Why Truck Accident Cases Are Often Built On Documents
A team of truck accident attorneys sits down with a client. The first thing the truck accident lawyers start thinking about is how much documentation is attached to the company, driver, and vehicle. Medical records are big, too. Rightly, the client wonders what happened to details like how a massive rig plowed into a car.
Truck accident cases are often built on piles of documents, but clients don't always understand why that is. Here are three reasons why truck accident attorneys frequently prefer to dig into tons of paperwork to build a case.
Assigning Liability to the Company
Every injury claim is about drawing a line from what happened to the party that's most responsible for allowing it to happen. It's important to be clear that there are almost no truck accident lawyers who are interested in pinning blame onto a driver.
The driver is nearly always in some way an employee, a contractor, or a designee of a company. A business might own the rig, or it may have contracted with the driver or a third-party logistics firm. Regardless, the goal is to show that the company was liable.
Studying the Records of the Driver and Truck
Lawyers frequently focus on records because they make it relatively easy to point to the company's choices as sources of liability. Suppose a case involves a driver who had a record of drug use prior to being hired. An attorney would want to show that the company either overlooked the drug record or didn't bother to check into it.
A similar approach applies to records involving the rig. Companies keep tabs on use and maintenance, and that means they produce loads of logged data. Truck accident attorneys can dig through this data to discover how recently the brakes were inspected, whether the truck had been on the road a lot before the incident, and even if it was previously involved in an accident. If the company didn't take care to address these problems, it may be liable for an incident that followed.
Medical Reports
The claim of damages for injuries is usually built on medical reports. First responders likely examined the victim at the scene. A doctor may have examined them in the ER, and they may also have been examined by surgeons, chiropractors, physical therapists, and others. Presenting medical reports from professionals gives a claim necessary details, making it harder for an insurance adjuster to question it.
To learn more, contact a truck accident attorney.
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