Charleston Truck Accident Lawyer

Data published in June 2023 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that at least 8.7% of all fatal motor vehicle collisions that occurred in West Virginia in 2021 involved trucks. This equates to 42 crashes. That same federal government data shows that those truck-involved wrecks in West Virginia claimed at least seven truckers’ lives and left an astounding 45 passenger car occupants deceased that same year.

While the statistics above center around fatal truck accidents in West Virginia, those aren’t the only ones that occur. Countless individuals suffer varying types of injuries in truck crashes in Charleston and other parts of our state every year. Many of those leave victims with lasting impairments.

When these trucking collisions occur in Kanawha County, victims need to understand the rights and options West Virginia law affords them. A Charleston truck accident lawyer can provide crucial assistance, guiding victims through the complex process of securing compensation for their losses.

Whether you’ve sustained serious injuries in a tractor-trailer crash in Charleston yourself or a loved one suffered a preventable death in a collision involving a truck, you have rights. Call or email us at Forbes Law Offices for a free case evaluation with one of our experienced attorneys to discuss your legal options.

Types of Truck Crashes That Occur in the Mountain State

As you might imagine, there is a wide variety of truck crashes that can occur, including ones involving:

• Tractor-trailers
• UPS, FedEx, and Amazon delivery trucks
• Logging trucks
• Cement trucks or concrete mixers
• Garbage trucks
• Flatbed trucks
• Tow trucks

These trucks may cause various types of wrecks, such as jackknife or underride accidents, rollovers, or head-on or rear-end truck crashes. No matter the type of collision you were involved in, you’ll want to contact a trucking accident attorney in Charleston to discuss the next best steps you should take to protect your rights.

Common Causes of Charleston Trucking Accidents

Some negligent behaviors that our firm’s lawyers often find result in our clients getting hurt or dying in 18-wheeler collisions include:

• Reckless driving: This is a catchall category that includes virtually any type of dangerous operation of a vehicle, such as drowsy and distracted driving, speeding, and failing to yield to others’ right of way.
• A truck’s lack of roadworthiness: Truckers must perform pre-trip inspections before setting off on most legs of their trip, and owner-operators and fleet companies must regularly put their commercial vehicles out of order to perform regular maintenance or undergo repairs to ensure they continue to be safe to share the road with.
• Poor loading practices: Overloading trucks (beyond their weight capacity) or improperly securing loads inside the trailer are just two examples of issues that can easily cause trucks to overturn when making turns or applying their brakes to slow for changes in traffic patterns.
• Trucker inexperience: There’s been an uptick in older, more seasoned tractor-trailer operators retiring in recent years, which has left the rest of us sharing the road with younger, less experienced truckers who don’t intimately understand how to best navigate our roadways in a large, weighted vehicle.

While there are plenty of other factors that may result in a truck crash, the aforementioned are some of the more common examples of negligence that our attorneys see here as contributing to truck-involved crashes in West Virginia.

How To Prove Negligence in a Kanawha County Truck Crash Case

The extreme disparities in weight between passenger cars and large trucks often mean that accidents involving the two vehicles (or the larger one with a pedestrian, bicyclist, or motorcyclist) result in catastrophic injuries or deaths.

Fortunately, West Virginia is an “at-fault” or “tort” state, which means that injured motorists can hold operators, employers, manufacturers, or any other negligent parties liable for any damages sustained in accidents with big rigs.

However, in order to be eligible to recover compensation for your losses, you must be 49% or less at fault for the truck wreck per West Virginia’s modified comparative fault rule.

The responsibility to prove what caused a tractor-trailer crash or some other type of truck accident rests on your shoulders as the victim.

It’s only once you sort this out that you can determine who to hold liable for the breach of duty that led to the crash’s occurrence.

When you work with a Charleston truck accident lawyer like ours, you can expect us to review crash reports and any of the following that may be available:

• Pictures of the accident scene, vehicle damage, weather, traffic patterns, and injuries
• Witness statements
• Electronic log records
• Surveillance or dashcam footage
• Medical records
• Crash reconstructionist reports
• A trucker’s driving and health record, along with their personnel files
• Truck maintenance and repair reports

Identifying the factors that led to a collision can be challenging; however, a qualified Charleston truck accident attorney will have the necessary expertise to make such determinations.

Potential Defendants in Big Rig Crash Cases

Once you determine the cause of your collision involving an 18-wheeler, the next step you, independently or along with your attorney, will need to do is to identify who to pursue for potential damages. This may include the following persons or entities:

• The trucker: This generally is the best option in situations where driver error or their adherence to local, state, or federal regulations regarding the operation of these vehicles exists.
• Fleet companies: Negligent hiring practices, including failing to initially check a driver’s safety records, a trucking company’s insistence on pushing truckers beyond legal on-duty work periods, and their ignoring of maintenance on their trucks can all put them in a position where they are partially or wholly liable for a crash.
• Loading crews: Many times, trucking companies will enter into a contract to carry a distributor’s load, which involves the operator driving their cab to the depot, picking up the pre-packed trailer, and driving it to its final destination, leaving the driver with little knowledge of weight distribution or of how securely strapped it is until a crash occurs.
• Auto parts or vehicle manufacturers: It’s possible to sue companies that produce vehicle components or the automobile itself if you or your legal representative have reason to believe some aspect of it, such as its defective design or production, contributed to causing the crash.
• Government agencies: While perhaps less common, it’s not unheard of for crash victims to file suit against local governments and their associates hired to design or maintain roadways and warn of impending dangers.
• Mechanics: Whether an owner-operator takes their truck to a private mechanic or the company they work for has an external shop that services its entire fleet, it’s possible to hold any of these parties liable for a wreck caused because of missed or inappropriately repaired issues.

What To Look For in a Charleston Truck Accident Lawyer

A desire to stop pesky insurance adjuster calls or the realization that taking on a big player involved in the trucking industry may have you considering reaching out to an attorney for help with your case.

When you searched online for a Charleston truck accident attorney, you likely found that there’s no shortage of options to choose from. However, like anything, not all attorneys and firms are created equally.

Some attributes that you should look for when evaluating attorneys include:

• Lawyers with well-rounded legal careers, including experience as law school professors, in governmental service, and in private personal injury practice settings serving West Virginia residents
• Success in securing sizeable settlements on behalf of their clients
• Compassionate and attentive representation of trucking accident victims at every step of the legal process

A two-year statute of limitations applies to almost every tractor-trailer crash case that we take on, and preserving evidence as early on as possible in these types of cases (given the sheer number of miles big trucks travel annually) is particularly critical.

So, reach out to Forbes Law Office today to schedule a free consultation with a Charleston truck accident lawyer to discuss your potential case.

Know that if we decide to work with one another, there are no upfront attorney’s fees, and we only collect them if we secure a settlement for you.