Fully loaded tractor-trailers can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, drastically outweighing standard passenger vehicles. These powerful 18-wheelers traverse American roads alongside cars and motorcycles day and night.
Although truck drivers have commercial drivers’ licenses (CDLs), large truck accidents are a leading cause of serious and fatal traffic crashes in the United States. The unique nature of truck accidents, including the substantial force of impact, often leaves innocent victims suffering from life-altering disabilities.
If you or a loved one was disabled in a large truck accident, contact a law firm with experience handling commercial vehicle collision cases. Unique federal safety and insurance regulations apply to semi-trucks, and claimants might recover substantial financial damages for permanent disabilities.
Defining Permanent Disability Under Federal Law
You do not have to suffer from a life-threatening injury to be considered permanently disabled after a truck accident. Even herniated discs might cause permanent disabilities.
Under federal law, disabilities are defined as mental or physical impairments that substantially limit one or more of the following major life activities:
- Sleeping
- Speaking
- Breathing
- Eating
- Walking
- Standing
- Lifting
- Bending
- Concentrating
- Hearing
- Seeing
- Reading
- Working
- Communicating
Not all disabilities are obvious. You might also have a disability if, for example, a tractor-trailer accident caused a miscarriage, and that miscarriage resulted in permanent damage to your reproductive system.
An experienced personal injury lawyer can determine whether a truck accident injury caused a permanent disability and fight to obtain the financial compensation needed to pay for your medical and rehabilitation services.
Disabling Injuries Commonly Sustained in Semi-Truck Accidents
The weight differential between 18-wheelers and smaller passenger vehicles often means that, even at low speeds, large truck crashes send a significant force through passengers’ bodies.
While airbags and seatbelts save lives, they might not protect you from all disabling injuries in a semi-truck accident.
Third-Degree Burns
A high-speed truck accident might damage the smaller vehicle’s gas tank and engine, resulting in a sudden car fire.
Car fires cause smoke inhalation damage and severe burns. Burn victims often require multiple surgeries and can suffer from significant nerve damage, causing them to lose feeling in their hands.
Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI)
The brain is the body’s most complex organ, so even concussions might result in permanent cognitive disabilities. Large truck accidents are one of the leading causes of serious and fatal brain injuries, especially if the force of impact snaps the passenger’s head forward and then backward.
Severe diffuse axonal injuries might result in comas or vegetative states, requiring lifetime medical care. Even patients who wake from comas often suffer from significant cognitive impairments impacting their ability to think and communicate.
A truck accident attorney might help families recover damages on behalf of a loved one suffering from a severe traumatic brain injury.
Spinal Cord Damage
Rear-end truck accidents can cause painful spinal cord injuries. Some passengers even suffer from broken necks and backs, resulting in paraplegia or quadriplegia.
Injuries to your central nervous system often result in permanent disabilities because they significantly impact your ability to walk, bend, lift, lie down, and sit for extended periods.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
It’s not uncommon for victims of large truck crashes to suffer from disabling mental health conditions, including PTSD. Symptoms of PTSD following tractor-trailer crashes include nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety, inability to drive, emotional numbness, and increased irritability.
Experienced truck accident lawyers might help victims suffering from disabling anxiety disorders recover damages to the same extent as those struggling with physical injuries.
Fractures and Amputations
If the front end of a smaller vehicle gets caught under the truck’s trailer, passengers may experience traumatic crushing fractures. Broken femurs often require extensive surgery, and many bones do not set correctly. Doctors may have to amputate immediately or if multiple surgeries fail. This can result in a permanent disability.
Even if you did not suffer from a catastrophic injury, it might still be considered disabling under federal and state law. Do not belittle your suffering if you are struggling with activities of daily living after a large truck accident. Discuss your right to obtain needed compensation with a personal injury lawyer.
Legal Violations Resulting in Tractor-Trailer Crashes
As transportation professionals, long-haul truck drivers can spend weeks on the road. They often suffer from driver fatigue due to poor sleeping conditions and may turn to drugs and alcohol.
As such, commercial vehicle operators are subject to special federal regulations designed to prevent them from driving while impaired.
You might demand damages from the truck driver and trucking company if the driver violated these legal regulations:
- 11-Hour Driving Limit: Truck drivers may only drive for 11 hours after spending 10 consecutive hours off duty.
- 14-Hour Driving Window: Drivers only have a 14-hour window to take necessary breaks and reach the maximum of 11 driving hours. If they exceed this timeframe, they must take another 10 hours off duty.
- 60/70 Hour Weekly Maximum: Truckers can only be on duty for a maximum of 60 hours in a 7-day week or 70 hours in an 8-day week. They must take at least 34 hours off after reaching this limit.
- 30-Minute Driving Breaks: Semi-truck operators must take at least a 30-minute break for every 8 hours driven.
- Drug and Alcohol Testing: Although no driver may operate a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, CDL holders and their employers must abide by certain federal drug testing regulations.
- Vehicle Inspections: Because heavy cargo puts a significant strain on tires and axles, 18-wheeler drivers are required to perform periodic tire checks and safety inspections. They must also weigh their vehicles to ensure they are not overloaded.
Working with a truck accident law firm that understands these regulations is critical, as drivers must keep detailed hours of service and safety logs. A truck accident attorney might immediately request the driver’s logbook to ensure it’s not altered after the accident.
If the accident occurred outside the designated driving window, legal counsel might demand compensation for negligence per se. Truck drivers might even work with victims disabled in truck accidents if employers forced drivers to work overtime. This is not uncommon when truck drivers face strict pickup and delivery deadlines.
Options for Recovering Compensation after Tractor-Trailer Accidents
If you were permanently disabled in a large truck crash, an experienced accident attorney can fight to obtain financial compensation from liable parties. This generally means filing an insurance claim with the commercial insurance policy covering the semi-truck.
Because truck accidents cause many disabling injuries, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requires large trucks to carry a minimum of $750,000 in liability coverage. Claimants might quickly exhaust this coverage if the accident permanently disabled them, so legal counsel might demand additional damages from the following sources.
Trucking Company
Employers are responsible for the negligent conduct of their employees, including truck drivers. If the semi-truck operator caused a devastating jackknife, rollover, undercarriage, or rear-end collision, your lawyer might demand damages directly from the trucking company.
Serious injury claims may settle with the company’s umbrella liability insurer. If this does not provide sufficient coverage, as commonly occurs when disabled claimants require life-long medical care, attorneys might demand the full value of the policy and seek additional compensation.
Negligent Drivers
Large trucks often cause serious chain-reaction crashes, especially when the trailer blocks multiple lanes of traffic. Multi-vehicle accidents triggered by 18-wheelers might also involve other negligent drivers, especially if you were rear-ended. Your personal injury attorney might demand damages for another liable driver’s auto insurance carrier.
Public Entities
If dangerous roadway designs, including failing to provide for runaway truck lanes or warning truck drivers about low overpasses, contributed to the accident, you might have a claim against the state.
An attorney can file an administrative claim with the state insurance fund and, if necessary, sue the liable public entity in court. These are complicated claims with strict deadlines, so you should always retain a legal professional with experience handling administrative claims as soon as possible.
Underinsured Motorist Insurance (UIM)
Some vehicle owners carry UIM coverage if the liable driver’s policy is not enough to cover their damages. Injuries resulting in permanent disabilities frequently exhaust all available insurance policies, permitting experienced accident lawyers to file a UIM claim on your behalf. However, you cannot settle with the liable insurance company for less than the full policy and obtain UIM benefits.
Speak with local counsel immediately if you receive a settlement offer but still need additional compensation.
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Benefits
When all available insurance options are exhausted, eligible claimants might need to file for SSDI benefits. Personal injury settlements do not generally impact SSDI payments, but you should always speak with a dedicated disability attorney before claiming SSDI.
Damages Available to Truck Accident Victims and Their Families
Permanent disabilities often require lifetime medical care and normally involve substantial lost income. When faced with a large personal injury claim, reputable law firms will work with medical, occupational, and economic experts to calculate the overall value of your case.
This includes accounting for past damages and anticipated expenses and losses. Doing so allows your truck accident lawyer to demand enough compensation now to cover you in the future.
Damages available if you suffered a disabling injury in a truck accident generally include compensation for:
- Surgeries
- Home nursing care
- Medical transportation
- Doctors’ bills
- Medications
- Medical equipment
- Home modifications
- Household help
- Physical therapy
- Lost income and workplace benefits
- Pain and suffering
- Lost enjoyment of life
Life-altering injuries cause claimants more than physical pain. They often result in the sudden loss of your ability to work and enjoy life with your children and spouse.
You may demand compensation for the emotional anguish caused by your injuries. Additionally, spouses and children might make loss of consortium claims for the loss of their loved one’s emotional and physical companionship.
Don’t leave money on the table if you suffered from a disabling injury in a tractor-trailer crash. Speak with an experienced catastrophic injury lawyer immediately to discuss your claims.
Filing Personal Injury Litigation in Semi-Truck Accident Cases
Because permanent disabilities often result in substantial damages, insurers might refuse to settle these high-value claims.
Adjusters may try to disclaim fault for the accident, especially in multi-vehicle collisions, or deny the truck driver was liable for the crash. Even with dedicated advocacy, sometimes adjusters refuse to make fair settlement offers.
Experienced litigators might sue the negligent parties in such cases. Although it takes longer to obtain damages through the court, it can also result in large jury verdicts in your favor. Your truck accident lawyer can determine when it’s time to file a lawsuit against a negligent trucking company.
Cost of Retaining a Personal Injury Attorney
Claimants suffering from permanent disabilities often cannot return to work. With increased medical expenses and decreased income, it’s almost impossible for them to pay an attorney to take on wealthy trucking companies.
Reputable truck accident lawyers understand this, so they offer their services without charging clients any upfront legal fees or out-of-pocket costs. Instead, most personal injury firms accept cases on a contingency fee basis. This means they only get paid if they recover compensation in your case. Their fee is typically a minor percentage of the overall settlement plus reimbursement for litigation expenses and costs.
Contingency fees allow claimants to obtain dedicated legal advocacy – from investigating the accident to arguing your case before a jury – regardless of your ability to pay.
Contact an Experienced Semi-Truck Accident Attorney Immediately
If a truck accident results in a permanent disability, you need a dedicated personal injury attorney on your side. Catastrophic injury cases often involve complex medical claims, which are further complicated if a commercial motor vehicle caused the accident.
Victims and their families should retain a law firm with experience litigating complicated truck accident cases involving disabling injuries.
It costs nothing to call a local personal injury attorney for a detailed case analysis if a large truck accident caused a permanent disability.