Lowell, MA Truck Accident Lawyer

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While most vehicle accidents result in some harm to the victims, truck accidents can cause life-altering, devastating injuries. If a negligent trucker injured you, our attorneys can help ease the burden of the added financial stress and emotional pain by filing a legal claim on your behalf.

Our team will immediately begin gathering your medical records so that we can move past your insurance and file a lawsuit. Under the state no-fault insurance rules, only vehicle accident victims with serious injuries or medical expenses over $2,000 can file a lawsuit. We will also determine the filing deadline so you do not miss your chance to recover compensation. If you start your case immediately after getting emergency care, we can use that time to gather additional evidence before filing and determine if other parties contributed to your injuries, such as the manufacturer of a defective truck part.

For a free case review, call the Law Office of John J. Sheehan at (617) 925-6407 to speak with our truck accident lawyers today.

How to Succeed in a Lowell, MA Truck Accident Lawsuit

Several important steps must be taken to succeed in a personal injury claim for a truck accident. These types of accidents tend to be much more complex than your average vehicle collision since the causes are often more challenging to prove and involve multiple defendants. As such, victims usually need a great deal of evidence to prove liability and their damages. They also need evidence of their injuries to file a lawsuit in the first place since no-fault rules place a general restriction on lawsuits for vehicle accidents. Our truck accident attorneys can organize the necessary information to prove your claim. We will also determine the final date you can file under the statute of limitations so that your case is filed well before it passes.

Get Medical Treatment

Medical evidence is crucial to every vehicle accident claim, so prioritize your care immediately after the accident. Not only do you need medical records to prove the cause of your injuries and the extent of your damages, but you will also need them to file a lawsuit in the first place. Massachusetts is one of the few states that institute a no-fault insurance system to compensate vehicle accident victims and reduce the burden on the courts. Your own insurance will compensate you for medical expenses and some of your lost income, but the system will bar you from filing a lawsuit as a general rule. Fortunately, that general rule has a few exceptions provided by Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 231, § 6D.

First, you can file a lawsuit if your total necessary and reasonable medical expenses are over $2,000. Reasonable medical expenses include treatment for your injuries, hospitalization, ambulance services, surgery, dental services, prescription medications, nursing services, funeral expenses, and any other expenses related to treating your injuries. With the costs of healthcare today and the injuries typically involved in truck accidents, this is not too high a bar to meet.

The other method is to show the court that your injuries were “serious.” Serious injuries include death, total or partial loss of a body member, serious and permanent disfigurement, hearing or vision loss, and fractures. You must confirm the seriousness of your injuries soon after filing your claim. Thus, do not overlook getting treatment right after the crash, and follow your doctors’ recommendations so that your claims are not challenged.

File on Time

While we are preparing evidence to overcome the lawsuit restriction, we will also determine the final date to file it. The statute of limitations, encoded in Ch. 260 § 2A, truck crash victims are given three years to file a lawsuit. The time starts counting down when the cause of action arises, which is usually the day the accident occurred.

Three years is slightly more time than other states allow, but it is best to start your case as soon as possible. The sooner your claim is filed, the sooner our team can negotiate with the insurance company to get you the coverage you need for your likely mounting expenses.

We can also use that time to review the evidence for other potentially liable parties. In most cases, we will sue the trucking company for its driver’s carelessness. Still, we must first identify the driver’s status as a traditional employee or independent contract and prepare our “vicarious liability” arguments.

Most modern-day trucks are technologically and mechanically complex vehicles, so it is absolutely possible that a malfunction not related to the driver’s negligence contributed to the crash. If so, the additional time can be used to gather the evidence we need to name the manufacturer or designer of the truck part in question to your lawsuit.

Collect Evidence

Other pieces of evidence besides your medical will help prove your claim.

Police crash reports are often a good place to start unraveling the details of the accident. Your accident report will usually have a wealth of information, including the name of the trucker, the company they drive for, their contact and insurance information, and the driver’s statements to the police. It will also include any eyewitnesses the police interviewed on the scene. If you did not get a chance to get witness information on the scene, the police report can provide their identity to our attorneys so that we can get their testimony. Police reports also typically have a section for the police officer’s observations, which might include details you were unaware of and diagrams of the scene.

Expert witness testimony might also be necessary for a claim to succeed. As mentioned, trucks are usually advanced vehicles. If a defect contributed to your crash or the trucker’s negligence is difficult for a layperson to understand, experts can provide the explanation to prove the fact at issue.