Brooklyn Truck Accident Lawyer

When truck accidents occur, the result of those accidents is often quite serious. When involved in such a serious and potentially life-threatening accident, you need to hire a Brooklyn truck accident lawyer to help you. The Cellino Law firm provides services to clients in the Brooklyn area, making sure they receive the legal support and assistance needed after experiencing such a serious and traumatic situation. Our injury firm in Brooklyn is ready to assist you with the process of finding out who is responsible for causing the accident while helping you receive compensation and justice for the accident.

An Overview of Truck Accidents

When a truck driver was acting negligently on the road, they are typically at fault for causing the accident to happen. Our truck accident lawyers at Cellino Law will figure out if it is best to seek compensation from the driver, the company, or any other third-parties who may have some responsibility in causing the accident that you were involved in. There are many ways to prove that negligence occurred. If you have an experienced and reputable attorney overseeing your case, you can rest assured knowing your attorney will work on proving the negligence of the truck driver and other third-parties, such as the company that owns the vehicle or the company that manufactures the truck.

While you can file a lawsuit against the truck driver for their negligence and the actions that led to your truck-related accident, it is also possible to move forward with filing a lawsuit against the company itself. The company is supposed to make sure their employees are following all the rules and driving safely on the road. They are responsible for their employees because they have hired them to operate the trucks and handle certain responsibilities. When their employees fail to uphold a certain standard and end up causing accidents to occur, the business can be held responsible just like the driver of the truck.

The trucking companies will usually have insurance for these types of situations that occur. It is their insurance companies that would likely end up paying out money in the event of an accident. As your attorneys, we will work on going over the fine details of your accident, along with figuring out who should be included in the lawsuit where you are seeking compensation for injuries sustained in a truck accident.

What Is the Difference Between A Regular Car Accident And One With A Truck?

While both car crashes and truck crashes can cause serious damage, massive injuries, and even cause people to lose their lives, the aftermath of truck accidents is often much worse. So, why exactly are truck-related crashes often more severe? It is usually due to the size of these vehicles. Trucks are much larger than the average vehicles and can cause much more damage on the road while potentially involving multiple motorists in a collision that leads to serious injuries.

What most people do not realize is that trucks that are full of cargo can weigh up to 80,000 pounds or more. It all depends on the size of the truck and the types of items that are placed inside of it before it heads out on the road. Even when a truck is empty, it might still weigh up to 10,000 pounds or more, which is still a lot of weight to have on the road.

Truck accident cases become more complicated because they often involve large businesses that have their legal teams. The legal teams that represent these trucking businesses may be able to perform their investigations while attempting to prove that the company itself was not negligent at all. It becomes frustrating for the victims involved in these accidents when they do not have legal support from a professional Brooklyn car accident attorney who has experience handling accidents with tractor-trailers.

Some different rules and regulations must be followed. Truck drivers do need to keep a record of when they are on the road and when they are resting. If they do not do this, it could be due to them breaking the rules. For example, a truck driver might not be taking his or her mandatory rest because that driver wants to arrive at the destination at a faster pace. However, this can cause an accident to occur because the driver might feel incredibly tired and fall asleep on the road.

What are Common Causes of Truck Accidents in New York?

By hiring our legal team here at Cellino Law, you are in good hands. We want to consult with you to hear about the accident and how it all happened. We will go over important information with you, work on collecting evidence, and obtain essential records that we can use to your advantage to get you the compensation you deserve. We will request to receive the black box from the truck to receive data that relates to this accident. If there is a video system installed on the dashboard, we will work on obtaining footage from that system because we would like to see how things played out.

Another step that we take involves interviewing those who currently work for the trucking company. We want to find out if some shady things are going on within the business that could put the lives of truck drivers and motorists at risk. Sometimes, the accident is caused by the truck driver because they were pushed to continue working for hours on end without a break, thus resulting in impaired driving that increases the risk of serious accidents happening on the road.

Some accidents are a lot more complicated than others, making it more of a challenge to prove who was in the wrong and who was not. While it may be more challenging, this does not intimidate us at all. We understand that there will be challenges and obstacles that we need to face, but we are fully prepared to handle them. We will call on forensic specialists and expert witnesses who can provide more detailed insight and even recreate a model of the accident scene to prove what happened.

Determining the Cause of the Accident

An accident involving a truck can happen for many reasons. One of the first things we must do for our clients is to determine how the accident initially happened. The following factors are some of the most common causes of truck-related accidents on the road.

Negligence by the truck driver

Many of the accidents involving truck drivers are caused by drivers who were negligent in some way. They may have been negligent because they were tired and falling asleep while behind the wheel. However, that is not the only cause of distractions. Some drivers are texting while operating trucks, talking on the phone, or even attempting to eat and drink when they should be focused on what is going on in front of them. The negligence can lead to such serious accidents that lead to catastrophic injuries. These are some of the following ways that drivers are often negligent and can cause an accident:

Driving Too Quickly

If a truck driver is operating the vehicle at a much faster pace, they are increasing their risk of getting into an accident. All truck drivers should follow the speed limit. Failure to follow the speed limit could cause an accident. Even if the driver tries to slow down fast to avoid colliding into another vehicle, it takes time for a large truck to come to a complete stop, which means the driver will still likely get into an accident with other motorists.

Distractions

As previously mentioned, truck drivers can become distracted. They might want to use their phones to send a message, go on an app to play a game, or answer the phone to talk to a loved one. However, these are all distractions that could impair a driver’s ability to drive as efficiently as possible. Drivers must be aware of their surroundings while focusing solely on the road instead of everything else around them.

Driver Fatigue

It is common for drivers to feel tired after spending several hours on the road. When this happens, drivers are encouraged to take breaks where they can rest and get some sleep if need be, especially if they are out on the road for days at a time. Failure to get enough rest could cause a driver to operate the vehicle while falling asleep at the wheel.

Driving Under the Influence

Unfortunately, some truck drivers are getting behind the wheel while they are under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. No one should be operating a vehicle while they are under the influence of any substances, but it is something that happens quite often and can quickly lead to serious accidents on the road.

Improper Cargo Storage

In some instances, a truck gets into an accident because of the cargo shifts due to improper storage on the truck. If it is not all packed correctly on the vehicle, the cargo can cause the truck to shift to one side, which ultimately leads to a rollover accident that can cause serious injuries to the truck driver and any other motorists who are on the road at the same time as the truck driver.

Falling Cargo

Unfortunately, if cargo is not properly secured to a truck, it can end up falling out. It is the reason you might hear about cargo spills that tend to happen on the highway. When this happens, it can obstruct the view of other drivers, and the cargo can get in their way, causing their vehicle to veer off to the other side of the road. It creates such a dangerous situation for drivers because they could end up in the wrong lane of traffic where they get into a serious t-bone accident with an additional vehicle due to the cargo spillage.

Truck Problems

While human error is the common cause of truck-related accidents, there are times when truck problems occur that cause the accident. Something may have been wrong with the truck due to manufacturer issues or a lack of maintenance on behalf of the trucking company. The brakes might stop working, a tire could pop, or something else could go wrong that ultimately causes the vehicle to stop working right on the road. Many of the trucks that have been in accidents caused by vehicle failures had issues that were not properly taken care of by the owners of those vehicles.

Conditions on the Road

Different conditions can increase the chances of getting into a truck-related accident. If it is pouring outside, the road is going to be a bit slippery due to the excessive amount of water that is landing on it. There is a greater risk of getting into an accident when there are snow and ice on the ground, too. In addition to weather-related conditions, damaged roads, fallen trees, large potholes, and other issues can lead to truck accidents.

Work Zone Issues

If contractors need to take care of work on the road, they must prepare work zones to ensure the safety of themselves and all motorists. Different types of work zone equipment are used on the road to warn motorists of lane changes and more. You might see traffic cones, traffic barriers, and large traffic signs directing lanes of traffic from one area to the next for the safety of motorists and contractors.

If these work zones are not properly put together, truck drivers might not realize that they are driving in an area that contractors are currently working on. It can cause truck drivers to get in major accidents, and it can lead to the loss of life for contractors who are out on the road at the time of the accident.

You can pursue a personal injury lawsuit against the truck company, the person who was driving the truck at the time of the accident, and other third-parties, including those who put the cargo together on the truck and any companies that might have worked on the truck before it was driven on the road. When you work with Cellino Law, we will make sure you are filing your lawsuit against the right people who were involved in the chain of events that occurred on the day of the truck accident. We will help you identify who was in the wrong to make sure they are held accountable for their involvement.

Truck Accident Injuries

There is simply no comparison between the average car and the average truck. Because semi-trucks that are full of cargo can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, the damage that can occur from accidents involving these vehicles is astonishing and quite horrific. When someone is driving a car and they get into an accident with a truck driver, it is the driver of the car and their passengers who likely suffer the most. They are the ones who tend to end up with the most severe injuries from the collision.

We want you to know that Cellino Law has experience representing victims involved in truck-related accidents that have occurred and caused all kinds of injuries. Some of our past clients have experienced the following injuries from a truck accident:

• Concussion
• Traumatic brain injuries/brain bleeding
• Damage to the spinal cord
• Slipped discs and other types of damage to the back
• Lacerations
• Burns
• Blunt force trauma
• Broken Bones
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Paralyzation
• Amputation
• Loss of life

Those who sustain such serious injuries will often need to receive special care, which may include physical and occupational therapy. The way of life for these people is often changed for good in a way that they never would have expected. The injuries can take a toll on a victim’s mental health, causing them to feel depressed and even suicidal due to the situation they are in and all that they continue to go through while trying to recover.

Federal Regulations on Large Trucks

There are some regulations put in place for the use of trucks. Due to the dangers associated with trucks, those operating them must follow regulations set by the government. For example, the average truck should have a load of no more than 80,000 pounds of cargo. The driver of the truck must follow rules based on how many hours, days, and weeks they can work in a row. The owners of the vehicles must complete routine maintenance to ensure that their vehicles are in good condition before the drivers use them.

While these regulations and rules are put in place, not all companies are following them. And, when they do not follow the rules, they put people at risk. Many illegal practices are happening and often include:

• Having drivers operate the truck for longer than they should
• Putting way too much cargo inside of a single truck
• Not making sure drivers are taking their required breaks
• Making drivers continue to operate trucks during dangerous weather conditions
• Continuing to operate a vehicle while feeling incredibly tired

Steps You Need to Take After Being Involved in a Truck Accident

If you get into an accident with a truck driver, there are some steps you are going to need to take to get help with this situation.

Calling 911

Start by calling 911 to report the accident to emergency personnel. You need to let them know where you are and what happened. If you are in too much pain to do so because of your injuries, someone else around you should call 911 to report the accident and to make sure that everyone receives the medical care they need.

Seeking Medical Care

Accidents involving trucks can lead to some of the worst injuries. Because you can sustain some terrible injuries that may require immediate medical attention, you need to receive medical care. Even if you feel fine, you could have internal injuries that are serious enough to require help from medical professionals.

Documenting the Accident Scene

If you feel fine enough to do so, pull out your phone and get as many photos of the accident as you possibly can. You should take photos of your vehicle, the truck, other vehicles that might have been involved, and anything on the road that might be of importance at a later time when your lawyer is helping you with your lawsuit.

Exchanging Contact Information

When it is possible to do so, try to get the contact information from the truck driver. You should write their name down, along with their license plate number and any other important details, such as their insurance information.

Seeking Witness Information

If you happened to notice that other people saw what happened, ask them for their numbers to contact them later for witness statements. Pedestrians and other motorists might have witnessed the entire accident as it played out in front of them.

Notifying the insurance company

Always make the insurance company aware of the situation as soon as possible. While you might need to go to the hospital first, you should visit the insurance company immediately after that.

Contacting a Truck Accident Lawyer

Upon getting into an accident in the New York area, you should hire a truck accident attorney who can help you while providing plenty of legal support throughout this ordeal.

Why Hire A Brooklyn Truck Accident Lawyer?

Truck accidents are happening throughout the year. Many of these accidents leave victims with serious, life-altering injuries. Both physical and emotional trauma commonly occur as a direct result of these accidents. A truck accident lawyer in Brooklyn, NY, could help you obtain compensation for some of the following damages:

• Medical Expenses
• Physical Pain
• Emotional Suffering
• Cost of Future Treatment and Medical Care
• Loss of Income
• Loss of Personal Enjoyment Due to Disabilities

How much can I recover for injuries sustained from a truck accident?

The amount of money you can receive after filing a lawsuit against a truck driver, the company and any third-parties will depend on numerous factors. These factors include the severity of the truck accident, the injuries you sustained from the accident, and the number of negligent people involved.

When someone passes away or experiences catastrophic injuries, it is possible to receive punitive damages on top of all the other damages, which means the payout is often much higher.

Is The Truck Company Or Driver Responsible For An Accident Caused By Intoxicated Driving?

If a truck driver operates a vehicle while intoxicated, they are responsible for the accident. However, the company will also be responsible because they chose to hire that person and trusted that person to follow the rules.

The truck accident was caused by the malfunctioning of the truck itself and the driver lost control, and I was injured in the process. Who is responsible? the owner of the truck or driver?

Numerous parties may be responsible for a situation like this one. The driver is not always to blame for these types of accidents. Instead, the truck company, the manufacturer of the truck, or the company that performed maintenance on the truck may be at fault.

What if the insurance company of the trucking company is trying to contact me after the truck accident? What should I tell them when they contact me?

You should let the insurance company know that you have hired an attorney to assist you with the case. Avoid answering any questions until you are in the presence of your attorney. You do not want the insurance company to try to get one over on you and trick you out of getting as much compensation as you are entitled to receive.

Schedule A Free Case Review With A Brooklyn Truck Accident Lawyer

Cellino Law is a law firm known for its reputable Brooklyn personal injury lawyers who are determined and committed to the clients. We want our clients to receive compensation that is rightfully deserved after everything they have endured. We go through a detailed process to ensure that we have the most accurate information available when pursuing compensation from different defendants, including the truck driver and the company that the driver worked for when the accident happened. We will do what it takes to fight for your right to receive a desirable amount of compensation to cover assorted damages.