You don’t have to resign yourself to paying a mountain of bills after a semi-truck accident. Cincinnati lawyers know how to work within the civil court system to help you secure the financial aid you need to recover.
Cooper Elliott’s truck accident lawyers in Cincinnati have helped Ohio families recover from accidents for nearly 30 years. When you work with our team, we treat you like family. Let’s get together and discuss how you can take advantage of the civil systems designed to help you recover.
Who’s Responsible for Your Semi-Truck Accident?
Cincinnati personal injury lawyers know that it’s not always easy to pinpoint who can take the blame for your semi-truck accident losses. That’s why we help you gather evidence of the misconduct that led to your collision. Evidence builds the foundation of your case by identifying the party responsible for your losses.
We can then break down the different ways contracts might influence the evidence that’s built up your case. That comprehensive analysis can help us hold some of the following parties accountable for your losses:
A Truck Driver
Most of today’s truck drivers work as independent contractors. This means that the truck driver responsible for your accident may view the corporations it works with as clients. It also means that the truck driver in question has to take responsibility for any accidents they cause. They must purchase their own insurance and face assertions of fault after severe accidents.
What does that mean for you? If you get into an accident with a semi-truck driver who works as an independent contractor, you can sue that individual for the damages you need to recover. You may not sue any of their clients.
A Trucking Agency or Corporation
Some truck drivers still work under the umbrella of an agency or in tandem with a corporation. If you get into an accident with a driver who works on an employee’s contract, your right to hold certain parties liable for your losses changes.
Employee contracts may give you the right to hold a driver’s employer or affiliated corporation responsible for your financial recovery.
Unfortunately, many corporations will try to avoid taking responsibility for their employees’ behaviors. An experienced semi-truck accident attorney in Cincinnati, OH, can intervene if an employer attempts to misrepresent an employee’s contract or otherwise engages in bad faith behaviors.
For a free legal consultation with a semi-truck accident lawyer serving Cincinnati, call 614-481-6000
How to Hold Someone Responsible for Your Semi-Truck Accident
If you can prove that negligence contributed to your semi-truck accident, you can file a personal injury claim against the party liable for your losses. This means that you need to gather enough evidence to prove the following:
- A liable party owed you a duty of care
- The liable party violated that duty of care
- You suffered economic losses as a result of that violation
According to Revised Code § 2305.10, you have two years to bring this information forward. Ohio’s civil courts will not consider semi-truck accident claims filed after their statute of limitations expires.
When to File an Insurance Claim After a Truck Accident
Most truck drivers are required to have insurance when they’re on the road and on the clock. You or a personal representative need to determine whether a driver has insurance through their agency, if applicable, or if they procured coverage independently.
Once you know what kind of coverage a driver has, you can file a claim requesting coverage for your economic losses. An insurance claim adjuster may then reach out to you to discuss the severity of your accident and your related losses.
Be careful when having a conversation with an insurance claims adjuster after a semi-truck accident. Insurance claims adjusters are not your friends. These parties will attempt to remove key evidence from the scene and minimize your right to recover.
Fortunately, you can ask a Cincinnati semi-truck accident attorney to sit in on these conversations. We can stop insurance claims adjusters from requesting inappropriate information or misusing the data you give them.
Cincinnati Semi-Truck Accident Lawyer Near Me 614-481-6000
How to Recover a Fair Settlement from a Liable Party
If you want to recover a fair settlement after a semi-truck accident, you can work with an experienced semi-truck accident attorney in Cincinnati to calculate the total value of the losses you sustained in your accident.
Filing an insurance claim only allows you to recover economic damages, including the cost of your medical bills. Some policies may limit your ability to recover the cost of property repairs. Comparatively, personal injury claims allow you to recover economic and non-economic losses, including the following:
- All aforementioned medical expenses, including emergency room care
- Lost wages
- Property damage and essential restoration efforts
- Property rentals, if applicable
- Emotional distress
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish
Should you take your case to trial, a judge may rule that you have the right to recover punitive damages. You may not include a request for punitive damages in your initial claim. However, should you believe that gross negligence contributed to your losses, you can emphasize the severity of your accident in your claim.
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You Can Schedule a Case Evaluation With Our Cincinnati Semi-Truck Accident Lawyers Today
You have the right to hold semi-truck drivers accountable for their roadway negligence, especially when that negligence causes dangerous accidents. You don’t have to do the legwork to build a personal injury case alone, either. You can work with a semi-truck accident attorney in Cincinnati to find the evidence you need to move a claim forward.
Cooper Elliott wants to make your recovery as straightforward as possible. We’ve won over $700 million in damages on behalf of clients in need, and we’re prepared to do the same for you. You can trust us to treat you like family as we fight for your right to compensation for your losses.
Are you ready to get back to your everyday life? Contact our team. Your first case evaluation with our contingency-based attorneys comes free of charge.
Call or text 614-481-6000 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
