Maryland Truck Accident Lawyer Explains . . .

Are you investigating a Maryland truck accident lawyer because you or a loved one has been involved in wreck with a truck?

Unfortunately, serious truck accidents are more common than you may think, and often lethal.

Large trucks (those with a gross vehicle weight greater than 10,000 pounds) are involved in 1 out of every 9 highway fatalities even though they constitute far less than 1/9 of the vehicles on the road and they travel less than 1/9 of the total miles driven on American highways.

Large trucks – 18-wheelers, tractor-trailers or semi-trucks – often weigh 20 or 30 times more than a passenger car, so when there is a collision between a large truck and a passenger car, the passenger car occupants usually lose. In fact, it is estimated that, in 94% of accidents between large trucks and passenger cars, the occupants of the passenger car are either injured or killed.

In Maryland, alone, there were 63 fatal truck accidents and 1,497 non-fatal truck accidents in the last year for which statistics are available.

With more large trucks on the road all the time – there are more than 2 million more registered trucks in this country than there were a decade ago –collisions between trucks and other vehicles will continue to be a major safety issue.

If you or a loved one has been involved in a Maryland truck accident, here are 8 things that I, as a Maryland truck accident lawyer, think you must know about Maryland truck accident law . . .

Trucking companies and their insurance companies begin to defend truck accident claims immediately, often sending adjusters and experts to the scene to begin putting together a defense against your claim.

Therefore, it is imperative that you, as a potential claimant, begin to investigate the circumstances and causes of your collision as soon as possible. You should contact an experienced Maryland truck accident lawyer as soon as possible.

In many instances, it will be important to preserve the truck so that it can be inspected by your experts to determine exactly what caused your accident. If you delay contacting a Maryland truck accident lawyer, the truck may no longer be available to be inspected by your experts. Maryland truck accident lawyers know how to get access to the truck for inspection.

In addition to having the truck inspected, a Maryland truck accident lawyer can review police reports and interview investigating officers and other witnesses. If there is delay, the witnesses may be hard or impossible to locate or their memories may have faded.

Your Maryland truck accident lawyer’s investigation of your accident may focus on some or all of these questions . . .

Truck drivers know that it is safer to obey speed limits, and they know that federal regulations prohibit them from speeding, but there are economic pressures and incentives to deliver their cargo as soon as possible. Maryland truck accident lawyers know how to prove that a driver was speeding.

For example, was it tailgating? Large trucks that weigh as much as 60,000 or 80,000 pounds require much more stopping distance than passenger cars going the same speed, so tailgating can be a fatal mistake. Here, also, Maryland truck accident lawyers know how to prove that a truck was tailgating.

Fully loaded 18 wheel vehicles are much more likely to rollover than passenger cars, and drivers must account for this fact in their driving.

Did the driver apply the brakes properly to prevent a jackknife? Maryland truck accident lawyers are familiar with the rules for how a driver should use his or her brakes to avoid a jackknife.

Was the driver driving appropriately for the weather conditions? Maryland truck accident lawyers know the authoritative places to obtain reliable information on the weather at the time of the wreck.

Was the driver driving appropriately for those conditions?

Were there any mechanical defects that caused or contributed to the collision? This is the issue on which your expert’s inspection can be critical. A Maryland truck accident lawyer and an experienced truck safety expert selected by that Maryland truck accident lawyer are the heart of your legal team.

Large trucks use air brakes, not hydraulic brakes such as passenger cars have, and these air brakes must be monitored and adjusted to make sure that they function properly. Truck brakes use high pressure air which is stored in tanks on the tractor and supplied by an engine driven air compressor. A car driving at 55 mph can stop in about 225 feet with its hydraulic brakes, but a truck traveling at the same 55 mph will take more than 400 feet to stop. Truck inspections demonstrate that a large percentage of trucks have some form of defect in their braking systems, usually involving air leaks or poor adjustments. Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that 30% of all heavy truck accidents are linked to brakes being out of adjustment.

Among other things, drivers must be at least 21 years old, speak English, be physically able to safely operate a truck, have a valid CDL and must never have been disqualified for driving while intoxicated, driving under the influence of drugs, committing a felony, leaving the scene of an accident, refusing to take an alcohol test or any other reason. Drivers must also pass a physical exam every 2 years.

Under Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rules, no person is permitted to drive a commercial motor vehicle unless they pass written and driving tests which meet federal standards and possess a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL).

A failure to properly train an employee can make an employer responsible for the harm that the ill-trained employee causes.

An experienced Maryland truck accident lawyer will know what history of previous accidents enhance your claim and how to effectively utilize that information to your advantage.

Special attention should be given to the brakes, horn, wipers, signals and tires. There should be inspection records which your Maryland truck accident lawyer can obtain.

Was the truck overloaded? Was the load uneven? There are regulations concerning how much load trucks can carry. Drivers are responsible for periodically inspecting to make sure that the load is properly distributed and secured.

There are federal regulations that establish weight and size restrictions for trucks that travel in interstate commerce. Maryland truck accident lawyers are familiar with these federal regulations.

The FMCSA promulgates “hours of service” (HOS) regulations that control how much a driver can drive. The current rules allow drivers to drive 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off-duty. In addition, drivers cannot drive after being on duty for 60 hours in a 7 consecutive day period or 70 hours in an 8 consecutive day period. Logs showing how much a driver has driven are required to be kept. Your Maryland truck accident lawyer will obtain these logs if they were kept.

Drivers are responsible for doing pre-trip and post-trip inspections and for noting all defects.

There are precise federal standards concerning the amount of alcohol that a driver can have in his or her system and that amount is less than the legal limit for intoxication. A Maryland truck accident lawyer is familiar with these standards and with how to get evidence that they have been violated.

Your Maryland truck accident lawyer will get records of the driver's medical exams to investigate this question.

If so, you may have a product liability claim against the manufacturer and distributor of the defective product. Maryland truck accident lawyers can present product liability claims or refer them to other experts.

If you don’t begin to investigate promptly, records may disappear, making it harder to prove your case.

So, if you have been involved in a Maryland truck accident, contact a Maryland truck accident lawyer immediately!

Another thing that your Maryland truck accident lawyer will do if you have been seriously injured is determine the amount of insurance that the truck had. Federal law requires trucks traveling in interstate commerce to have $750,000 of liability insurance for bodily injury if they carry non-hazardous general commodities, and more if they carry hazardous materials.

Your Maryland truck accident lawyer will also determine whether federal law or state law applies to your truck accident case. All of my references to federal law automatically apply only to trucks that travel in interstate commerce, that is, travel between states.

If a truck does not travel in interstate commerce, but, instead, travels only intrastate (within Maryland), the federal rules do not automatically apply. So, for example, an appliance delivery truck that is based in Gaithersburg and never leaves Maryland, is not subject to the federal interstate rules. Maryland has adopted many of the federal rules as its own, but not all federal rules apply to a Maryland truck accident case.

One difference is that Maryland law only requires a truck to have $20,000 of liability insurance, although most have much more. Obviously, therefore, your Maryland truck accident lawyer will investigate this issue carefully.

What does "liability" mean? It means "Who caused the accident?"

Maryland has a fault system of law in truck accident cases. To have a good claim, you have to be able to prove that the truck driver's fault caused the accident.

The fact that an accident happened does not automatically make the truck driver responsible.

Technically, the correct term for this type of claim is "negligence" which basically means carelessness. Therefore, you have to be able to show that the truck driver caused your accident by acting carelessly in one of the ways described above, or in some other way.

This is why a prompt and thorough investigation of your wreck is critical, and why you should immediately contact a Maryland truck accident lawyer.

A driver who negligently harms you is responsible for the harms and damages that s/he causes.

In addition, if a driver is acting “within the scope of his employment,” his employer is also responsible for the carelessness of the driver-employee.

The theory behind this rule is that employers have the ability to control their driver’s conduct by selecting good drivers, training them properly and monitoring their activities. To encourage employers to exercise this control over their employee-drivers, the law imposes this “vicarious liability” on them for the actions of employees.

So, part of your Maryland truck accident lawyer’s investigation will involve determining whether the driver is an “employee” of a trucking company – for whom the trucking company is responsible – or an “independent contractor” – for whom the trucking company is not responsible.

Unfortunately, Maryland is one of only 4 states that has a very harsh rule called "contributory negligence." If it exists, contributory negligence defeats your claim!

This means that if you contributed in any way to causing your truck accident, you have no claim.

In theory, if you are only 1% responsible for causing an accident and the truck driver is 99% at fault, under Maryland law you are not entitled to any recovery from the truck driver!

Incidentally, the alternative to contributory negligence that exists in most states is called "comparative negligence," a much better and more fair rule. You might want to contact your state legislators and encourage them to adopt it. Under comparative negligence, which varies slightly among the states that have this rule, the fault of the two drivers is compared and the one who is more at fault pays while the one who is less at fault has his or her claim reduced by the percentage of their fault. For example, if Jones is 90% responsible for causing an accident and Smith is 10% at fault, Smith can recover from Jones for her injuries, but Smith can only recover 90% of full compensation. She loses 10% of her recovery because she was 10% responsible for causing the accident.

So, in Maryland, if you and your Maryland truck accident lawyer can prove that the truck driver caused your accident and that you did nothing to contribute to causing the accident, there is 'liability' and you are entitled to recover damages.

Maryland truck accident lawyers know the likely claims of contributory negligence that the defense will make. That is one reason why you should consult a Maryland truck accident lawyer as soon as possible after you are injured.

If you snooze, you may lose. The defense begins defending the claim immediately. You should have a knowledgeable and experienced Maryland truck accident lawyer on your side to counteract the efforts of the defense.

In a truck accident case, what are "damages?"

Damages is the term that refers to the consequences of the truck driver's carelessness. In other words, "What harm did the carelessness cause?"

There are two main categories of damages, property damage and personal injuries. Maryland truck accident lawyers are trained in both types of claims and can help you with both types.

Property damage, or "P.D." as it is sometimes called, refers to the damage to your property, your vehicle. The at-fault driver must pay to have your vehicle repaired. The concept underlying the law is that the careless driver has to give you back what s/he took from you -- in this context, an undamaged vehicle.

If it would cost more to repair your vehicle than the vehicle is worth, your vehicle is a "total loss." In other words, if you have a vehicle that was worth $5,000 before it was damaged, and it would cost $10,000 to repair it, your vehicle is totaled. In that case, the careless driver has to pay you what your vehicle was worth before the careless driver destroyed it. In my example, that is $5,000.

The underlying theory here is that the $5,000 you are given will make it possible for you to get another truck just like the one that was destroyed. Unfortunately, that is almost never a realistic possibility.

"Damages" also include injury claims. Some insurance companies call these personal injury claims, or "P.I." claims. Others call them bodily injury, or "B.I.," claims. By whatever name, this is your claim to be compensated for the injuries that the other driver's carelessness caused.

P.I. (or B.I.) damages include economic losses and noneconomic losses.

The economic losses that you can recover include . . .

** reimbursement for all of your medical bills for treating injuries that result from the accident,

** reimbursement for any loss of employment income and

** any other economic losses that result from the accident.

If the law merely required the careless driver to pay for your financial losses, you would not be fully and fairly compensated.

The economic losses are not what you will remember years later about this experience. What you will remember more is the pain of your injuries, the mental uncertainty, the sleepless nights (or whatever your symptoms were) and the disruption to your life that the careless driver caused.

Because you did nothing to cause these losses, fundamental fairness – and Maryland law – require the one who caused your injuries to compensate you in money damages for such noneconomic losses as . . .

** physical pain,

** mental anguish,

** disfigurement,

** inconvenience,

** physical impairment,

** damage to your marital relationship.

One of the most important things that Maryland truck accident lawyers do for their clients is uncover and develop evidence of all of the damages that the client can lawfully seek. Maryland truck accident lawyers are experts at presenting evidence of damages.

How much compensation you are entitled to receive for your injuries depends on the circumstances of your case. Obviously, that determination will depend on such things as how seriously you are injured, how long you suffer with your injuries and whether you recover fully from them.

What you want is a full and speedy recovery from your injuries. If that happens, you will still have a claim against the careless driver, but it will be for less than the claim that you will have if you do not recover quickly or completely.

Fair compensation for your injuries includes the full amount of the medical bills that were caused by your auto accident, the full amount of the income that you lost as a result of your auto accident and an additional amount for pain, suffering, inconvenience and the like.

The end result could be as little as about 1 ½ times your out-of-pocket losses for your medical bills and loss of income to an amount 10 times your financial losses, or more, if your injuries are very severe and permanent.

The only way to know more precisely how much compensation you are entitled to recover is to consult with an experienced Maryland truck accident lawyer who has a history or success in these cases.

One final, but important, point about truck injury claims.

Everything that I have told you so far about injury claims concerns your claim against the truck driver that caused your accident. (Actually, in almost all cases you will deal with that driver's insurance company who will pay the claim under the truck driver's liability insurance coverage.)

However, you probably have another injury claim that you can make after you have been involved in a truck accident, under your own insurance policy.

Unless you specifically rejected it when you purchased your auto insurance, you have a kind of coverage called "PIP" -- which rhymes with "sip" and which stands for “Personal Injury Protection”. Actually some insurance companies have other names for it -- such as economic loss protection – but everyone in the industry knows this coverage as PIP.

Most auto insurance policies are preprinted forms, but they include a page which is not part of the preprinted form. That page, called the Declarations Page – or in the lingo of the industry, the "Dec Page" -- shows what coverages you have and the policy limit for each coverage. So, look at your Dec Page to see if you have PIP coverage. If you do, check the maximum amount that you can receive under this coverage.

PIP covers your medical bills and (85% of) your lost wages, up to the policy limit. The policy limit is at least $2,500, and some companies will sell you up to $10,000 of PIP coverage.

The real value of PIP – in fact, the reason that it came into existence – is that it can provide benefits much sooner than your liability claim against the at-fault driver. As I discuss in the section dealing with the claims process, you should not even present your liability claim until you fully recover from your injuries (or, at least, recover as much as you are going to), but you can submit your PIP claim without delay. Then, if you have additional medical bills or lost wages, you can send a supplement to your PIP claim. In fact, you can keep submitting supplements until you are better or until you have received the policy limit of benefits.

Your Maryland truck accident lawyer can help you with your PIP claim.

Here's an insurance tip. I recommend that you purchase as much PIP coverage as your insurance company will sell you. It doesn't cost much, and it is awfully handy if you are in a serious auto or truck accident that disables you for a lengthy time.

You can safely make a PIP claim without fear that your insurance rates will increase or that making the claim will affect or limit in any way your claim against the careless driver. It won't.

To learn more about Maryland truck accident law, contact us.