The emotions you’re left to contend with after a truck accident aren’t always pretty. It can be tempting to take your stress out on the person you believe to be liable for your losses. While the circumstances may tempt you to hold this single person accountable for an accident, there are other forces likely at play.
With this in mind, there are some circumstances in which you can sue someone personally after a truck accident. Don’t threaten legal action without first consulting an attorney, though. You may later have to take your complaint up against that individual’s company. Antagonizing the person you think is liable for your losses can also reduce your opportunities to recover damages.
When Can You Bring a Truck Accident Lawsuit Against Another Person?
Breaking Down Another Person’s Duty of Care
Finding Evidence to Support Your Assertion of Fault
When Can Trucking Companies Intercede on Their Employees’ Behalves?
What Is the Role of Qualified Immunity in Truck Accident Cases?
How Can You Take Legal Action Against Someone After a Truck Accident?
When Can You Bring a Truck Accident Lawsuit Against Another Person?
A truck driver can fill one of two roles while on the road. Full-time truck drivers often work for trucking agencies. This means that their agencies can represent them if they get into an accident. Independent truck drivers, however, must represent themselves if something goes amiss on the road.
If you want to bring a truck accident lawsuit against another person, you need to verify whether or not they’re an independent contractor. From there, you need to work with an attorney to determine if you can cite negligence as one of the leading forces behind your truck accident losses.
Breaking Down Another Person’s Duty of Care
After you’ve established a truck driver as an independent party, you need to indicate that said party violated your duty of care. This duty of care dictates that truck drivers, among other motorists, must take reasonable care to protect you from harm on the road.
If you can bring forward evidence indicating distraction or other irresponsible behavior behind the wheel, you’re in uck. Our team can assert a violated duty of care in your complaint and more effectively bring your case before a judge. Viable forms of evidence that can be found in a truck accident claim can include:
- Eyewitness testimony
- Expert witness statements
- Physical evidence of negligence
- Truck accident debris and/or skid marks
- Input from accident recreationists
- Video or photo footage of the collision
When Can Trucking Companies Intercede on Their Employees’ Behalves?
You can’t always sue someone personally after a truck accident. Trucking companies can prevent legal action taken against individual drivers when one of their full-time drivers faces accusations of negligence on the road. In these cases, accident victims must take their claims up against the whole of a trucking company.
Facing down an established corporation can be intimidating, particularly if you’re still recovering from your accident. Fortunately, you never have to take on a company’s legal team alone. Our attorneys can step in and ensure that you have every opportunity to pursue fair and comprehensive compensation.
What Is the Role of Qualified Immunity in Truck Accident Cases?
Trucks on the road today can belong to anyone. In some cases, garbage trucks and other industrial vehicles can even belong to the state or federal government. If you get into an accident with one of these vehicles, you still have a path to legal action. It may be more difficult to tread, however, than one taken up in a smaller case.
Government institutions and employees benefit from what’s known as qualified immunity. While qualified immunity is facing some opposition in Texas, many representatives are still immune from certain civil complaints. Even if the party who hit you can be held liable for your losses, the amount of time you have to file your case may be sharply reduced.
If you want to bring a truck accident suit up against a government institution, let us know. We can assess the circumstances that led to your accident and make sure you have the tools to act.
How Can You Take Legal Action Against Someone After a Truck Accident?
If you want to personally sue someone after a truck accident, you need to file a civil complaint. Civil truck accident complaints do not allow you to force criminal consequences onto the party responsible for your losses. Instead, these claims allow you to request compensation for the breadth of your losses.
Your claim should:
- Identify the truck driver you want to hold liable for your accident
- Provide evidence indicating that said truck driver was negligent at the wheel
- Provide an estimate of your truck accident-related losses
- Share physical evidence and/or testimony backing your request for compensation
Moreover, your truck accident needs to make it to a county clerk within Texas’s personal injury claim statute of limitations. Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §16.003 gives you two years to compose a suit targeting an allegedly-liable truck driver.
Once you’ve filed your claim, it’s up to a county clerk to determine whether or not it moves forward. Should your claim meet court approval, you can summon a truck driver to court or independent settlement negotiations. Our team can be present for either of these processes. We can help you make the most of your opportunities to fight for compensation.
Our Team Can Help You Act After a Truck Accident
It’s easier than you might think to get overwhelmed by your feelings in the wake of a truck accident. While you may want to take those feelings out on a single person, doing so may not be legally sound. Before you act, bring your concerns to our attorneys. A personal injury lawyer with Buzbee Law Firm can help you direct your legal ire.
We can work together to personally sue someone after a truck accident. You can contact us for a free case consultation today.
