Whether you were driving a truck at the time of your crash or not, if you’ve recently been injured in a wreck involving a large commercial truck, it’s important to connect with an experienced truck accident lawyer Santa Monica, CA residents trust. As a pure comparative negligence state, California broadly protects the rights of injury victims – even those who were partially to blame for their injurious circumstances – to seek compensation from those who have caused or contributed to the cause(s) of their physical harm.

If you’re unsure of whether you have grounds upon which to file a truck accident lawsuit, know that the focused legal team at Cohen Injury Law Group has extensive experience representing the interests of truck accident victims and can clarify your rights and options in an objective way. We proudly offer no-risk consultations to all injury victims because we believe that everyone who has suffered harm due to another’s conduct deserves to understand their rights under the law.

Why Truck Accidents Tend to Be Catastrophic

The legal team at Cohen Injury Law Group handles all kinds of auto accident cases on a regular basis. Yet, the cases that our Santa Monica, CA truck accident lawyer team handles tend to be among the most consistently catastrophic. Large commercial trucks often weigh 20 to 30 times more than passenger cars do when those trucks are weighted down by freight. Additionally, they are much longer than passenger cars and have much larger blind spots as a result. They are also affected by far less precise turning radiuses than passenger cars are. Finally, due to their size, length, and weight, they do not stop nearly as quickly or as effectively as passenger cars do.

When large trucks crash, the combination of their size, length, and weight, tends to result in much greater property damage and much more severe injuries than passenger car accidents do. While not every truck accident is catastrophic, and not every car accident is insignificant, there is no question that there is a unique potential for serious injury to occur when truck operators hit the road.

Who Can File a Truck Accident Lawsuit?

Because trucks are so prone to catastrophic damage in the event of an accident, they are highly regulated. As a result, there are often questions about truck maintenance, driver behavior, and company policy when trucks crash. Both truck drivers and motorists struck by trucks are potentially in a strong position to file a personal injury lawsuit in the wake of suffering injury as a result of a truck accident. As long as someone else’s negligent, reckless, or intentionally harmful conduct directly caused an individual’s injuries, they are likely empowered to seek rightful compensation from that responsible party.

Who Can Be Held Liable for Accident-Related Harm?

There is a common misconception that all accidents involving large commercial trucks are caused by truck driver errors. Certainly, there are plenty of truck accident cases that are caused, at least in part, by the actions or inactions of truck operators. However, there are many reasons why trucks crash and trucks often crash for more than one reason at a time. As a result, it is important to refrain from assuming that a certain party can and should be held liable for accident-related harm until an attorney who is experienced in this area of law has had time to thoroughly evaluate the details surrounding the crash.

Depending upon what caused any particular crash, the following parties are the most likely to be in a position to be held liable for any harm caused by that crash:

•       A truck driver was involved in the accident
•       A motorist involved in the accident
•       The company that employs a truck driver involved in the accident
•       A manufacturer of auto or truck parts that may have been defective at the time of the accident
•       A government agency tasked with ensuring the safety of the road upon which the accident occurred

Essentially, any party that engaged in negligent, reckless, or intentionally harmful conduct and caused the victim’s injuries as a result of that conduct can likely be held legally and financially responsible for the harm caused by the accident in question.

Special Considerations: Work-Related Truck Accidents

If you incurred injuries while engaging in work-related travel, you may be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits as a result of your harm. If you are entitled to these benefits, you may still be in a position to file a personal injury lawsuit. The only restriction on filing a lawsuit is that if you are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits, you cannot directly sue your employer. The law affords employers who pay for their employees’ workers’ compensation benefits coverage and limited liability privileges. Essentially, if you’re eligible for these benefits, you can sue anyone but your employer if your legal situation meets the criteria outlined above.

Note that workers’ compensation benefits are extended to eligible employees on a no-fault basis. This means that unless you were drunk or high at the time of your accident, you had instigated a road rage incident immediately prior to your crash, or you were trying to get hurt in an effort to commit workers’ compensation insurance fraud, you should be entitled to these benefits by virtue of your injuries regardless of whether you were at fault for the accident or not. You are likely eligible for these benefits if you are classified as a full-time or part-time employee, or if you have been improperly classified as an independent contractor.

Seek Personalized Legal Guidance to Learn More

If you’ve been seriously injured as a result of an accident involving a large commercial truck, connect with the dedicated legal team at Cohen Injury Law Group to clarify your rights under the law and explore all avenues of compensation that may be relevant to your situation. Don’t assume that you have no grounds upon which to pursue justice and compensation until our Santa Monica, CA truck accident lawyer team has thoroughly assessed your situation. You may be entitled to far more compensation than you’d think. We look forward to speaking with you.