requires a few different steps, which a Richland attorney can guide you through.
You first need to file your suit within the statute of limitations, a legal time limit on filing lawsuits set by state law. For personal injury and property damage, Revised Code of Washington § 4.16.080 provides a three-year statute of limitations, after which you can no longer bring your claim. Although not too short a time, you should still file as soon as you can after an accident to preserve your right to compensation.
Then, you need to prove your case by showing that the truck driver or company was at fault by acting negligently. Negligence is the legal term for someone’s behavior endangering and hurting another person, even if there was no intent behind it.
Proving negligence requires proof of four elements: duty of care, a breach of that duty, causation of the injuries, and injuries counting as legal damages. You might need to show that the truck driver or company had a duty of care to you, that some action or inaction unreasonably breached that duty, and that the breach caused your injuries, which must fall into certain categories of damages such as:
One you prove your case, you will also need to consider if and how you might have partially caused your injuries. State law provides for allotting fault to anyone responsible, including the victim bringing a lawsuit. As laid out by RCW § 4.22.005, you could see your compensation award reduced in proportion to your own fault for your injuries, if any, but rest assured that you can still recover if at least one other person shares that fault.
Navigating these rules for your claim is where an attorney can prove invaluable. A lawyer with personal injury experience can help you find evidence to support your claim and to show that you did not contribute to your injuries, all in time to file.
Your health and well-being should come first after an accident, but you should not wait to think about your legal options. Fortunately, our attorneys at Telaré Law can help every step of the way.
Overloaded truck accidents in Richland can cause serious injuries and damage, and having an experienced lawyer on your side can make all the difference when bringing a lawsuit. Call our offices for a consultation to see what our professionals can do for you.