Hingham, MA Truck Accident Lawyer
Victims rarely walk away from truck accidents unscathed, often suffering traumatic injuries that warrant compensatory damages.
Right after a truck accident caused by a negligent driver, call 911 and report the incident to law enforcement. This will lead to a police report regarding the crash, which can contain important information about involved parties, witnesses, and potential causes. After speaking with the police, go to the hospital. Delaying this step could make it harder to prove causation in your lawsuit, which you must file within three years in Massachusetts. After filing, our lawyers may negotiate a settlement with the opposing side. As we evaluate settlements, we will see if they cover all hospital expenses and lost wages due to the crash, as well as your non-economic damages. If not, we can keep negotiating and leveraging evidence over the defendant or take your case to court in Hingham.
For a free case review from our truck accident lawyers, call the Law Office of John J. Sheehan now at (617) 925-6407.
Who to Call, Where to Go, and What to Do After a Truck Accident in Hingham, MA
After an accident, victims should take crucial steps to strengthen their future compensation claims, including documenting the collision with the police and going straight to the hospital. You will have three years to file your claim. While this may seem like plenty of time, delaying your case is typically inadvisable, as it would delay your recovery.
Who You Should Call
Victims should report any car accident to the police, especially those involving trucks or other large vehicles. These accidents may be particularly devastating, requiring police involvement to process scenes and ensure proper documentation.
While on the phone with a 911 operator, tell them if you are hurt and need paramedic attention. Tell officers the extent of your injuries when they arrive, as they might indicate their severity in the crash report. Do not reject care from paramedics; let them take you to the hospital in an ambulance if necessary.
Where You Should Go
Always go from an accident location to the hospital. Waiting any amount of time to confirm your injuries could make proving causation harder. When you get to the emergency room, doctors might have to perform trauma care or urgent surgery. You may undergo diagnostic testing to confirm your injuries, particularly if you sustained a traumatic brain injury or internal organ damage. Stay in the hospital until doctors discharge you, and return according to your treatment plan. For example, you might be referred to specialists for further care, in which case you should seek that treatment so our truck accident lawyers have additional medical evidence to use in your case.
To get compensation for pain and suffering, our attorneys must show you qualify under Massachusetts’s serious injury threshold, which limits who can sue after auto accidents to those with serious injuries or more than $2,000 in medical damages.
What You Should Do
While at the crash site, get the truck driver’s information, but do not discuss the accident in detail. Commercial truckers are typically working when driving, so their employers might share liability for an accident and damages. Our lawyers can explore this possibility immediately after a crash by confirming the driver’s employment status and reviewing the accident’s cause. Though victims have three years to sue under Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 260, § 2A, delaying case preparation for weeks, months, or years could create hurdles to proving establishing negligence and liability. Because of this, initiating claims as soon as possible is important, allowing our lawyers to preserve crucial evidence, like eyewitness statements.
What to Consider When Evaluating Truck Accident Settlements in Hingham, MA
As we evaluate settlement proposals, our lawyers will consider your total losses, including non-economic damages, and whether you could get more compensation by going to court.
Your Hospital Expenses
You must know your claim’s value to know if a settlement is fair. To do this, our lawyers will itemize all economic damages from the accident, starting with any hospital expenses. Major costs, like surgery or emergency room care, should be covered, as well as smaller expenses that might add up, like follow-up visits and prescription medications. Tracking all of these losses is crucial so that our lawyers can document and prove them during your case.
Your Lost Wages
It is also important to consider whether you can return to work immediately or ever. Lost wages are calculated according to a victim’s income, so we may need documents like tax returns, income statements, and paystubs to prove your losses. When evaluating settlements, our attorneys will confirm whether they cover missed income and, if not, counter offers with supporting evidence, like statements from medical experts.
Your Pain and Suffering
A truck accident could derail your life for the foreseeable future, causing injuries that have emotional consequences in addition to physical and financial implications. Severe or disfiguring injuries often lead to pain and suffering. Non-economic damages are compensable after auto accidents, provided victims meet the necessary criteria mentioned above. Calculating non-economic damages is a different story, as they do not have inherent monetary value. To do this, we may consider factors such as whether your injuries are permanent, your age, and whether you can return to work. If settlement offers do not cover your non-economic damages, we can continue negotiating until the opposing side increases their proposals.
It is important to remember that you do not have to accept any settlement offers and can go to court to prove a defendant’s liability to a jury. Settling does not necessarily take less time than going to trial, and our attorneys can help you weigh the pros and cons of going to court and help you make an informed decision about your recovery.
Call Our Attorneys for Help with Your Accident Case in Hingham, MA
For a free case assessment from the Law Office of John J. Sheehan, call (617) 925-6407 and speak with our truck accident lawyers.
