Columbia, SC Truck Accident Attorneys
Being injured in a truck accident can be life-altering. If you were seriously hurt, you might be unable to go to work and support yourself and your family. While insurance companies might be able to provide some relief, the help of an experienced truck accident lawyer may be necessary to help you get the compensation you need.
After a truck crash, you could be entitled to compensation for a wide range of injuries. While insurance might pay some of these damages in full, they may try to avoid paying what you deserve for pain and suffering and other difficult-to-prove damages. Even worse, trucking companies often employ strong legal teams to help avoid liability and expensive settlements.
If you were hurt in a truck accident, call Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers today at (803) 451-4000 for a free case review.
Why Do So Many Truck Accidents Occur in Columbia, SC?
There are many reasons why truck accidents happen in South Carolina. While many accidents come from truck driver errors, others come from equipment failures. Our truck accident lawyers have experience handling a wide variety of accidents and are prepared to help you in your case.
Driver Fatigue
Driver fatigue is unfortunately common in the truck driving industry. Truckers are under a lot of pressure to meet shipping demands, which often means driving for long periods without sleep. Drivers sometimes fall asleep at the wheel and hit other vehicles.
Intoxication
Intoxicated truck drivers are also a major concern in the trucking industry. Trucks are extremely large vehicles capable of doing immense damage if something goes wrong. An intoxicated truck driver could easily lose control of the truck and cause a major accident.
Mechanical Equipment Failures
Equipment failures are another common source of truck accidents. For example, if the brakes on a truck give out, the driver cannot stop, and they might slam into other cars. Alternatively, if the trailer couplings fail, the trailer could become loose from the truck and topple over. Poorly fastened cargo restraints might also lead to toppling cargo.
Distribution Centers Around Columbia, SC
Large commercial trucks often drive between distribution centers. These are like trucking hubs where numerous trucks and drivers may begin and end a journey, and they may be implicated in your accident case.
How Do Distribution Centers Work?
A distribution center acts as a trucking hub and may serve numerous trucks and companies. Businesses may pay distribution centers to house products or merchandise and ship them as needed. As such, the distribution centers and truck drivers often do not work for the company from which you might have ordered something. They often contract with them, and they may employ a large team of truckers.
Can I Sue a Distribution Center for a Truck Accident?
In many cases, a distribution center may be held vicariously liable for an accident if it employs the trucker who caused the accident. This is not uncommon, as many truck drivers work for distribution centers. However, many other truckers work for truck companies that might pick up and drop off at distribution centers, but do not actually work for these centers. Talk to your attorney about whether a distribution center is implicated in your case.
Distribution Centers Near Columbia
Numerous distribution centers exist around Columbia, SC, and they may be involved in a truck accident in the area. For example, TMC Transportation recently expanded its distribution center and is now one of the largest in the area. McLane Company Inc. is another large distribution center that serves the Columbia area. Ward Transport & Logistics provides less-than-truckload services where a full trailer is not required to move freight.
These and other distribution centers and businesses could be implicated in a truck accident.
When to Call a Truck Accident Lawyer After an Accident
If you were hurt in a truck accident, you should consider speaking to an injury lawyer as soon as you can. The aftermath of a trucking accident can matter a lot, and your main focus should be your health and your recovery. However, there may be legal issues to deal with, evidence to collect, police reports to get copies of, and other happenings that your lawyer can deal with immediately.
Call as Soon as Possible
If you are well enough to call a lawyer or have a loved one call a lawyer for you, you can begin your case right away. If you will be laid up in a hospital for weeks before you get a chance to speak with insurance or get a copy of the police report, evidence like tire tracks or even camera footage of the crash might be lost or deleted.
Benefits of Calling a Lawyer Early
Talking to an attorney as early as you can also helps set your case up for a quicker resolution. Lawsuits and insurance claims can take months or even years in some complex cases. If you were injured and are now facing expensive medical bills and time away from work, you will need compensation as soon as you can get it. While you do have 3 years to get your case filed, acting sooner can help you get damages sooner and resume your life.
What Kind of Compensation is Available After a Trucking Accident in Columbia, SC?
There may be various forms of compensation in a truck accident lawsuit. Compensatory damages cover expenses incurred by the plaintiff and are designed to restore the plaintiff to their position before the crash. Punitive damages are designed to punish the defendant. Our truck accident lawyers can help you assess the damages in your case.
Compensatory Damages
Compensatory damages include economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are those with explicit prices attached, such as medical bills or the cost to replace your damaged vehicle after a truck accident. Non-economic damages are more subjective and do not come with a predetermined value. Pain and suffering are common non-economic damages, and their value is typically based on how they have impacted your daily life.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are available in South Carolina, but are not necessarily available in every case. According to South Carolina Code § 15-32-520(d), a plaintiff may only receive punitive damages if they prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant’s conduct was willful, wanton, or reckless.
Whom Do You Sue in a Columbia, SC 18-Wheeler Accident?
If you or a loved one was hit by a truck driver, you may be able to bring a lawsuit against parties other than the driver. While the driver is certainly going to be a part of your lawsuit, you might also be able to sue the trucking company.
Truck Drivers
In many cases, plaintiffs may sue negligent truckers for damages after an accident. Even if the truck driver is an independent truck driver, you can still sue them for damages. Truckers are required to carry insurance, which means that there is a pool of money available to pay for the injuries they cause you. This is true even without a big trucking company in the picture.
Trucking Companies
Truckers often work as employees of trucking companies. When employees injure people while working, their victims can often sue the employer for damages. Under a legal principle called respondeat superior, these cases can be filed even if the trucking company did not do anything else wrong.
If the trucking company made its own mistakes to contribute to the accident, it can also be held liable for those issues. Our trucking accident attorneys can help you file claims against a trucking company for negligent maintenance, negligent retention of a dangerous driver, and other mistakes.
Would You File a Claim Against the Company or the Driver?
When filing a claim for a truck accident, you can name the truck driver involved in your accident as a defendant. You can also name the truck company that employed the driver as a defendant. Holding a truck company liable for an accident is different than holding a trucker liable, and our truck accident attorneys can help you.
Holding the Truck Driver Negligently Liable
When filing a claim against the truck driver, you typically must prove that they acted negligently. Proving negligence requires establishing four critical elements: duty, breach, causation, and damages. All four elements must be sufficiently established for the trucker to be held liable.
Duty refers to the legal duty of care the defendant owed the plaintiff. In a truck accident case, the trucker’s legal duty is their obligation to drive in a reasonably prudent and safe manner under the road conditions at that time. Exactly what a trucker’s duty looks like can change based on driving conditions, including weather, visibility, and traffic.
A breach is the trucker’s violation of their duty. In a truck accident case, the breach might be unsafe or unreasonable actions the trucker takes. For example, speeding on wet roads during a storm would be a breach of the trucker’s duty. Various traffic violations, like running stop signs or red lights, or failing to signal, may be used to demonstrate a breach.
It is not enough to prove that the defendant breached their duty. You must also show that the breach is the direct cause of the accident. If the trucker changed lanes suddenly without signaling, you must prove that the breach caused the accident and not something else. Finally, you have to show that your damages are real. Hypothetical damages or “what if” scenarios are not enough.
Intentional Conduct of the Truck Driver
You can also hold the driver liable for intentionally causing the accident. Road rage is not unusual, and it can be very dangerous. If the trucker intentionally hit your vehicle, you must prove their intention to cause harm. The trucker might also face criminal charges for assault and battery or worse.
If the trucker is criminally charged, your claims might have to wait until any criminal hearings are completed. While you wait, our truck accident lawyers can help you craft an effective legal strategy so you can get compensation for your damages. If the trucker is found guilty or pleads guilty, you can use that against them in your civil hearing.
Truck Company’s Vicarious Liability
In many cases, you can also hold the company that hired the truck driver liable for the accident. An employer might be liable for any negligence committed within the trucker’s scope of employment. For actions outside the scope of the employment, an employer might be liable if they negligently entrusted the trucker to do their job safely.
The legal doctrine of respondeat superior holds that employers may be vicariously liable for the negligent actions of their employees. In South Carolina, this doctrine does not typically cover criminal acts, as criminal acts tend to be outside the scope of employment.
The employee must have acted within the scope of their employment when the negligence occurred. In a truck accident case, this means that the trucker’s negligence must have happened while they were doing their job. However, it might not be enough to show that the negligence occurred while the trucker was working. According to Wade v. Berkeley County, a 1998 South Carolina case, courts can use a motive or purpose test. If the motive or purpose behind the trucker’s actions was for their job, their employer might be vicariously liable.
Truck Company and Negligent Hiring
Negligent hiring is another legal doctrine that may allow you to hold a truck company liable for the negligence of its truck drivers. The doctrine of respondeat superior may only cover negligent behavior that furthers the trucker’s job. Actions taken for independent purposes, usually intentional or criminal actions, may instead be covered by the theory of negligent hiring.
The elements of negligent hiring or entrustment, specifically in South Carolina truck accident cases, have been enumerated in the 1986 case of Jackson v. Price. The truck company must have known that the driver was addicted to controlled substances or alcohol to be liable for negligent hiring. The truck company must have also known that the driver was likely to drive while intoxicated. Finally, you must show that the truck company entrusted the driver to drive their vehicle.
Essentially, if the truck company knew or should have known that the truck driver was a gander behind the wheel, they may be liable for your accident even if the driver’s actions were not within the scope of their job duties.
How Long Do I Have to Sue for a Truck Accident in Columbia, SC?
Statute of Limitations
As mentioned, victims of trucking accidents have 3 years from the date of the accident to sue for damages. Under S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-530, all victims of injuries have up to 3 years to file their case in court. If you were under 18 when the injury happened, that 3-year clock does not begin running until you turn 18 under § 15-3-370.
This law is called a “statute of limitations.” These laws commonly restrict how long you have to file an injury claim because cases filed years after they occur tend to be less viable. If evidence is lost or destroyed, if people forget what happened, or if the defendant disappears, it might be harder to get compensation.
How Long to Wait Before Filing a Lawsuit
For the same reasons, however, you should consider filing your tractor-trailer accident case well before the 3-year deadline is up. If you can file your case sooner, you can make sure that witnesses have the events fresh in their minds and that evidence has not been lost or destroyed over the years. You can also get your case to end sooner and get damages faster.
How Long it May take to Complete a Truck Accident Case
This statute of limitations requires that your case be filed within 3 years, not that it be resolved within 3 years. If your case is filed on time, but it takes longer than 3 years to finish the court case, that is okay.
However, if you have to go back and add additional parties to the case or re-file the case in a different court, it may be too late if you waited more than 3 years. Talk to a trucking accident lawyer for help filing your case on time and against the right parties.
FAQs About Truck Accidents Around Columbia, SC
How Do Truck Accidents Often Happen?
Many truck accidents involve head-on crashes, trucks that topple over on the road, jackknife accidents, and more. While many accidents are caused by driver negligence, others may stem from mechanical malfunctions or faulty truck parts.
Who is Responsible for Truck Accidents?
Negligent truck drivers are often implicated in accidents, and their employers may be held vicariously liable. In other cases, other drivers on the road may have contributed to the crash and may be held responsible, too. Even manufacturers of faulty truck parts may be held liable.
Can I File an Insurance Claim After a Truck Accident?
Yes. Your normal car insurance may help you in the event of a truck accident. You should be able to file a third-party claim with the trucker’s liability coverage, and their employer may have insurance coverage as well.
Who Can I Sue After a Truck Crash?
After a truck accident, you may consider suing the truck’s driver, the trucking company that owns the truck, other drivers involved in the accident, and almost anyone else you believe is responsible for the accident.
How Long Do I Have to Sue After a Collision with a Truck?
In South Carolina, most personal injury cases, including those for truck accidents, must be filed in court no later than years after the accident. This time may be extended only under special conditions.
What is a Truck Distribution Center?
Truck distribution centers are like warehouses that act as hubs for trucking companies. They may store products, goods, and merchandise of various businesses and deliver them to buyers. A distribution center may host numerous trucks, drivers, and even multiple trucking companies.
Can I Sue a Truck Distribution Center for an Accident?
Possibly. If the distribution center employed the negligent truck driver, it may be held vicariously liable for the accident.
What Are My Claims Worth in a Truck Crash Case?
The value of your claims depends on the extent of your damages. Medical bills, property damage, lost income, pain, suffering, and various other damages all must be considered when determining the value of your claims.
Should I Hire a Lawyer to Help Me After a Truck Accident?
Yes. An attorney can help you explore your numerous legal options for compensation, including insurance claims, lawsuits, settlements, and more. They can also help you make sure you get the most compensation possible and that nothing is left on the table.
Should I Call the Police After a Truck Collision?
Yes. Truck collisions are often very serious, and multiple people may be badly injured. The police may investigate while emergency responders provide medical aid. Even if the accident is not severe, contact the police anyway. The results of a proper investigation by the authorities may yield crucial evidence needed to get you fair compensation.
How Long Until I Receive Financial Compensation for a Truck Accident?
If your claims succeed and you are awarded compensation, it may take more time before the money actually hits your bank account. The defendant may need some time to get the funds together, and the money often goes through the courts and attorneys before it reaches the plaintiff. It may take a few weeks or a few months, depending on the case’s complexity.
What if Other Injured Victims Also Sue for the Same Truck Accident?
If other plaintiffs sue the trucker or their employer, their case could be combined with yours. However, this depends on exactly why each plaintiff is filing a case. You may instead choose to negotiate a settlement with the defendant independently of other plaintiffs.
Reasons You Need a Lawyer After a Trucking Accident in Columbia
You’re more likely to get a fair hearing with a trucking accident lawyer by your side. A Columbia truck accident lawyer can help you determine liability, create a compelling case, obtain a higher settlement, collect evidence, streamline the court case, and calculate the damages.
Determining Fault
Determining fault can be tricky because the trucking industry involves multiple parties. In addition to the driver, the following parties may share the blame:
- The Driver’s Employer: Employers who hired a negligent driver are also liable. They must ensure drivers have the certification and competency to drive the trucks. If the employer forced the driver to ignore regulations, for example, the employer is at fault.
- The Parts Manufacturer: In some cases, trucking accidents occur due to defective parts. The truck could have faulty brakes or tire issues. Therefore, the manufacturer can take all or part of the blame.
Additionally, each party may share different proportions of blame. However, a trucking accident lawyer can investigate on your behalf and assign fault where necessary. Without attorney involvement, a negligent person could escape justice.
Crafting a Strategy
After an investigation, a lawyer can help you develop a viable case. When you go to court, you must present your case to a jury. Your story must be coherent and backed by plenty of evidence.
Before going to court, a trustworthy attorney will convey the chances of a case victory. Your lawyer can also do the following:
- Study your case
- Find witnesses and evidence
- Develop the best legal strategy based on the evidence gathered
As such, a lawyer can spare you the hassle of investigating the incident on your own. If you have a compelling case, you also need an attorney to make an effective presentation in court.
Settlement Negotiations
In many cases, truck accident cases don’t go to court. Instead, an insurance company may offer a settlement. However, insurance companies tend to offer meager sums during the first negotiation phase. Insurance carriers hope victims will take the money.
Additionally, insurance companies could offer a large sum upfront. However, the hefty sum is usually misleading.
- Example: An insurance company offers $50,000 if you suffered crippling injuries. However, the value of your case is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. In some cases, truck accidents command settlements in the millions of dollars.
Trucking accidents usually require higher settlements due to the serious nature of truck accidents. You’re more likely to suffer from severe injuries that require ongoing medical care.
If you have an attorney by your side, they can double the original offer through extensive negotiations. They can also tell you if the amount offered is enough money.
Gathering Evidence
Insurance companies will use loopholes and tricks to minimize or deny your claim. To improve your victory chances, you must have strong evidence.
Therefore, you must conduct your own investigation. An attorney can help you through the investigative process. They can help you:
- Take photos and videos of the accident scene
- Find witnesses
- Collect all of your medical bills
- Collect all bills and invoices for damaged property
Moreover, your attorney can store all of the evidence you gathered in a safe place.
Different Regulations
You’ll need an attorney who will help you navigate trucking regulations. For example, truckers aren’t allowed to drive more than a certain number of hours, but many drivers ignore the rule.
Often, drivers will overextend themselves to meet deadlines. Truckers must also go through intensive training and submit to drug/alcohol tests.
Further, their trucks must undergo regular maintenance. In many cases, truck accidents occur when the driver breaches a regulation. Your attorney can help you find the specific regulation broken. If they find a regulatory breach, you have a stronger case.
Enhanced Efficiency
An attorney can hasten the trial process. Since many people don’t have legal experience, they could fumble along the way. As a result, your claim could be dismissed. Consider the following factors when filing a case:
- Filing within state deadlines
- Filing with the correct jurisdiction
- Knowing the legal terminology
- Gathering evidence for your case
- Articulating your case in court
An personal injury attorney can help you with all of these factors. They can streamline the process and ensure your case proceeds on time.
Award Calculations
You may not know how much you’ll receive overall. You may be eligible for several types of awards, such as:
- Lost Income: The court will provide compensation if you’re unable to work.
- Medical Bills: The court will compel the offending party to cover your medical bills.
- Pain and Suffering: The court will grant you additional money if you suffer from long-term pain. You could also receive money if you’re contending with mental/emotional pain.
- Loss of Enjoyment: You could receive more money if the injury prevents you from doing hobbies or activities.
- Wrongful Death: This will cover funeral costs if someone dies. This category also covers medical expenses and pain and suffering.
- Loss of Companionship: The accident may have changed the relationship between you and a loved one. If the accident changes relationship dynamics, you could win additional money.
An attorney can place an accurate figure on all of the award categories. Without attorney assistance, you stand the risk of low-balling or overestimating your claim.
Call Our Columbia Trucking Accident Injury Lawyers Today
After an accident involving an 18-wheeler or other commercial truck, call Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers at (803) 451-4000 for a free, private case assessment.
