If you have recently been involved in a Florida truck accident, you understand how difficult being involved in an accident can make your life. Even after you recover from the immediate physical injuries caused by the accident, there are often lingering physical effects of the injuries. In addition, there are the mounting medical bills.
For this reason, the State of Florida allows truck accident victims to bring a civil suit for damages to recover from the driver who caused the accident.
Typical Causes of Florida Truck Accidents
Semi-trucks are the biggest vehicles on the road. They are often weighed down with thousands of pounds of cargo and therefore can be extremely dangerous when not operated properly. While semi-truck drivers are required to have special licenses to operate the large trucks, even professional drivers make mistakes and errors in judgment.
Some of the more common causes of Florida truck accidents we see are:
- Failure to yield
- Sleepy driving
- Intoxicated driving
- Traveling in excess of the truck’s weight limit
- Distracted driving
- Equipment malfunction
Establishing Fault in a Florida Truck Accident Florida has favorable laws for accident victims. In fact, any Florida truck accident victim who can establish that the truck driver was at least in part responsible for their injuries can bring suit against that person to seek civil damages. Generally speaking, a Florida accident victim will establish fault by proving that the other driver was negligent in the operation of their vehicle. In Florida a plaintiff must prove four elements at trial:
- Duty: The accident victim must prove that the other driver owed the plaintiff some kind of duty of care. In most truck accident cases, this is fairly straightforward as drivers owe all other drivers on the road a duty to operate their vehicle in a safe and responsible manner.
- Breach: Next, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant breached the duty that he or she owed the plaintiff. This is often where the most litigation occurs in Florida negligence cases.
- Causation: After duty and breach have been established, a Florida personal injury plaintiff then must show that the defendant’s breach of the duty caused the injuries that the plaintiff complains of.
- Damages: Finally, the plaintiff must show that he or she suffered some kind of compensable damages, whether it be persona injury, property damage, or both.
Typical Types of Damages Available to Florida Truck Accident Victims As mentioned above, Florida truck accident victims are able to recover from the driver who is responsible for causing the accident that injured them. In many cases, a plaintiff will be eligible for some or all of the following categories of damages:
- Past and future medical expenses;
- Past and future pain and suffering;
- Lost wages;
- Loss of consortium (detriment caused to a victim’s marriage);
- Punitive damages (damages designed to “punish” or discourage particularly abhorrent behavior).
Why You Need an Experienced Attorney to Represent Your Truck Accident Case Although the injuries you sustain may be similar, there are some key differences between successfully filing a suit for a trucking accident versus a car accident. For one, truck accidents are much more complex than car accidents. In order to increase the odds of a successful personal injury suit, an investigation will have to be completed to help prove the elements of fault discussed above. Trucking accidents can be considerably more complex in that regard. There may be multiple potential defendants, including the truck driver, the company the driver works for, as well as insurance companies, for example. The existence of defendants also means an increase in related legal issues as to which among these potential defendants might even be subject to liability for the accident. Another consideration might involve standards that are unique to the trucking industry, such as regulations that limit the amount of consecutive hours a driver can spend on the road, truck load weight limits, and other rules that are relevant almost exclusively in the realm of trucking accidents. This is why it remains critical to retain an attorney who has experience representing victims of trucking accidents specifically. Have You Been Injured in a Florida Truck Accident? If you or a loved one has recently been injured in a Florida trucking accident, you may be entitled to monetary compensation. At Frankl Kominsky Injury Lawyers we have a team of dedicated truck accident lawyers are ready to speak to you about your Florida truck accident case. Our motto is “Never settle for less” and we subscribe strongly to that principle. We fight for our clients in and out of the courtroom to make sure that they get everything they deserve. Click here, or call 1-855-800-8000 today to schedule your free case evaluation with an experienced attorney.