A truck accident can leave you or a loved one with catastrophic injuries. If that’s the case, you’re probably angry, frustrated, and confused. You’re looking for a way to find some accountability and recover compensation needed to pay for exorbitant medical expenses and recoup lost wages. You should also be compensated for the pain and suffering, mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life that you have suffered if your injuries were caused by a trucker’s negligence.
You may be able to recover these losses through a personal injury lawsuit filed against both the trucker and their employer. But given that your or your loved one’s damages are extensive, and the truck company is at risk of having to shell out a significant sum of money, you’re probably going to go up against some aggressive defense arguments. If you want to succeed on your claim, you’ll have to know how to effectively counter these arguments.
Common truck company defenses
There are a number of defenses that can be raised in these cases. Here are some of the most common:
- Comparative negligence: One of the first places that a truck company will turn is comparative fault. Here, they’ll analyze whether you contributed to the accident in any way and, if so, they’ll argue that your recovery should be reduced based on how much blame is placed at your feet. So, as you prepare your claim, you need to be prepared to play a little defense when it comes to addressing your actions at the time of your accident.
- Frolic and detour: The truck company might try to sidestep liability by arguing that the trucker is solely to blame for the wreck. Although an employer can be held liable for its employee’s actions, this isn’t the case if the employee was not performing job duties at the time of the accident or was otherwise engaged in some activity that didn’t benefit the employer. So, in the truck accident context, a truck company may argue that the trucker was off the clock or driving somewhere for their own personal purpose.
- Minimizing damages: Even if a truck company is found liable, they’re still going to fight you on your damages. They’ll argue against how much your future care is going to cost, how long it should take you to recover to the point that you can return to work, and how much your non-economic damages are worth. To counter these arguments, make sure that you’re following your doctor’s recommendations and keeping track of not only your accident-related expenses but also how your wreck has negatively impacted your day-to-day living.
Are you prepared to fight to protect your claim?
These are some broad arguments that are often raised in these kinds of cases. There may be other nuanced claims that a truck company will make, such as those that attack the reliability of your evidence or that rely on the trial rules to try to trip you up from a procedural perspective.
Therefore, you need to take a comprehensive approach when you’re building your personal injury case, making sure that you’ve addressed every aspect that may come into play in your case. Only then can you be confident that you’ve done everything you can to protect your claim, your interests and your right to compensation.
If you think that you could benefit from assistance in building your personal injury case, now is the time to consider reaching out to a legal team for the guidance that you need.