If you or a family member had a serious car accident that involved a large commercial truck, you may already be familiar with the unfortunate politics of truck accident litigation. The trauma of a trucking accident does not end when the vehicles come to a halt, or when the injuries heal; the legal process can be traumatic in and of itself. In order to avoid paying millions to accident victims, trucking companies employ crafty strategies to outsmart St. Louis truck accident lawyers and their clients.
A significant percentage of truck accidents are somewhat to blame on mistakes made by non-commercial drivers in cars on the road. One chief tactic to avoid making large payouts involves highlighting those other faults while diminishing any errors their driver or the company may have made. Errors made by commercial truck drivers include driving too fast, not leaving ample distance for safe braking, turning too sharply or too rapidly, and driving recklessly. Truck drivers are reckless when they drive aggressively, are distracted by a conversation with a passenger or on the phone, when they lose focus because they are tired, when they fall asleep behind the wheel, and when they use illegal substances. Errors on the part of a trucking company can include forcing a driver to work over-hours, requiring a driver to talk on the phone or send a text message, failing to replace faulty parts, or failing to complete routine maintenance on schedule. Trucks can also be overloaded beyond federal safety limits, or truck loaders may not balance the load properly.
In the aftermath of an accident, a St. Louis truck accident lawyer will endeavor to collect evidence related to these possible causes. At the same time, the attorney for the company may actively seek to destroy evidence. The truck that was involved in the crash may be taken in for maintenance or repairs. Cell phone bills may be destroyed. Records of mandatory drug tests may vanish into thin air. Log books kept by drivers and loaders may also vanish. In short, incriminating evidence is likely to evaporate if the trucking company has any power over it.
These practices are looked down upon and in some cases are even illegal. But legal or not, if the evidence is destroyed there is little that can be done to reconstruct the causes of the accident. Without clear evidence to prove the company or driver was at fault, people injured in truck accidents may not collect as much or as easily for the damages and losses they have suffered. Thus, it’s vital that research be commenced immediately following an accident. This can be very challenging for a victim or their family; emotional trauma and grief take precedence. But once a St. Louis truck accident lawyer is involved in the case, this research will begin in order to recover any possible information about the causes of the accident. And you can trust that no stone will be left unturned; an attorney’s research process is aggressive and thorough. Attorneys on both side of the issue – those working for the company as well as those representing the people injured in passenger cars – have to be savvy, or they will easily be taken advantage of by the other party.
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