Commercial Trucking Accident – Think You Can’t Afford a Lawyer After Being Injured in a Commercial Trucking Accident?
Think Again.
“You can’t afford an attorney.” “A lawyer will just take whatever money you win anyway.” “The process will be so much easier if you just settle out of court.”
Over and over, victims of commercial trucking accidents hear this refrain from representatives of the trucking company, well-meaning but uninformed family members, and even inexperienced lawyers. However, this advice is 100% wrong.
If you’ve been injured in a commercial trucking accident, you can afford a lawyer and absolutely should hire one who is experienced in representing trucking victims. As I’ll explain in this article, having the right representation can make the difference on the scale of millions in your lawsuit, and you won’t have to pay a dime up front to get the best lawyers on your case.
How Accident Attorneys Get Paid
You might be thinking, really, I don’t have the extra cash to pay for a lawyer, but accident attorneys don’t work that way. All lawyers in this field work on what’s called a contingency fee basis.
Under a contingency fee arrangement, the attorney doesn’t get any money unless you get money. You do not have to come up with a dime up front or pay as the case progresses. The attorney advances all the costs of litigation, and that includes hiring and paying the investigators, experts, and other professionals. Because your attorney pays all these people up front, you only are required to reimburse these costs if and after you win or get a settlement.
The great thing about the contingency fee arrangement is that it gives you the opportunity to hire the best attorneys out there, something you likely wouldn’t be able to afford if you were paying on an hourly basis.
But What About an Estate Attorney?
Sometimes in cases where there are no survivors, the trucking company will recommend an estate lawyer to the family, explaining that there is no real need to hire a personal injury lawyer at all. They will try to convince the family that it’s better to work with an estate lawyer to settle the estate, so they won’t incur large attorney fees.
This advice is just plain wrong, and the trucking companies know it. First of all, most estate lawyers know nothing about trucking, so they aren’t going to have any idea what the value of the case is or how to begin finding that out. Hiring an estate lawyer who is not a skilled truck wreck lawyer could end up being a million-dollar or even multimillion-dollar mistake.
Second, as I pointed out earlier, trucking accident lawyers will work on a contingency basis, and this is the case in wrongful death cases as well as cases where there are accident survivors, which means you don’t pay a cent unless and until there is a recovery in the case.
Thirdly, an experienced truck accident lawyer will be able to maximize your recovery. They are likely to get far more than an inexperienced attorney. The difference will more than pay for any increase in fees.
Choosing Your Attorney
So now that you know you need and can afford an experienced attorney, how do you find the right person to help you? While you need an attorney who narrows their practice to personal injury (or PI) matters, don’t rush into a decision about who to hire. Do your homework. There are plenty of good PI lawyers who, while well meaning, simply do not have the expertise to take on complicated truck accident cases.
The best place to start is with attorneys who are board certified in truck accident law from the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA), an attorney board certifying agency accredited by the American Bar Association. These lawyers have extensive experience with trucking accidents and will be able to accurately assess how much money you’re owed.
In addition, I would recommend looking at the attorney’s and the firm’s reviews to see what people are saying. Are they responsive? Polite? Choose someone who treats clients the way you want to be treated.
You Need and Deserve a Lawyer
If you have been injured in a commercial trucking accident, don’t let a trucking-company representative or ill-informed friend keep you from hiring a talented attorney—a skilled trucking-accident attorney who can win you the compensation you deserve. The trucking company only wants to protect their bottom line, not treat their accident victims fairly. To ensure you’re treated well, you need the right lawyer on your side.
Remember, you don’t pay your accident attorney anything unless you get paid by the trucking company first. A good lawyer is likely to win you much higher compensation than you’d get by settling with the company, so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by hiring professional representation.
Award-winning truck accident attorney, David W. Craig shares insights and reliable information gained from 30 years of representing people who have suffered harm in commercial truck accidents in his book: Semitruck Wreck: A Guide for Victims and Their Families. Nothing can replace what you lost in your accident, but with David’s guidance, you can make the best of a terrible situation. For more information about his book, we welcome you to visit: Semitruck Wreck.
David W. Craig is the managing partner at the law firm of Craig, Kelley & Faultless LLC. He is board certified in Truck Accident Law. David sits on the board of regents for the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys (ATAA) and has over 30 years of experience representing truck accident victims. David is a member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum and a proud recipient of the Thurgood Marshall “Fighting for Justice” Award. He was also named a top 10 trucking trial lawyer in Indiana by the National Trial Lawyers Association. To connect with David, please visit ckflaw.com.
