4 Tactics Trucking Companies Use To Avoid Paying Victims Of Truck Accidents
If driving near large trucks makes you uneasy, you are not alone. These massive vehicles can be intimidating and menacing. They reduce your visibility, have several blind spots, and they have the potential to sway in high winds. Additionally, there are many ways that crashes can happen that lead to devastating consequences. Whether it be a jackknife accident, a truck rolling over and crushing a car, or a car sliding underneath the trailer, the potential harm that a passenger of a smaller vehicle can suffer is quite substantial. Often, because of their large size and tremendous weight, the outcome of a collision with a large commercial truck is catastrophic if not deadly.
After a trucking accident, there is a good likelihood that you have suffered serious injuries that require medical attention and may keep you from being able to work for a while as you recover. It is best to speak with an attorney after one of these devastating crash events who understands the complicated nature of truck accident claims. You may be entitled to a significant financial settlement and ensuring that all of your damages are accounted for and you are compensated fairly, having an attorney on your side is helpful to meet these objectives. In Georgia, the Fulton County personal injury attorneys at Hawkins Spizman Trial Attorneys can assist you with a truck accident claim for the full amount of compensation you deserve.
What Do Trucking Companies Do to Minimize Payments to Victims?
Due to the severity of injuries and other damages that result from a truck accident, compensation that a trucking company or their insurance company may have to pay could be high. Since paying victims large settlements is not in the insurance company or trucking company’s best interest, it is common practice for these entities to find ways to reduce payments to victims or deny them completely.
Four common tactics that the trucking industry uses when trying to defend against a truck accident claim include:
- Deny that the truck driver, the company, or any other related party was negligent in their behavior, and insist that you were, and you were the party that caused the crash to happen.
- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has specific guidelines that must be followed by those employed in the trucking industry to improve safety on the roads, though these guidelines are often violated. If they are, a trucking company may try to hide, alter, or tamper with documents that would show violations occurred.
- Trucking companies often have highly paid, aggressive legal teams representing their interests. They will use their legal resources to bully victims and scare them away from filing a claim, to begin with.
- The insurance provider of the trucking company may quickly reach out to victims to offer a settlement hoping that the victim will easily agree and accept it, then the case could be closed. But these offers are almost always the lowest possible and do not cover the full costs of damages. If a victim signs-off on a settlement, they are not going to be able to go back to the insurance company and ask for more compensation when they realize they need it and their settlement was far lower than the cost of their damages.
Speak to an Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer Today
To have your truck accident case reviewed by a talented Atlanta personal injury lawyer please call Hawkins Spizman Trial Attorneys to schedule a free consultation at 770-685-6400.
Hawkins Spizman Trial Attorneys represent individuals in Georgia including Atlanta, Dunwoody, Alpharetta, Cobb County, Fulton County, Gwinnett County, Johns Creek, and Sandy Springs.
Source:
fmcsa.dot.gov/guidance
