Relatively speaking, collisions involving trucks happen as frequently on Nevada highways and roadways as anywhere else in the country. Injury cases arising out of truck accidents must be handled differently than the ordinary auto accident case. Trucking companies and their insurance defense lawyers have “rapid response teams” that rush to truck accident scenes, conduct their own investigations, and generally attempt “damage control” at the scene to the extent they can. This damage control done on behalf of the trucking company is not always done ethically or impartially, but more with an eye towards limiting or avoiding liability, all at a time when advocates for any injured parties (including truck drivers themselves) are absent, incapacitated, or dead.
Unlike an ordinary auto accident case, a plaintiff begins their truck accident injury case with the deck stacked against him or her, and must therefore play “catch up” in order to compete with the immense resources directed against them at the outset. If White & Wetherall gets called promptly after a truck collision case (occurring anywhere in Nevada), we have the ability to dispatch a “rapid response” team of our own, to insure evidence is obtained and preserved that might otherwise be inadvertently degraded, lost, or concealed on purpose. Of course, we are only able to mobilize this type of response if a friend or loved one contacts us ASAP after such an accident. Of course, that’s not always possible. Fortunately, even if weeks or months go by before we are contacted, there are still mechanisms and litigation techniques at our disposal to prevent the loss of valuable evidence.
Nevada law enforcement typically does a pretty good job of taking measurements and preserving evidence at truck accident scenes, but their investigation is not always as thorough as is required in an injury case. The moral of this message is, if at all possible, involve competent attorneys as quickly as possible after an accident involving a truck.
This past weekend, I was in Atlanta attending the Advanced Trial Advocacy College for litigating truck collision cases. I’m a member of the American Association for Justice’s Interstate Trucking Litigation Group, and routinely attend these specialized education seminars to update and improve my skill set. This Advocacy College was particularly intensive, and reinforced what I already knew about the handling of truck collision cases - regular auto accident attorneys shouldn’t be “dabbling” in truck collision cases.
Why do I say this? I mean no disrespect. There’s a number of reasons. First, the standards to which commercial vehicles are held are a matter of federal law, namely, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act (FMCSA), and most regular auto attorneys have little or no familiarity with these standards. Second, accidents involving trucks typically result in catastrophic injuries (given the forces, weights and speeds involved), and require a higher degree of medical knowledge (about traumatic brain injury, severe back injury, and paralysis) than the run-of-the-mill auto accident case. Third, understanding issues pertaining to insurance, multi-party liability, accident reconstruction, truck characteristics, trucking culture, and behaviors of the trucking industry is absolutely critical in order to attain a full and fair recovery in a trucking case. Trucking companies and their insurance carriers do not pony up millions of dollars for catastrophic injuries (or death) lightly, or easily. They often fight you to the bitter end.
The attorney and firm you choose to represent you in an truck collision must have specialized knowledge, financial resources, and experience to handle these cases competently. Keep this in mind if you or a loved one suffer the misfortune of being in a collision involving a truck. This advice extends to the thousands of safe and courteous truckers out there who are also injured in collisions or loading accidents, despite their best efforts to keep our highways safe. Most truck drivers are good people, but a lot of them work for reckless companies who put profits over safety.
