Houston 18-Wheeler Accidents

Have you or a loved one been involved in an accident with an 18-wheeler? Our Houston attorneys can help.

As you are well aware, accidents involving 18-wheelers generally cause more severe damage and injures than conventional car accidents.

What you may not be aware of is that there are many important and distinct differences between 18-wheeler accidents and conventional car accidents. The biggest mistake that most accident victims make is trying to approach 18-wheeler accidents the same way as a car accident. In the legal world, the two are very different. Houston 18-wheeler accident attorney Michael Grossman offers the following information so that you can understand why this is often the case, and why the need for experienced legal representation in such personal injury or wrongful death cases as a result of an 18-wheeler accident is often imperative towards being awarded compensation fro your injury or loss.

Who’s to Blame for an 18-wheeler Accident?

One of the first questions that any person who has been hurt in a semi-truck wreck or has lost a loved one in a tractor-trailer collision has is, “Who did it?” It’s human nature to want to know what caused such devastation, and, furthermore, there must be at least one party at fault if legal action is to be sought. 18-wheeler accidents are often different from passenger-vehicle only wrecks from the very outset in that there are likely multiple negligent parties that can be held liable for the accident. The truck driver is a negligent party, but, in Texas, the truck driver’s employer can also be held liable for an accident. Due to the legal notion in Texas law known as “respondeat superior,” an employer is responsible for their employees’ negligent behavior that causes injury or death. The type of liability is known as vicarious liability since the employer itself was not at the scene of the accident when it occurred, but, if proven negligent, somehow contributed to the accident. This could have been done through negligent hiring practices, improper maintenance of their fleet, or poor training of their drivers. Since trucking companies in Texas must carry insurance, an insurance company will also then become involved in the process of seeking compensation for your pain or loss, which brings with it a whole host of challenges that will be discussed later.

Other liable parties could include a third-party cargo-loading company. If they can be proven to have been negligent in their duties and shifting cargo led to a rollover or other type of 18-wheeler accident, the cargo-loading company could be held partially liable for the accident. If defective brakes failed on a tractor-trailer, the manufacturer could be held liable. If the truck hit an overpass as a result of following a pre-planned route as planned by an outside route-planning company, that company could be held partially liable. If another vehicle struck a semi-truck, causing the semi-truck to hit your car, the other driver and their insurer could be held liable. If the driver of an 18-wheeler was drunk at the time of the accident, Texas dram shop law allows for the bar or restaurant that served that driver or allowed that driver to leave their premises to be held liable for their actions contributing to the drunk driving 18-wheeler accident.

18-wheeler accidents can have many possible liable parties, and an experienced Houston 18-wheeler accident attorney will make sure to conduct a thorough investigation into the accident so that all liable parties are found and held accountable for their negligent actions. Furthermore, an 18-wheeler accident lawyer must also be able to build unique cases against each individual defendant based on their role in the accident. Depending on the particular circumstances of the case and the number of defendants, this can prove to be quite challenging quite quickly. However, Michal Grossman of Grossman Law Offices has twenty years of experience in 18-wheeler accident cases. His knowledge and experience can assist you in seeking compensation for your injury or loss, even in the face of multiple defendants or a complex accident scene.

Why is Seeking Compensation in an 18-wheeler Accident Case Challenging?

Often, the number one reason seeking compensation in an 18-wheeler accident case is challenging is a result of the high-dollar value of the insurance policy likely at stake. 18-wheelers are usually covered by large commercial insurance policies which are generally about 50 times more valuable than that of a normal passenger car. As a result, the insurance company simply does not want to lose what could amount to millions of dollars. In order to ensure that the least amount of compensation is paid out, they will use their most experienced insurance adjusters and a team of rapid-response defense attorney to defend their interests, i.e. their bottom-line. Regardless of your actual need for compensation, they will, in all likelihood, work to see the claim denied or severely lessened.

Highly Experienced Insurance Adjusters

The insurance adjusters who are assigned to commercial vehicle policies are the most aggressive insurance adjusters in the business. Effectively, these adjusters have been in the industry for many years and were promoted to such a valuable position because of their proven abilities to ruthlessly deny claims just like yours. They will employ certain tactics in order to cast as much blame as possible on the victim for causing the accident. With every incremental amount of blame that can be put onto the victim’s shoulders, they are responsible for paying that much less in compensation. Their ultimate goal is to have the claim denied. Since Houston 18-wheeler accident attorney Michael Grossman has brought cases against every major insurer, we’re wise to their ways and will be able to assist you in dealing with their aggressive tactics.

Furthermore, 18-wheelers are subjected to federal regulations as set forth by the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration. This creates complex areas of overlap between federal and state laws. Insurance adjusters routinely take advantage of these technicalities and will chose to base their decisions on state law or federal law depending on which happens to be more convenient for them. These adjusters routinely deny claims or assign an unfair portion of blame based on technicalities that you have probably never even heard of.

Ready to Respond Defense Attorneys

Commercial insurance carriers who insure 18-wheelers have their own team of defense attorneys on standby at all times. As soon as an 18-wheeler accident occurs these attorneys are dispatched with the sole duty of building a case against you. Their job is to find any legal recourse they can use to protect their insurance policy. They will aggressively seek out anything they can use to place any amount of fault on you and will work with anything they can use in order to diminish the amount of your compensation package.

The insurance companies that represent 18-wheeler drivers usually have an in house team of investigators and accident recreation experts that are available around the clock. In many of the 18-wheeler cases our firm has worked, this team of investigators arrives at the scene before the victim even leaves in an ambulance. This is just another example of the extreme measures that the commercial insurance carrier takes to quickly build a case against you. Additionally, in normal car accidents, it is routine for the accident victim to exchange information with the defendant and both parties leave the scene (often by tow truck or ambulance). This is not the case in an 18-wheeler accident. In just about every Houston 18-wheeler accident injury case our firm has worked, the 18-wheeler driver was required to stay at the scene of the accident and await the team of investigators and defense attorneys.

By the time you have had a chance to read this information, the 18-wheeler’s insurance carrier has already assigned an aggressive adjuster, dispatched an investigative team, and has sent an attorney to the scene with the purpose of building a case against you. In so doing, they’re attempting to build a stout case against you so that they will not have to pay out a sizable sum. By enlisting the help of Houston 18-wheeler accident attorney and his experienced investigative team at Grossman Law Offices, you will also have a team on your side, working with your best interests in mind, that can also respond to a scene quickly, make a thorough investigation, and work to build a stout case for you.

Deceptive 18-wheeler Drivers

Most 18-wheeler drivers stake their entire livelihoods on their ability to earn an income driving a truck. As you can imagine, this creates a scenario where there is a lot of pressure on them to do anything they have to protect that livelihood including lying about the events of an accident. Insurance adjusters routinely deny claims based solely on the statement of their insured driver. When such incidents have occurred in past cases that we’ve had, we often have two weapons, so to speak, that we utilize to great effectiveness. Our lawyers are often capable of conducting tactful depositions in which the truck driver’s veracity can be found out. Furthermore, our investigative prowess often leads to physical evidence of witness testimony being found that refutes the truck driver’s lies. Additionally, since we’ve been involved in many 18-wheeler accident cases over the last 20 years, we’re familiar with the many ways in which some truck drivers may lie about their involvement in a semi wreck.

Unethical Practices of Some Self-Insured Trucking Companies

As another example of the types of unethical behavior that can occur in some 18-wheeler accidents, there are some trucking companies that choose to insure themselves by setting aside a portion of their income in the event that a claim is brought against them. However, since these types of trucking companies do not have to hold themselves to the same standards and regulations that normal insurers have to maintain, these types of companies often believe that they can get away with certain unethical behaviors. Such behaviors include evidence deletion or tampering, witness badgering, and plaintiff threatening. Our law offices have been called on numerous occasions by a victim who has been treated poorly by a self-insured trucking company. Once called, we intervene and pursue legal actions that will compel the negligent company to begin acting rightly so that the victim has a level playing field so that they can seek compensation for their injury or loss. By contacting Houston 18-wheeler accident attorney Michael Grossman before attempting to deal with such a trucking company, you can likely save yourself from suffering through a fruitless and frustrating experience.

Why Can’t I Just Pursue Legal Action on My Own?

In our twenty years of litigating 18-wheeler accident cases in Texas, we’ve never seen a self-represented plaintiff succeed in getting compensation for their injury or loss as a result of an 18-wheeler collision. The defense is often too stout, the defendants are often too many, and the laws are often too complex for a non-attorney to have any reasonable opportunity to see a personal injury or wrongful death claim result in a successful conclusion. Even if a self-represented plaintiff has a full understanding of the laws surrounding their case (which is quite unlikely), knowing how to apply those laws and how to follow proper procedure in court is just as important as knowing the law. Furthermore, a lawyer builds a reputation with every case they take, and that reputation can also prove to be a vital part of a successful personal injury or wrongful death case. With 20 years of litigating experience, our reputation often precedes us, even to the point where many insurers will offer our clients out-of-court settlements instead of opting to meet our attorneys at trial.

Have an Independent Investigation Performed As Soon as Possible

If you’ve been injured or have lost a loved one to an 18-wheeler accident, it’s important that you contact experienced legal help as soon as possible in the aftermath of the accident so that an independent investigation can be performed. When Grossman Law Offices takes an 18-wheeler accident case, we will visit the scene of the accident when necessary and perform a thorough investigation so that all liable parties can be brought to justice. Furthermore, we will be careful to conduct the investigation such that all evidence gathered will be permissible in a court of law. By contacting us quickly, you are often working towards your own best interests since strong cases can often be built in the immediate aftermath of a wreck. If you decide to wait for even a few days, evidence could go missing and witnesses might not be able to be found. Furthermore, trucking companies can even legally delete their trucks’ safety records after a certain time period has passed, so it’s often even more important in 18-wheeler accident cases that an investigation is done soon after the wreck has occurred.

Houston 18-wheeler Accident Attorney Michael Grossman Can Help You Today

It should be apparent that the level of aggression and legal opposition that you will face following your 18-wheeler accident will overshadow any dealings you may have ever had with an insurance company. Without the help of an experienced Houston attorney, you are at a clear disadvantage. With so much at stake you cannot afford to oppose a team of professional investigators, experienced adjusters, the eyewitness account of the truck driver, and a team of defense attorneys, without having an experienced and capable team of your own. Our Houston 18-wheeler accident attorneys would like to be that team. For 20 years, our aggressive and knowledgeable attorneys at Grossman Law Offices have made trucking companies and their commercial insurance carriers pay for the pain they have caused our clients. Contact us today for a free consultation at 1-855-392-0000 (toll free) to discuss the details of your 18-wheeler accident case and get answers to your pressing questions. We’re here to help you get through the legal process so that you can stand to receive compensation for your injury or loss as a result of an 18-wheeler accident.