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Truck accidents are often complicated. To make a fair recovery, you must identify the right defendants and pursue legal action against them. If you fail to do so and instead file a lawsuit against the wrong defendants, then the defendants will ask the court to dismiss your case. The court will grant the defendant’s motion, and you won’t recover any damages.
However, if you are successful against the right defendants, then you may recover compensation for past and future medical costs, lost income, physical pain, emotional suffering, and other damages.
Potential Truck Accident Defendants
Before you file a case in court, it is essential to consider the role that various parties may have had in causing your truck accident, including a:
- Truck driver. Truck drivers, like other drivers, can be negligent. For example, a truck driver may drive while drowsy, drunk, or distracted.
- Trucking company. The trucking company may be responsible for the actions of its employee, the truck driver. Additionally, the trucking company could be liable for its own negligence. For example, if the trucking company was negligent in the hiring process, if the trucking company failed to provide reasonable training for the trucker, or if the trucking company’s own policies and procedures encouraged negligent driving, then the trucking company would be an appropriate defendant in a truck accident lawsuit.
- Truck owner. Truck owners are responsible for making sure that the trucks they put on the road are safe. If a truck owner fails to maintain a truck properly or fails to take a dangerous truck off the road, then the truck owner may have contributed to the truck accident.
- Truck maintenance worker. A truck maintenance worker may be negligent if he fails to maintain or repair a truck safely. If this negligence caused the truck accident, then the truck maintenance worker, or his employer, may be named as a defendant in a truck accident lawsuit.
- Cargo loaders. Unbalanced cargo can cause a truck accident. If unbalanced cargo contributed to your crash injuries, then the cargo loaders or their employer may be named as defendants in your truck crash case.
More than one of these parties may have caused your truck crash and may be named as defendants in your Illinois truck accident lawsuit.
How to Identify the Right Defendant(s) in Your Truck Accident Case
It is often impossible to know every potential defendant at the scene of a truck crash. To identify which of the possible defendants described above caused your accident, you will need evidence.
Some of the necessary evidence may come from the accident scene, but other evidence will be under the control of the trucking company. Our experienced Illinois truck accident lawyers will conduct a thorough investigation and identify all of the defendants. Through interrogatories, depositions, and requests for the production of documents we will review all potential causes of your truck crash so that we can name the right defendants and seek justice on your behalf.
Your time to file an Illinois truck accident case is limited by law. While you have two years to file a personal injury lawsuit after a truck wreck, you mustn’t wait until the statute of limitations is about to expire to take action. Instead, you can contact an experienced truck accident lawyer as soon as you are hurt. Your lawyer can begin gathering evidence immediately while the evidence is still available and before it is lost or destroyed.
For more tips on how to pursue a successful Illinois truck accident case, please contact Hupy and Abraham today by phone or through this website. For more than 50 years, our firm has been helping personal injury victims throughout the Midwest pursue legal damages. We have recovered more than $1 billion on behalf of our clients, and we will fight for your full and fair recovery. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation in our Bloomington, Gurnee, or Rockford office or at your home or hospital room.
