Michigan Semi Truck Accident Lawyer

Michigan Semi Truck Accident Attorney

Semi-trucks or tractor-trailers are some of the most essential vehicles on the road. These large vehicles are responsible for transporting billions of tons of goods and materials across the country, and the US supply chains are heavily reliant upon commercial trucking. However, these large vehicles are also capable of causing devastating accidents. If you recently experienced such an accident, it’s vital to consult a skilled Michigan semi truck accident lawyer at Wigod & Falzon in Southfield, MI, who can help you navigate the legal process and fight for your rights.

Understanding Semi-Truck Accidents

In the United States, semi-truck accidents are tragically common. This is where a skilled semi-truck accident lawyer in Michigan becomes crucial. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA):

• There are approximately 400,000 truck accidents in the US every year.
• Approximately 61% of all fatal crashes occurred in rural areas, with 27% occurring on interstate highways.
• Truck accidents account for over 6.5% of all crashes that occur in this country.
• An estimated 28% result in injuries, while another 11% are fatal.

Large vehicles like semi-trucks can be uncertain and cause major damage to cars because of their size and weight. Any large commercial truck is likely several times larger and many times heavier than the average passenger vehicle, so when they crash, they are easily capable of damaging many other smaller vehicles around them in a very short window of time.

Truck accidents often occur when drivers get distracted or do not adjust their speed to match road conditions. Other causes include defective vehicles, as well as drivers who are unqualified, poorly trained, or under the influence.

Because large trucks have more demanding maintenance requirements than standard vehicles and their drivers require special training, there are more risk factors that could potentially cause a serious truck accident than a standard passenger car accident.

Determining liability for your recent truck accident could be more challenging than you expect at first, which is another important reason you need to consult an experienced Southfield, MI, truck accident lawyer as quickly as possible.

The right attorney can review the details of how your truck accident happened, help determine all parties that may be liable for your damages, and explain how to navigate the auto insurance claim filing process in the state.

Wigod & Falzon has years of professional experience representing injured clients in a wide range of complex motor vehicle accident cases, including semi-truck accident cases. Our goal is to help our client understand their legal situation as clearly as possible and recover as much as they can for their damages. We explain the complexities of semi-truck accidents in personal injury cases. Learn how a semi-truck accident lawyer can help you get the compensation you deserve.

Determining Liability in Truck Accidents: The Driver or the Company?

• Truck accidents can be complicated, as the ads on trucks may not reveal who the actual owners of these vehicles are.

In other words, the driver of the truck typically doesn’t own the vehicle they drive. Larger companies that employ truck drivers should accept liability for their drivers’ negligence. A knowledgeable semi-truck accident lawyer in Michigan can help identify the liable parties in such complex situations, keeping in mind the Michigan Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Cases.

In addition, many truck drivers lease their trucks to large shipping companies, making the lessee liable for driver negligence. Additionally, another company sometimes owns the trailers that trucks pull.

This is why compared to car accidents, semi-truck accidents can be complicated to navigate.
However, a semi-truck accident lawyer can clearly guide you through this process. They can also help you recover the maximum compensation for injuries caused by a driver or company’s negligence.

Considering Interstate Laws and Regulations

• In addition to ownership issues, trucking companies and their drivers face constantly changing rules. State and federal regulators frequently create and amend these rules for delivering goods across the US, especially in Michigan.

Understanding these regulations is a key expertise of semi-truck accident lawyers in Michigan. Breaching these rules can subject the public to harm. Therefore, it is important to monitor truck drivers’ speed and limit their driving hours.

Violating these guidelines can be evidence of negligence on their part and even the fault of the company they drive for. Internal computer programs and GPS satellite tracking are now standard in the trucking industry.

Obtaining these records is vital in proving one’s case and something your personal injury lawyer should do immediately.

Ultimately, proving liability for a semi-truck accident could be crucial to your full recovery, but it may not be as easy as you initially expected. It is possible for liability to fall to more than one party, including the truck driver and their employer. An experienced Southfield, MI, truck accident lawyer can review the evidence of your case and help identify all liable parties bearing fault for your damages.

Recover With an Auto Insurance Claim

State law requires every driver to have their own no-fault auto insurance, and drivers have the choice to secure the level of insurance coverage they believe is appropriate for them as long as they meet the state’s minimum coverage requirements.

The state’s no-fault auto insurance also applies as residual liability coverage if you cause an accident. This means your insurance will pay for damages for bodily injury and property damage, but only to an extent.

Filing an auto insurance claim can be more challenging than you expect, and it is always possible to encounter unexpected complications in your interactions with an auto insurance company. They may attempt to offer a lowball settlement or deny your claim on a technicality, and some insurance companies even engage in bad-faith tactics to avoid paying out claims. Your Southfield, MI, truck accident attorney can help you file your claim and resolve any such issues.

If your case meets certain criteria, you may have the option of filing a personal injury suit against the at-fault driver. If you sustained any type of catastrophic injury that has caused permanent disability and/or disfigurement, or if your case involves an out-of-state driver who does not have auto insurance registered in the state, you could have grounds to pursue a personal injury claim that can potentially enhance your recovery significantly.

Filing Your Personal Injury Case in Southfield

If you plan to pursue a personal injury claim after your truck accident in Southfield, it is important to know how to build this claim, the statutory rules for filing it, and the damages you could potentially recover if you are successful. It is also important to understand how any fault you may share for the accident could be reflected in your case award under Michigan’s unique modified comparative fault rule.

Under this rule, it is possible for a plaintiff to share fault with a defendant and still have grounds to claim compensation. However, their recovery is reduced to reflect their shared fault. In Michigan, the plaintiff can still claim compensation if they are less than 50% at fault, but their fault percentage is taken from their case award as a penalty.

If they are over 50% at fault, they cannot recover compensation for non-economic damages, and their economic damages will be reduced by their fault percentage. This could dramatically reduce the plaintiff’s case award.

If you have any concerns about bearing partial liability for a recent truck accident, it is vital to consult an experienced attorney who can explain the legal implications of your shared fault in terms of your case award.

To succeed with a personal injury claim in Southfield, the plaintiff must accurately identify the party or parties responsible for causing their damages and then prove the true extent of those damages. The plaintiff will also need to establish causation between the defendant’s actions and their damages, meaning their damages must have been the direct result of the defendant’s negligence or misconduct and not from any other cause.

The plaintiff may have a grasp of their immediately recognizable economic losses, but accurate determination of long-term economic damages and assessing their non-economic damages will be very difficult without an attorney’s help. Your Southfield, MI, truck accident attorney can be an invaluable asset for accurately calculating the true potential value of your case.

Call a Semi-Truck Accident Lawyer Today

Our team of experienced semi-truck accident lawyers in Michigan can assist you in gathering the needed evidence. They’ll help you secure the compensation you deserve for your injuries or the loss of loved ones.

The team at Wigod & Falzon has successfully represented clients in personal injury claims and wrongful death claims throughout the Southfield, MI, area, and we are ready to put this experience to work in your impending truck accident case.

Call us today if you or a family member has been in a truck accident. Receive a free consultation with no commitment required. Remember, you pay us nothing until we recover compensation for you!

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At Wigod & Falzon, our attorneys have the knowledge, experience, and commitment so you feel confident in your pursuit of justice. We are here to support you every step of the way and will work tirelessly to get you the compensation you deserve so you can move on with your life.

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Let the personal injury attorneys of Wigod & Falzon fight for your rights. Reach out to us for a free, no-commitment consultation today. We’ll listen to your story, review the details of your claim, and help determine the optimal route to recovery.

We’ll explain the various legal services we can provide to assist with your case and provide an estimate of your case’s most likely timetable.

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