Truck accidents have always been an issue, especially in Lakeway because of its proximity to major highways. These types of accidents are much more serious than typical accidents due to the velocity and weight of trucks compared to other vehicles.
Truck accidents can cause serious injuries including head and spinal injuries, broken bones, internal bleeding, and internal trauma. They also cause emotional trauma and financial burdens associated with hospital stays due to their seriousness.
Victims injured in truck accidents in Lakeway, Texas can seek compensation for damages with the help of a truck accident lawyer or accident injury lawyers TX. These attorneys will assess the facts and evidence to ensure you get justice and are compensated adequately for your injuries and damages.
Establishing Liability in Truck Accidents
Texas law bases liability in truck accidents on negligence. Determining the party responsible for damages requires proving specific elements and identifying potential liable parties.
The elements a victim needs to prove include duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages.
All truck drivers and the companies that hire them are required by Texas law to operate all vehicles safely and to follow all traffic laws and federal regulations. Their duty of care includes maintaining their vehicles, not breaching hour-of-service limits, and ensuring all cargo is loaded and secured properly and safely.
A breach of duty occurs when a party (the driver or company) fails its legal responsibilities. For the driver, this can include speeding, distracted driving, and driving while fatigued. For the company, this includes neglecting vehicle maintenance and not training drivers properly.
Plaintiffs must prove that the breach directly caused the accident and the resulting injuries and damages. To prove this, a road accident lawyer will produce evidence including accident reports, eyewitness statements, GPS and driving records, maintenance records, and so on.
In many cases, your Lakeway truck accident attorney will work to find this evidence for you using their private investigators and specialists. This evidence and any other you collected following the accident should help you make a stronger case for compensation and even increase the final amount.
Lastly, the victim must demonstrate quantifiable losses resulting from the accident. Do note that defendants can also provide non-economic damages such as emotional distress or psychological hardships following the accident and subsequent rehabilitation, loss of income, or disability.
Who Can Share Liability in a Truck Accident?
Multiple parties can share liability in a truck accident case in Lakeway. Many cases find the truck driver and their employer(s) liable because they are often the parties directly involved. However, the court can also find a third-party maintenance provider, a manufacturer of a defective part, another driver, or even the plaintiff liable.
If a case has multiple liable parties, each is assigned a percentage of the fault based on the presented evidence.
Understanding Modified Comparative Fault in Texas
Texas law also incorporates a “modified comparative fault” rule, which impacts compensation eligibility and amounts. It is generally understood that more than one party may share responsibility for a truck accident.
Texas law uses a system called comparative fault so that the injured victim can recover damages even if they are partially at fault. However, this only happens if they are not more than 50% responsible for the accident.
If you are injured in a truck accident and share some blame in Texas, your compensation will be reduced by your percentage of fault. For example, the court might award you $200,000 in damages but find you 10% at fault. This means you will receive $180,000 as the final compensation.
However, you cannot recover compensation under Texas law if you are 51% or more at fault. It is, therefore, important that you work with the best accident injury lawyers to limit your responsibility as much as possible for the highest compensation.
Why You Should Hire a Truck Accident Attorney in Lakeway, Texas
You should hire a road accident lawyer as soon as possible following a trucking accident. The first reason for doing this is to get legal advice that helps you avoid liability. An attorney will tell you what to say if you have to say anything and guide you on avoiding utterances that would impact you and your claim negatively.
Second, your attorney will represent you in settlement negotiations or court if you file a lawsuit. This is especially important if you get a settlement offer that is far below what you deserve and that doesn’t adequately cover existing and future damages.
Hiring a truck accident lawyer following an accident in Texas has become even more important with the passing of Texas House Bill 19. The Governor signed this bill into law in 2021, and it has significantly changed the process of seeking compensation following accidents involving commercial vehicles, including trucks, in Texas.
House Bill 19 splits the compensation-seeking process into two parts. The first phase focuses on proving that the truck driver was negligent. After proving this, the victim can seek compensatory damages including medical bills and lost wages.
The second phase starts after the first one succeeds, and it allows plaintiffs to pursue punitive damages by proving that the truck company was grossly negligent. Issues that can rise to this level include poor maintenance records, systemic safety violations, retaining drivers with poor records or histories of accidents, and so on.
This Bill now requires that victims meet a stricter legal standard to hold companies liable. The bar for proving negligence has been raised to proving “conscious indifference” to safety, which is a much higher standard than ordinary negligence.
Additionally, it restricts negligence per se claims that used regulatory violations to prove negligence, instead requiring victims to rely on much broader evidence to establish fault and therefore be compensated for damages.
The Bill complicates the process of seeking compensation in Texas following a truck accident, but an experienced and competent truck accident lawyer Lakeway TX should be able to help you get the compensation you deserve
Truck accidents are devastating events that lead to serious injuries and fatalities in some cases. Victims can work with a personal injury accident attorney specializing in truck accidents to seek compensation. While doing so, it is important to understand how to establish liability, who can be held liable, and how different laws affect who can be held responsible.
If you have been injured in a truck accident, you can seek compensation with the help of our truck accident lawyers at Karns & Karns Personal Injury and Accident Attorneys. You can visit our offices or talk to our attorneys at 1-800-484-3946 (1-800-4THE-WIN). We have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for our clients and are always ready to help you get justice and compensation following a truck accident.
