Detroit Truck Accident Lawyer

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Detroit Truck Accident Attorney

Even when drivers take the proper precautions, accidents can happen, which can be shocking and even life-changing. Truck accidents can be severe, resulting in serious injuries and lasting impacts. If you have fallen victim to a truck accident in the Detroit area, a dedicated Detroit truck accident lawyer from Wigod & Falzon can help you get the compensation you are entitled to.

The legal team at Wigod & Falzon is aware of the emotional, financial, and physical toll that a truck accident can have on victims and their loved ones. Therefore, we are devoted to fighting for our clients, helping them optimize each step of the claims process, and serving as sound negotiators and fierce advocates on their behalf.

A Detroit truck accident lawyer from our firm can add your case to our list of successful outcomes by using a compassionate and customized legal strategy to secure your just compensation.

Why Should I Hire a Detroit Truck Accident Lawyer From Wigod & Falzon?

Hiring a truck accident lawyer from our firm to represent your case can produce several benefits. We can help ensure that you have the financial compensation you need after your accident to cover the expenses associated with it, such as medical bills and lost wages. A talented attorney from Wigod & Falzon can calculate the adequate compensation amount to cover not only past and current expenses but also future costs, such as at-home care services and long-term physical rehabilitation.

The legal team at Wigod & Falzon is solely dedicated to supporting clients with personal injury cases. Therefore, we have collective decades of experience supporting truck accident victims in Detroit and the surrounding areas. We have a strong record of helping clients win optimal outcomes. We do this, in part, by easing the complexity of the associated legal and bureaucratic processes while keeping clients informed about case updates and upcoming deadlines.

How a Detroit Truck Accident Lawyer Can Help My Case

If you have suffered truck accident injuries in Detroit, then you are likely feeling defeated and unsure about what to do next. Due to the sheer size of trucks and the force they can enact upon impact, the resulting injuries tend to be more severe for truck crashes than other crashes that do not involve these vehicles. In fact, truck accidents are more likely to be fatal.

Therefore, it’s important to work with lawyers who know what they’re doing and can get you the compensation you need. A knowledgeable lawyer from our firm can help you with the following:

  • Compassion and Understanding: A truck accident is one of the most devastating events that can occur in a person’s life. Having an individual who can create a safe and compassionate space for you to explain what happened, including the details of the accident and your subsequent losses, can be cathartic for victims. Our legal team can use your case description as the foundation of your legal argument, working to present the truth of what happened.
  • Investigating the Accident: Based on your accounts, our legal team can investigate how the crash occurred and who the main liable parties were. We can work with experts, such as crash analysts, safety analysts, truck driver trainers, engineers, and mechanics, to determine how the accident was caused.
  • Collecting Evidence: As part of the accident investigation, our firm can work to collect evidence that supports your story and demonstrates the liability of the other parties. We can help collect photos and videos of the crash scene, show electronic data recorder information from the black box of the truck, phone, and messaging records, the BAC results from the truck driver, and the truck driver’s criminal and/or traffic records.
  • Negotiating Settlements: Our legal team can bring forward your strong, evidence-based case to negotiate a comprehensive settlement. This is often done with aninsurance provider. We can make sure that your settlement covers all your key needs, including lost wages and medical expenses.
  • Pursuing Legal Action: If a truck accident attorney from our team cannot reach a reasonable settlement with the involved parties outside of court, then we do not hesitate to pursue a trial to get the compensation you deserve. While Michigan is a no-fault state, you can file a claim against the negligent driver if the damages exceed your policy limits.
  • Preserving Evidence: We can ensure that all evidence is preserved and included, even filing legal motions to get certain evidence from the trucking company if they refuse to comply and the evidence is critical to the case.
  • Navigating Trials: A trial and its associated legal processes can be complex and overwhelming. Therefore, it is advised to work with an experienced lawyer who can guide you through it, notifying you of upcoming deadlines and key events, such as court hearings and trial preparations.
  • Bold Representation: A truck accident lawyer from our team can work to represent you fiercely in the courtroom, providing and bringing forward key evidence to back your case. We can optimally present eyewitnesses, expert testimony, and other concrete evidence to support our strong legal arguments. Through this process, we can work to convince the jury or judge of your case.
  • Facilitating Appeals: If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your trial, we can help you pursue further options to get the compensation you are entitled to. For example, if there are grounds to believe that your trial was conducted unfairly, we can help you file an appeal to possibly redo the trial completely.

The personal injury team at Wigod & Falzon is committed to making sure that clients are not taken advantage of by insurance companies. From the beginning of your claims process through its end, we can work hard to support your case, providing you with clear explanations of the process and integrating your feedback into our legal strategy.

By working with a dedicated and caring Detroit personal injury lawyer from Wigod & Falzon, you can optimize your chances of getting a strong compensation package that truly covers your accident damages.

What to Do After a Detroit Truck Accident

Getting into a commercial truck accident can be devastating, especially because you can never see them coming. When you least expect it, your life can be changed in seconds, resulting in temporary or even permanent disability and serious property damages. To protect yourself in the aftermath of an accident, it’s important to be aware of the general steps to take, which include the following:

  • Ensuring Safety: If possible, make sure you get to a safe place directly after the accident. Get out of the way of oncoming traffic or moving objects that could seriously endanger you. Ensure you are far removed from fires or destroyed objects that could potentially catch fire or explode.
  • Checking for Life-Threatening Injuries: Make sure that you do not have a life-threatening injury and that no one around you has an injury that requires immediate attention. Life-threatening injuries include those involving a severe impact to the head or excessive bleeding.
  • Calling Law Enforcement: Call 911 and alert them that the accident has happened. You will need to inform them of the location of the accident and whether there are any severe injuries or other medical issues that need attention.
  • Sharing Contact Information: It is critical to get the name of the truck driver who hit you, their trucking company, and their insurance information. You will need to get the contact information of the driver and their trucking company as well. If there were witnesses, it’s important to take their contact information so that they can testify on your behalf later by explaining what happened during the accident.
  • Collecting Information on the Truck and Its Driver: Get the license plate number of the truck as well as the driver’s license number of the truck driver. Take pictures of the truck, and jot down any noticeable features of the vehicle.
  • Working With Law Enforcement: After arriving on the scene, police will ask you for information about what happened during the accident. If a person is injured or there is a certain amount of damage, they will need to file a report. Ask for the officer’s name, the case number, and a copy of the police report for your records.
  • Collecting Evidence: Take pictures and videos of the crash scene, including detailed evidence of the resulting damages from the crash. Note the time, place, and location of the crash, the parties involved, and key details that you remember from before, during, and after the crash.
  • Seeing a Medical Professional: Even if you don’t believe that you have suffered injuries after your truck accident, it is critical to see a medical professional. They can make sure that you do not have any underlying conditions that do not yet have symptoms. They can also help monitor your condition to ensure that nothing develops.

By proactively collecting copies of records that show damages to physical property as well as medical damages, you can ensure that you have the foundation for an insurance claim or a strong personal injury case. It’s critical to note that you should not discuss what happened during the accident with the truck driver, the trucking company, or anyone at the site, as this could implicate certain liability on your behalf.

What Damages Can I Recover Froma Detroit Truck Accident?

There are a variety of damages that you can suffer because of a truck accident, such as financial losses, physical trauma, and emotional distress. An experienced and knowledgeable attorney from Wigod & Falzon can help you work to get the compensation you need to cover the associated damages from your truck accident.

In Michigan, you can be compensated for both economic damages and non-economic damages in a personal injury claim after a truck accident. However, you must meet the liability threshold to claim non-economic damages. Those responsible can only be held liable for non-economic damages if the plaintiff suffered permanent serious disfigurement, death, or severe impairment of their bodily functions.

To recover economic damages to your vehicle in a personal injury claim, you must have damages that are not covered by your insurance. You can only claim up to $3,000 in damages to your motor vehicle.

Economic damages include those that can be directly measured in terms of financial losses. They also have receipts as evidence, such as medical bills or vehicle repair estimates. Non-economic damages, including damages such as pain and suffering, are harder to value. If you meet the prerequisites, a compassionate attorney from our firm can help you get compensation for the following:

  • Lost Wages and Benefits: If you are temporarily out of work due to your truck accident injuries and can’t work as a result, you may be able to get compensation for associated lost wages and benefits.
  • Mental Suffering: Truck accident victims commonly have emotional or mental challenges after a truck accident due to the trauma of the experience. An attorney from our firm can help you get compensation for the associated damages and costs, such as therapy and mental anguish.
  • Medical Costs: There are a variety of medical expenses that are associated with truck accident injuries, such as prescription medications, surgery fees, medical visits, transportation to and from medical visits, diagnostic tests, hospital bills, medical devices, physical therapy, and more. A dedicated lawyer from Wigod & Falzon can help you get the coverage you need for such expenses.
  • Scarring or Disfigurement: If you are facing permanent scarring or the disfigurement of your body, you may be entitled to compensation for such non-economic damages in the state of Michigan.
  • Care Services: After suffering a truck accident, you will likely need at-home care services if your injuries are severe. A truck accident settlement can cover the costs associated with general care and household services, such as cooking, cleaning, and driving.
  • Modification of Facilities: If your truck accident injuries resulted in a permanent or temporary disability that makes it difficult to use your home and vehicle as you did before, then you will likely need to get modifications, such as ramps or walk-in showers. Such modifications can be expensive, but they can be covered in a truck accident settlement.

An experienced and knowledgeable lawyer from Wigod & Falzon can evaluate the economic and non-economic damages associated with your case and come up with a comprehensive settlement goal that encompasses your losses. We have collective decades of experience in valuing non-economic losses such as pain and suffering and helping victims optimize their settlement outcomes. We are ready to fight for you to get the compensation you’re entitled to today.

Common Causes of Truck Accidents in Detroit

Truck accidents happen when we least expect them to, and they tend to result in severe injuries, with some even being fatal. Because large trucks can potentially be extremely dangerous, there are a myriad of rules and regulations regarding truck driving in Michigan and across the country. Even the most experienced semi-truck drivers may have difficulty avoiding a truck accident in Michigan, with the most common causes being:

  • Distracted Driving: The leading cause of motor vehicle crashes in Michigan and the United States is distracted driving, which can particularly be an issue for truck drivers. Any activity that keeps drivers from fully focusing on the road, such as eating, talking on the phone, changing the radio, or looking up directions, is a distraction. It is considered to be dangerous if a driver is engaged in distracting behavior while operating their vehicle.
  • Mechanical Breakdowns: Mechanical breakdowns or design flaws can result in truck accidents. Faulty brakes, overheated engines, and weak fasteners can lead to failures that cause fires, explosions, or other conditions that prevent drivers from being able to safely operate their vehicles.
  • Driving Times: To avoid crashes that result from truck drivers being on the road for too long without rest, the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has implemented federal safety regulations. However, despite such regulations, exhausted drivers who need rest can cause accidents due to the lower sense of alertness associated with fatigue.
  • Blind Spots: There are a greater number of blind spots on a large commercial vehicle than on a smaller vehicle, such as a car. If another vehicle is in a truck’s blind spot, and they are not aware of their presence on the road, they could hit them and cause an accident.
  • Drunk Driving: Drivers who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs are some of the main causes of truck crashes. Alcohol can reduce a person’s inhibitions, causing them to drive recklessly. It can also decrease their alertness, causing them to overlook other people on the road and trigger an accident.
  • Truck Cargo Problems: Cargo in a truck must be loaded adequately to avoid issues that could lead to a crash. For example, if a truck is not loaded properly or if it is overweight or unbalanced, this can result in spills, leaks, and other unfit circumstances for passenger vehicles. Drivers can avoid truck accidents by receiving proper training and taking the time to properly load their trucks.
  • Poor Conditions: Subpar weather conditions, such as dark skies and wet or icy roads, can cause drivers to crash easily. A loss of visibility may mean that truck drivers are not able to see the people on the road around them well, leading to unexpected crashes.

By working with a compassionate and experienced truck accident lawyer from Wigod & Falzon, you can be sure that your case is being handled by a professional.

We can identify the cause of your truck accident, communicate with your insurer, and work to collect evidence to prove the liability of the truck driver or another party, such as a government agency or truck parts manufacturing company, if you can file a personal injury claim. Together, we can hold the right people accountable and get you the compensation you are entitled to.

How Much Does a Detroit Truck Accident Lawyer Cost?

The cost of a Detroit truck accident lawyer will vary based on certain factors, including the:

  • Location of the law firm
  • Amount of experience the attorney has
  • Complexity of the case
  • Willingness of parties involved to collaborate
  • Extent of the damages
  • Strength of the associated evidence

It’s critical to work with a truck accident attorney who is upfront about their pricing and the costs that they charge for their services. If you suspect that an attorney is not adequately disclosing all the relevant financial details, you should consider working with another legal professional.

Truck accident lawyers may charge a lump sum before they start working on your case, or they may bill hourly. It is common for personal injury lawyers to charge a contingency fee, which is a percentage of your final settlement amount. The personal injury team at Wigod & Falzon works on a contingency fee, meaning that our team does not get compensated if you do not win your case. Therefore, you can rest assured that if we take on your case, we have full confidence in our ability to win it for you.

Can I Get Compensation for Pain and Suffering After My Detroit Truck Accident?

In the state of Michigan, truck accident victims are entitled to compensation for the pain and suffering that they endure because of the crash. However, they can only file a personal injury claim to recover these damages if they are seriously and permanently disfigured or if their bodily functions are severely impaired. Pain and suffering is also recoverable in wrongful death claims.

Unlike economic damages, pain and suffering is a form of non-economic damage that cannot be directly evaluated. However, an experienced and knowledgeable truck accident lawyer from Wigod & Falzon can evaluate your case and come up with a number that equates to your non-economic losses. From there, they can fight to get you the compensation you deserve.

Together, we can build a custom plan that reflects your ideal case outcomes and work to pursue adequate compensation for your case.

Start Working Toward Your Detroit Truck Accident Settlement Today

If you have fallen victim to a truck accident in Detroit, you do not have to bear the weight of the accident aftermath alone. A supportive and knowledgeable personal injury lawyer from Wigod & Falzon can provide a safe and compassionate space for you to voice your grief and explain what happened.

Our team can listen attentively to understand your legal needs, actively address your questions and concerns, and cultivate a strong custom strategy to help you get the compensation you are entitled to for your losses. Reach out to a member of our firm today to get started.

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