A truck accident can leave you with significant physical, financial, and emotional challenges. As you work to recover, you may face steep medical expenses, miss considerable time at work, and experience stress about paying your bills and moving forward with your life. If someone else caused the accident, you may be entitled to recover compensation for your injuries and losses. But managing the insurance claims process may feel like one more burdensome task to take on when you’re already spread so thin.
The team at Bayuk Pratt has over 50 years of combined experience helping individuals like you, who have been harmed by someone else’s carelessness, secure the compensation they deserve. We know what it takes to win injury claims because our founders used to be senior partners at top defense firms. Using inside knowledge of how insurers try to deny serious injury claims, we’ve recovered over $300 million for accident victims throughout Georgia. Let us put our knowledge and experience to work on your behalf.
Contact us today for a free case evaluation with a knowledgeable truck accident lawyer in Georgia. We look forward to discussing your legal options for obtaining compensation and justice after a truck accident injury.
Why You Should Hire a Georgia Truck Accident Attorney
Taking on large trucking companies and insurers can seem daunting. However, hiring a Georgia truck accident attorney from Bayuk Pratt can help you stand up for your rights and demand justice for the harm you’ve suffered. When you turn to us after getting hurt in a truck crash, our team will handle all the details of pursuing your legal claims so you can focus on healing. We’ll fight to secure the financial recovery you deserve by:
- Investigating the accident to secure all available evidence
- Reviewing records and evidence to determine which parties bear liability for the crash and your injuries
- Documenting the harm you’ve suffered and your ongoing and future expenses and losses
- Filing your claims and dealing with the trucking and insurance companies on your behalf
- Aggressively pursuing the financial compensation you need, whether through a negotiated settlement or by taking your case to trial to hold a liable truck driver or trucking company accountable
What to Do After a Truck Accident
Following a truck accident, specific actions can protect your rights and options for pursuing compensation for your injuries and losses. Steps you should take after getting hurt in a truck crash include:
- Report the accident to law enforcement and request copies of the police crash report
- Notify your car insurance company about the accident to request any coverage you may have in your policy, such as optional medical payments coverage
- Seek immediate medical attention to get checked for any injuries you may have suffered in the crash and receive necessary treatment
- Request copies of all records of your treatment and rehabilitation
- Keep all bills, invoices, and receipts to document your expenses
- Gather your pay stubs to calculate any lost earnings you sustain
- Don’t post anything on social media about your accident, as the insurers can use what you say against you
Finally, contact a Georgia truck accident lawyer from Bayuk Pratt as soon as possible to discuss your options for pursuing financial recovery from a negligent truck driver or trucking company.
How We Investigate Georgia Truck Accident Cases
At Bayuk Pratt, we recognize that determining the cause of a truck crash may require a thorough investigation of records and evidence. Our firm will evaluate your legal rights and prepare your truck accident case by using evidence such as:
- The truck driver’s hours-of-service logs
- The truck’s event data recorder (“black box”) logs
- The cargo manifest
- The truck’s maintenance and repair records
- Police accident reports
- Accident scene photos and videos
- Eyewitness statements
- Surveillance, traffic camera, or dashcam footage
- Post-accident vehicle inspections
- Accident reconstruction expert reports and testimony
Why Trucking Accidents Are More Complicated Than Other Motor Vehicle Crashes
Truck accident victims frequently find that pursuing compensation through a truck accident claim involves more complexity and challenges than other motor vehicle accidents. Some of the factors that can make trucking accident claims more complicated than other auto accident cases include:
- Truck Accident Cases Can Involve Complex Evidence – Determining the cause of a truck crash may require a careful review of documents and evidence, such as trucking company records, data logs, and accident reconstruction reports.
- Truck Crashes Can Injure Multiple Parties – Resolving a trucking accident claim can take longer when the crash injures multiple victims. That’s because the trucking company will have multiple claims to resolve simultaneously.
- Truck Accident Claims May Involve Multiple Liable Parties – When multiple parties bear liability for your injuries and losses, obtaining a settlement may become complicated if those parties fight to shift liability.
- Trucking Companies May Have Complex Corporate Structures or Insurance Coverage – Some trucking companies use complex webs of corporate affiliates or layered insurance policies, making it challenging to identify the correct party to sue or calculate the amount of available insurance coverage.
Compensation You Could Recover in a Georgia Truck Accident Claim
After suffering injuries and property damage in a truck crash, you may have the right to recover compensation for your financial and personal losses. Your truck accident compensation can provide you with financial relief for your:
- Medical expenses, including anticipated future costs
- Long-term care and rehabilitation costs
- Costs of household services, such as housekeeping and childcare
- Lost income, including loss of future earning capacity
- Physical and emotional pain and suffering
- Disfigurement and scarring
- Loss of quality and enjoyment of life
- Vehicle and personal property damage
Parties Who Could Be Held Liable for a Truck Wreck in Georgia
The trucking industry includes various individuals and businesses, each of which may play some role in causing a truck wreck. Examples of parties who may bear liability for the injuries and losses you’ve suffered due to a truck accident include:
- The truck driver
- The trucking company
- The truck’s owner (if different from the trucker or trucking company)
- The cargo company is responsible for loading the truck/trailer
- Third-party mechanics who service the truck
- The truck’s manufacturer or the manufacturer of a part used on the truck
Could You Recover Compensation if You’re Partly to Blame for a Trucking Accident?
Under Georgia law, you may have the right to recover compensation even if you share some blame for causing an accident with a commercial truck.
Georgia follows a modified version of the comparative negligence rule for accident cases. You can pursue a compensation claim after a truck crash if your share of fault for the accident is less than 50 percent. However, any fault you bear for the accident can reduce your financial recovery in a truck accident lawsuit in proportion to the percentage of fault the jury assigns you.
For this reason, you need experienced legal counsel to protect your right to maximum compensation when the trucking or insurance companies try to shift blame for the truck accident to you.
How Long Do You Have to File a Trucking Accident Lawsuit in Georgia?
The statute of limitations for injury claims in Georgia typically requires you to file a truck accident lawsuit within two years of a crash. If you file your lawsuit after the limitations period expires on your truck accident claim, you may miss the opportunity to seek financial compensation from the liable parties. Contact Bayuk Pratt as soon as possible after a semi-truck crash to prepare and pursue your legal claims so that you do not miss any crucial deadlines.
Common Types and Causes of Commercial Truck Accidents in Georgia
A commercial truck can get into various types of accidents or crashes. Our firm represents clients involved in truck accidents such as:
- Rear-end collisions
- Side-impact/T-bone collisions
- Sideswipe collisions
- Underride accidents
- Head-on collisions
- Jackknife accidents
- Rollover accidents
- Cargo accidents
- Fatal truck accidents
Many Georgia truck accidents occur due to careless or reckless behavior by a truck driver or trucking company. Common causes of big rig accidents include:
- Speeding or driving too fast for conditions
- Tailgating or following too closely
- Turning or changing lanes without signaling or checking mirrors and blind spots
- Unsafe turns or lane changes
- Disregarding traffic controls
- Failure to yield the right-of-way
- Distracted driving
- Drowsy or fatigued driving
- Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs
- Trucker inexperience or unfamiliarity with routes or local roads
- Improper braking
- Inadequate truck maintenance
- Unsafe cargo loads, including excessive or unbalanced weight or unsecured items that can shift during travel
Typical Injuries Resulting from a Truck Collision
Truck accidents tend to cause more severe injuries than standard passenger vehicle accidents because the greater weight of commercial trucks means more violent force in a crash. Common injuries that occur in truck collisions include:
- Severe lacerations and abrasions
- Dislocated joints
- Sprained, strained, or torn ligaments, tendons, or muscles
- Broken bones
- Whiplash injury
- Nerve damage
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Herniated spinal disc injury
- Internal injuries and bleeding
- Spinal cord injuries or paralysis
- Burns from post-crash fires
- Traumatic amputation or limb loss
Types of Compensation Available for Truck Accidents in Georgia
In a truck accident claim, you may recover compensation for financial and personal losses you incur due to injuries and property damage. Your financial recovery can include money for your:
- Medical treatment and rehabilitation expenses
- Costs of long-term disability care or replacement services, such as housekeeping or childcare
- Vehicle repair expenses or reimbursement for your car if totaled by the collision
- Lost income from missed work or reduced earnings in a part-time or light-duty position
- Lost future earning potential and employment benefits after becoming permanently disabled
- Pain and suffering
- Reduced quality of life due to physical disabilities or visible, permanent scarring or disfigurement
How the Georgia Comparative Negligence Laws Could Affect Your Case
In some cases, an injured truck accident victim may share responsibility for causing a crash with a commercial truck. For example, a driver might cut off an excessively speeding truck that rear-ends the driver’s vehicle. However, that injured person may still have the right to pursue financial compensation from an at-fault truck driver or trucking company.
Georgia follows a modified version of the comparative negligence rule for accident cases. Under Georgia’s comparative negligence laws, you can pursue a compensation claim after a truck accident you partly caused if your share of fault for the accident does not exceed 49 percent.
However, sharing fault for the truck accident may affect your financial recovery in a truck accident lawsuit. The comparative negligence rule requires a court to reduce your financial award in a lawsuit in proportion to the percentage of fault you bear for the truck accident. Because comparative negligence laws can affect your financial recovery, you need an experienced legal advocate from Bayuk Pratt who will fight to secure maximum compensation on your behalf.
