Commercial vehicles are often much larger and heavier than other types of vehicles, especially if they are fully loaded with cargo. If you are involved in an accident with such a vehicle, you could suffer debilitating injuries that cost thousands of dollars to treat.
If you find yourself in this situation, you are not alone. Our firm can help you. A Dallas commercial vehicle accident lawyer from Domingo Garcia can help you file a lawsuit or insurance claim. You can seek the damages you need to get back on your feet after a serious injury.
How Do I Qualify for Commercial Vehicle Accident Damages?
We must prove that another party was the cause of your injuries to help you seek compensation. Our Dallas personal injury lawyer can prove that the following four points of negligence are true:
- Whoever caused your accident—a truck driver, a trucking company, or someone else—had a duty to do their jobs with diligence and caution.
- The at-fault party did not fulfill this duty. Maybe the truck driver did not stop at a red light, or the trucking company did not properly train the driver.
- The commercial vehicle accident occurred as a direct result of the at-fault party’s failure.
- You suffered damages as a direct result of the commercial vehicle accident that the at-fault party caused.
Many people suffer a combination of physical, psychological, and financial harm after a commercial vehicle accident. You can seek several different kinds of compensation. The damages we can help you recover include:
- Pain and suffering: Your injuries have caused you a lot of physical and emotional distress. We can assign a monetary value to your pain and suffering to help you receive compensation.
- Lost quality of life: Severe injuries can prevent you from doing things you love, taking care of yourself or your family, or functioning in everyday life.
- Disability: Commercial trucks often cause catastrophic accidents and disabling injuries.
- Medical expenses: Catastrophic injuries are often very expensive, requiring long-term care like multiple surgeries, physical therapy, or home care.
- Lost income: This includes the income your injuries prevented you from earning, as well as any job benefits you lost by not coming in to work.
- Loss of earning capacity: Some injuries keep you from ever returning to your old job, forcing you to retire or try to find another, possibly lower-paying, position.
- Mental anguish: Your accident injuries could cause mental suffering, such as anxiety or depression.
In general, if you can attribute a loss or injury to the accident and back up your claim with strong evidence, you can seek compensation from the liable party for that loss or injury. Our attorneys can help you determine whether you can recover compensation for your injuries.
We Can Help If You Lost a Loved One in a Commercial Vehicle Accident in Dallas
A report by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) shows that Dallas County saw a total of 4,125 commercial vehicle crashes in 2021. Of these, 38 resulted in at least one fatality.
We understand how devastating it is to lose someone so suddenly. Domingo Garcia can work with you to figure out how much you can collect in:
- Loss of financial support: If you depended on your loved one for financial support, we can help you recover the lost wages and support.
- Loss of companionship: This can compensate you for the loss of the love, affection, and guidance your loved one brought to you and your family.
- End-of-life expenses: Funeral and burial services can be expensive. If your loved one passed away from their accident injuries, you can recover these expenses.
While this money cannot bring your loved one back, it can give you the financial security to rebuild your life and honor their memory.
For a free legal consultation with a commercial vehicle accidents lawyer serving Dallas, call (214) 941-8300
We Can Help With Complicated Commercial Vehicle Cases in Dallas
It can be tricky to navigate the ins and outs of the law on your own. No matter how badly injured you are or how little you know about the law, you would be expected to:
- Meet all deadlines, such as those governing how much time you have to contact the trucking company about the accident
- Use the correct forms and formats to submit material
- Obey all courtroom rules, if your case goes to trial
- Deal directly with representatives from the liable party and the insurance companies
This is where a commercial vehicle accident lawyer from our firm can help. The attorneys at Domingo Garcia help Dallas accident survivors navigate the legal system and guide them away from errors that could jeopardize their cases.
We Collect All Available Evidence
Sometimes, when a client comes to see us, they have already collected certain useful pieces of information, like:
- Photos of the accident scene or their injuries
- The truck driver’s contact and insurance information
- Bills or receipts from medical treatment and other accident-related purchases
Such evidence can be very helpful to us as we build a case. If you don’t have any evidence, we can gather it for you. Do not hesitate to get in touch with us, even if you do not have any evidence to share. Our team can:
- Visit the place where the accident happened
- Request medical records, police reports, and evidence (e.g., truck inspection reports) the liable party or their insurance company has
- Track down witnesses and ask them to write down their recollections of the accident
- Hire experts to share their thoughts on how your accident likely happened, the long-term effects of your injuries, and more
We Confront the Insurance Company for You
Insurers are often reluctant to pay what an accident survivor asks for right away. They may try to delay or undervalue your case by:
- Offering a settlement that is too small and/or refusing to negotiate
- Trying to make you give a statement or sign an agreement before you talk to an attorney
- Claiming that you caused the accident yourself or that your injuries are milder than you say they are
You do not have to risk your case by speaking to them alone. Domingo Garcia can do all of the talking for you, both in private meetings and in the courtroom.
We Fight for What You Need
There are several ways we can pursue compensation for a client. One is by negotiating a fair settlement with the insurance company and drawing up a settlement agreement. Another is by taking the at-fault party to court and trying to persuade a jury to award damages.
How we can seek damages depends on your case’s specifics. Our firm can help you by:
- Reviewing all testimony and documentation related to your case
- Discussing our thoughts and suggestions with you
- Explaining your rights and options, and advising you on how to proceed
- Giving you plenty of time to ask questions about how commercial vehicle accident cases—and yours in particular—work
Once we settle on a course of action, we fight hard for the money you need and deserve. It does not matter to us if the liable party is an individual driver or a big trucking company: no one should get away with causing you harm.
We Keep You Informed
Our goal is to make the legal system more accessible by explaining each client’s rights and helping them decide how to exercise those rights. We will manage your entire legal case on your behalf so you have more time to:
- Go to doctor’s appointments and make sure your injuries receive proper care
- Spend time with your family
- Process the commercial vehicle accident
As part of our service, we update clients whenever there are new developments in their case. This ensures you do not spend energy worrying about what is happening. It also gives you more time to understand these developments and receive advice from us on how to make legal decisions (e.g., whether it is time to settle).
Dallas Commercial Vehicle Accident Lawyer Near Me (214) 941-8300
How Much Are Commercial Vehicle Accidents Worth?
Among other factors, the severity of your injuries can determine how much compensation you get. We once recovered $8.75 million for our client after an 18-wheeler truck accident.
It is important to realize that each client’s case is unique, and there is no way to guess or estimate how much you can receive without:
- Talking to you about your commercial vehicle accident
- Reviewing documentary evidence from you, the trucking company, and other parties
- Speaking with the involved parties, including the other driver
- Reviewing all laws that apply to your case
Once we have done these tasks, we can aim for a settlement that covers all your losses.
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How Much Do Commercial Vehicle Accident Lawyers Cost?
When you hire Domingo Garcia to take on your commercial vehicle accident case, you pay us nothing upfront. Our firm works on a contingency-fee basis. The fee your lawyer receives will be an agreed-upon percentage of your settlement.
This payment arrangement helps you avoid paying out-of-pocket for legal help. Additionally, you’ll pay us nothing until we win your case.
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What Is a Commercial Vehicle?
The term “commercial vehicle” has a very specific definition under federal law. 49 C.F.R. Section 390.5 states that a commercial vehicle is one someone drives “on a highway in interstate commerce to transport passengers or property.” It must also meet at least one of the following requirements:
- The vehicle must weigh 10,001 pounds or more.
- The vehicle must carry a certain number of passengers.
- The vehicle must carry hazardous materials.
By this definition, gas trucks, buses, tractor-trailers, and other such vehicles all count as commercial vehicles.
Commercial Vehicle Drivers Must Follow Strict Regulations
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is responsible for inspecting commercial vehicles for safety and enforcing federal safety regulations. These regulations dictate:
- Licensing standards for both the trucks and the drivers
- How long drivers can work before they must take a break or go off-duty
- What kind of parts, including safety equipment, each vehicle must have
- The frequency of required vehicle inspections
- Maintenance and repair schedules
- How and when vehicles can transport certain types of cargo, such as hazardous materials, household goods, passengers, or migrant workers
Failure to adhere to these or any other regulations could result in a catastrophic collision. Consider the following examples:
- A trucking company pressures its drivers to stay on the road for far longer than regulations allow. The driver becomes exhausted, falls asleep at the wheel, and drifts into oncoming traffic.
- The cargo loaders do not properly secure a truck’s cargo. The cargo comes loose on the highway, falling off the truck bed and hitting other vehicles.
- A truck’s headlights do not work properly, but the company’s mechanic applies only a “quick fix” rather than taking the truck off the road long enough to do real repairs. Unable to see properly, the driver hits another vehicle.
Commercial vehicle operators must obey FMCSA’s federal regulations, as well as state regulations outlined by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). Not doing so could lead to accidents and serious injuries—and make them liable if the accident survivors decide to hire a Dallas lawyer from our firm to pursue compensation for them.
Contact Us for Help Building Your Commercial Vehicle Accident Case
With 35 years of experience under our belts, Domingo Garcia has both the professionalism and the experience to assist you with your commercial vehicle accident case. Call us for a free case assessment today. A lawyer from our Dallas office can fight hard for your rights and the compensation you deserve.
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