Gilbert Truck Accident Attorneys

Statute of Limitations for Truck Accidents in Arizona

‘Statute of limitations’ is a term that refers to the amount of time in which you are allowed to bring your claim to seek compensation. It is the amount of time from the date of your accident to the end of your eligibility. Every state has a unique set of laws pertaining to truck accidents. Your statute of limitations in Arizona can vary depending on your circumstances.

We generally encourage you to reach out to our Gilbert truck accident attorneys as soon as you possibly can because these cases can be time-sensitive, which means that if you delay reaching out and starting your claim right away then the likelihood of success for your case starts to diminish. With most auto accidents, including truck accidents in Arizona, you are given a two-year statute of limitations to bring your claim in hopes of getting compensation for your damages.

If you are bringing a claim because of property damage, serious injury, or on behalf of someone who was killed in a truck accident, the statute of limitations remains the same. It is two years for any of these types of cases. If you were to attempt to bring your claim after the date of your two-year anniversary of the truck accident, you are most certainly going to be turned away by the court. This is not a loose guideline; it is a legal deadline.

We strongly encourage you to reach out to our Gilbert truck accident attorneys as soon as you possibly can because we want to get to work on your case immediately. We know that justice does not happen overnight, so we hope that you don’t wait until the last few weeks of your statute of limitations to reach out to us. You can call us as soon as you can. That can be from the roadside of the truck accident, the bedside of the emergency room, or the next day from the comfort of your home. The sooner you act, the sooner we can collect evidence before it disappears and start protecting you from the insurance company that wants to throw away your claim or reduce what they owe.

Arizona Comparative Negligence Rules for Truck Accidents

Compensation is dictated by each individual state’s rules regarding cases. Arizona is a state that follows the rules of pure comparative negligence. Here’s what you need to know:

If, for instance, you were T-boned while stopped at a red light, the other driver is going to likely bear fault in its entirety. In that instance, you would have done nothing wrong and would have done nothing to bring fault upon you. If, however, you were on the highway going slightly above the speed limit and someone merged into your lane without a turn signal and clipped the front of your car resulting in you spinning out, you might bear some responsibility for the accident. This is because, if you were going slower, the crash may not have happened or may have been less severe. In an instance like that, you might bear partial fault for the accident. Due to the compensation laws in Arizona, in the first example you would have no fault in the incident and would receive your compensation award in the fullest percent. In the other instance where you get clipped by somebody but you were speeding and were partially at fault, in the end you would receive a portion of your compensation award because it would be reduced by the percentage that you were deemed at fault.

Arizona law says that either party is eligible for compensation, regardless of whether or not they share fault in the accident. Pure comparative fault allows you to collect compensation even if you are partially and mostly at fault. That means you could be up to 99% at fault and still be entitled to receive one percent of the compensation award. In another example, if you were deemed 20% at fault you would be eligible for 80% of the compensation. Essentially, the insurance company is aware of this fact and they have tactics that they use to try to pin some of the fault onto you so that they can reduce what they owe you. If, for some reason, they were able to say that you are 100% at fault for the accident, of course you would not receive compensation.

Our Gilbert truck accident attorneys fight hard to ensure that you have the fairest chance at compensation. We don’t want something like this happening to you:

You are on a busy road when the person in front of you slams on their brakes, forcing you to do the same. Because they slammed on their brakes, it caused a pileup behind you. You were able to avoid hitting the person in front of you but you got hit by someone behind you. In an instance like that, the insurance company might try to pin you for most of the blame. Let’s say they try and succeed to say that you were 60% at fault for the accident. That would mean that if you were awarded $10,000 in compensation you would only be able to collect 40% of the award, which would leave you with $4,000.

Our goal as your Gilbert truck accident attorneys is to protect your rights to full and fair compensation. We don’t want the insurance company to blow the incident out of proportion and pin you with more blame than you should have. You deserve compensation to the fullest. We want to get ahead of the insurance company by collecting evidence and getting contact information from witnesses. We want to make sure that you don’t speak to the insurance company for a recorded statement because they can and will use your words against you to reduce your compensation award. We also want to make sure that you are getting the treatment that you need to begin your recovery so that we can have proof of the injuries that the liable party caused you. If the insurance company saw that there was a delay in medical treatment between the time of the accident and your filing of the claim, then they will try to say that you lied about how severe your injuries were or that you lied about where you got your injuries at all. Either way, that allows for them to try to throw out or reduce what they owe you.

Make sure you speak to an attorney before you make any sort of contact with the insurance company because those insurance company agents have been trained to speak to you and get answers from you to reduce what they owe you.

Our Attorneys Also Focus On The Following Practice Areas:

• Burn Injury
• Car Accident
• Construction Accident
• Dog Bite
• Motorcycle Accident
• Nursing Home Abuse
• Slip and Fall
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Workers’ Compensation
• Wrongful Death

Call Our Gilbert Truck Accident Attorneys Today

Being involved in a truck accident is completely devastating in most circumstances. The injuries are unimaginable for those who are fortunate to never know the experience of a truck accident. Our Gilbert personal injury attorneys understand what you are going through. We’ve seen clients like you get through these cases together with our help to find success and compensation for their damages. We want to help you get the same results. Please reach out to us as soon as you can. Our attorneys fight tooth and nail to ensure that your results are full and fair. We are here to help you through every step of the process so you feel supported and educated but don’t have to worry about the burden of representing a case on your own. We make it easier for you. Call today to set up your free consultation to receive invaluable free injury legal advice.

Frequently Asked Questions for Our Truck Accident Attorneys in Gilbert, AZ

A Drunk Semi-Truck Driver Smashed Into My Car, Causing Injury. Can We Also Sue the Company that He Drives For?

One of our attorneys was asked that question recently. Incidents involving semi drivers under the influence are actually more common than you would suspect. Most commercial drivers, if they’ve been doing it very long and if they’re drug addicts, usually know how to hide that information, and they get very skilled at that.

For instance, being drunk is not the most common situation for commercial drivers. There are other drugs that are harder to detect. That’s even more of a reason to call our firm and get us investigating the case right away because we can uncover those situations. If it’s just a blatant DUI, then the criminal justice system actually provides some additional money or potential compensation to you, and we’ll guide you through that process. One of our attorneys is a former prosecutor, so they’re very familiar with that process and can guide you through that process to make it so that we’re going to get you insurance money, but, a judge may order the DUI driver to pay you back directly from any economic injury that wasn’t totally covered by insurance.

Beyond that, can we sue the driver directly? Well, if the insurance company doesn’t pay what they should, we always sue the driver and make sure we do. That’s one of the things that our firm absolutely can do. We do sue drunk drivers, whether they driver big commercial vehicles or a little Honda. When they’re drunk, that automatically means that they’re risking everyone out there on the freeway, including you, their victim. They need to pay for that, and that’s another reason that you need to call us. Remember, if you’re hit by a DUI driver or someone that’s high, in a commercial vehicle or any situation, call us. The call is free, the information is free, and we’re here to help you.

After a Truck Crash, is it a Good Idea to Talk to the Insurance Companies?

We had a situation where a client called our office recently, asked one of our attorneys this, and here’s how our attorney responded. The short answer is, no, that’s a bad idea. Why? Because all insurance adjusters are trained in how to take what you and use it against you down the road. That is doubly or triply true in trucking accident cases because you don’t become, if you’re an insurance adjuster, an insurance adjuster for trucking cases on day one. You start out with the little parking lot cases, and by the time you get to trucking accident cases, you’re very skilled at protecting the trucking company. You’re also very skilled at making sure that the trucking company doesn’t have to pay out too much money to the people that have been injured. That’s why you need to have a skilled trucking accident law firm on your side to balance this out.

You’ve seen the scale of justice; you do not want to be in a situation where, basically, you’ve got a heavy-weight adjuster here and you’re by yourself, the lightweight, because eventually you’ll get squashed. Remember, call us early. The call is free, the information is free. As far as talking to an adjuster, we don’t allow our clients to talk to the adjusters about their injuries or the accident. We only do it in writing, and that’s how we protect our clients. Don’t fall for what the insurance adjuster says – “Well, if you don’t give me a recorded statement, then I’m not going to fix your car.” When you call us and hire us, and that’s why we’ll balance things out in your favor. Remember, the call is free, the information is free. It can be priceless. It can make the difference in tens of thousands or even millions of dollars to you, and we are here for you.

Can I Sue if a Family Member Dies in a Truck Crash?

This is a question that, unfortunately, many families face when they lose a loved one due to the carelessness or recklessness of a commercial truck driver. Nationwide, that happens to thousands of families a year, and it happens fairly regularly in Arizona, unfortunately. When that happens, the question then becomes, “I lost my loved one because of that driver, because they were texting instead of driving,” or “They were looking at the screen over here, and doing whatever, instead of paying attention straight ahead. Can the driver be sued along with the company?” The answer is absolutely yes. We’ve had that situation pop up, and our attorneys will advise you that that is a classic situation, where, yes, our attorneys are going to go after the driver who cost the life of your loved one.

Call us in a situation like that because not only can we refer you to some incredibly helpful grief support groups but we can also work on the legal side of the case while your family is recovering emotionally.

Call us, and we’ll make some referrals to people who have been through the exact same situation that you are going through right now, and that makes all the difference. Remember, if you’ve lost a loved one because of a truck driver’s moment of inattention or worse, we will get you to some wonderful people who have been through the same thing and can help you emotionally while we’re taking care of your case legally. Call us. The call is free, the information is free. Call us, because we hope you can feel that we really are here for you.

Do You Recommend Taking the Insurance Company’s Initial Offer?

The question comes up, if you’re involved in a serious truck accident in Arizona, is it a good idea or ever a good idea to accept the insurance company’s first offer? We get clients in that situation all the time. Just the other day, someone called our office and spoke to one of our attorneys about it. This is what our attorney advised – of course, that was specific to their case, and that’s why you need to call and have one of our attorneys analyze your specific situation. I think the information in general can be useful to you, as well.

When an insurance company is in a hurry to get you to settle your claim, that should be a clue to you that it’s going to be favorable to the insurance company and most likely unfavorable to you. If an insurance adjuster says, “Hey, here’s a check for $3,000. We’ll cover $6,000 in medical bills, but I need to know if I can overnight the check to you this afternoon?” Before you say yes, say, “Hmm, I just need to think about this for a couple days,” and then, in the case of the people who called our law firm, call us and we’ll go through everything with you. Most of the time, almost 90% of the time, after analysis by one of our attorneys, you’ll find out that that is a bad offer, a bad deal, and you would end up getting ripped off.

Of course, the insurance adjuster is either going to imply or say, “Pay now and you don’t have to lose a third of your pay to an attorney,” but you should still call us. If we can’t do a better job than what they’re offering, one of our attorneys will tell you that and say, “Okay, fine,” but that’s rarely the case. What you’ll find out instead is that if your case is properly developed, you get the top medical care and everything is done properly. The trucking company is investigated. If they’ve got a bad safety record, that becomes part of the case. If everything is accounted like that, our law firm is typically going to get a lot more money in your pocket, and they know that. That’s why they’re in a rush to have you settle.

Call us first, and make sure that doesn’t happen to you. One of our attorneys will be happy to review whatever offer you’ve been given and analyze it. There are a few cases, rare as they are, where you’re not really seriously injured and that first offer might not be a terrible thing. At least get checked out medically and make sure that’s the case. Then one of our attorneys will say, “Sure, go ahead,” but that’s very rare. Remember, the call is free, the information is free, and it can be priceless. It can make the difference between tens of thousands and even potentially millions of dollars in your case, so don’t forget to call us. We really are here for you.

How Do I Determine the Value of My Truck Accident Claim?

The question often comes up, “If I’m involved in a trucking accident, how do I determine the value of my case?” In fact, the other day, a trucking accident victim called our law firm and spoke to one of our attorneys, and here’s what our attorney explained. Normally, an injury case can be worth more money involving a trucking accident if it’s handled properly, and that’s a big if.

As the attorney explained, because there’s typically a lot more insurance coverage involved, trucking companies fight these claims much harder. They’re much more into not disclosing information that would help you and hurt them. That’s what they, quite frankly, see as their role most of the time. Remember, you have loved ones that may have serious injuries and they’re recuperating – they may have been killed. You’re bereaving.

While that’s going on, give us a call. We can be working on the legal end while you’re grieving or focusing on physical recovery. We’ll recommend some great experts that can help you in all those areas. As far as what the value of that case ultimately is, early on, one of our attorneys could give you some kind of estimate, but we only really have a clear picture of that as your injuries recover or as we find out more information about the bad things that trucking company may be guilty of. That can raise the value of your case substantially, so give us a call. One of our attorneys will be happy to analyze your particular situation and let you know at least a range of what your case may be worth. As the case progresses, we can give you a better idea.

Call us early. Don’t call us late. There’s a lot we can do if you’ve messed up your case, so to speak. Call us. The call is free, the information is free, and we really are here for you.

How Do I Select the Best Truck Accident Attorney?

The question often comes up, “How do I select the right truck accident attorney if I get injured in Arizona?” That’s a very important question if you’ve been hit by a semi-trailer or any large truck. In fact, we’ve had situations like that, recently, where people contact us to talk to one of our attorneys and they say, “Yeah, if somebody can do a car accident, it’s just a bigger vehicle, right?” Well, one of our attorneys was talking to a potential client the other day and explained, no, that’s not right. It’s like the difference between minor leagues and major leagues, if you’re a baseball player, and the reason is because it really is that much different in how a truck accident case needs to be handled from a car accident case.

For instance, it’s very common that a lot of car accident attorneys will handle it the same way, and that can cost you, as a client, as the attorney explained, thousands of dollars. How? As it was explained to this potential client, let’s go through some of those possibilities. All these trucks nowadays have onboard computers that record everything. What happens is, after a semi has rear-ended someone, the insurance companies send out all these experts immediately to protect their client, not necessarily secure the evidence.

As one of our attorneys explained to the potential client, what we do is we make sure that one of our experts is there to download that information at the same time the trucking company has an expert. Otherwise, what often happens is that the trucking company or their insurance company just goes, “Oops, it’s gone.” Of course, that’s where the evidence would hurt them. If it’s helpful, they don’t have any problem keeping that evidence around. We had a situation where a semi driver rear-ended our clients, several people were killed, and the insurance company tried to blame our vehicle. They said the lights weren’t on. It took a whole year and, finally, we were able to take the deposition of the other driver, the truck driver, and it turned out that just before we took the deposition of the truck driver, we got the medical evidence showing that this truck driver was high on just about everything you can imagine.

After we presented that to the attorney for the trucking company, he said, “I imagine now you probably want us to pay the policy limits,” and, by the way, the policy limits are usually bare minimum, $750,000, millions more common, and sometimes multi-million dollars. We got a very good settlement for our clients. If you’re not willing to go that far, the trucking company and their insurance company, and their attorneys, they’ll do the best they can to make it difficult or impossible for you to discover what they did wrong.

Another situation is for drivers to be tired from driving too much. The trucking companies nowadays, they’re usually smart enough to not tell drivers to drive as many hours as they want to make more money. They can encourage it and tolerate it, however. In the old days, they used to have log books and they could fudge it, but now that information is stored in the computers. It can show every place that they stopped, if they got the right amount of rest, if they were driving more hours. If the company tolerates that kind of behavior, just because drivers make more money, make more profit, they might end up killing more people as a result. That case can qualify for what’s called punitive damages – that’s another thing the attorney explained to them. Punitive damages open up a huge amount of compensation beyond the medical bills and the pain and suffering.

If you’re in a situation where you or a loved one was involved in a trucking accident, call us. We can do a search and find out if this trucking company and their inspections – if they have failed most of their inspections, if their drivers have been taken off the road because of rule violations – we’ll let you know for free about that kind of information, and that can make a huge difference in the value of your case, even with the same injuries. That’s just part of what our attorneys can explain when they look at your individual situation.

Remember, any trucking accident, you really need to have a law firm on your side. Call us early. There’s more that we can help you with. There’s more we can do. Call us. The call is free, the information is free, and it can be priceless and make tens of thousands of dollars difference to you or millions, potentially. Call us because we’re here for you.

How is a Commercial Truck Accident Claim Different From an Auto Accident?

The question often comes up, “I was involved in a truck accident. How is that different than your regular car accident? Is there a difference?” That’s a common question. Just the other day we had a potential client call our firm and ask one of our attorneys that question, and here’s how the attorney responded. First of all, yes, there’s a huge difference as far as how much insurance compensation is potentially available. Instead of maybe $15,000 or $25,000, or $50,000, there’s going to be at least $750,000 or a million or two million or ten million dollars potentially available. That’s one of the first differences.

The second is, even if you don’t feel like you have been injured, still call us, because another factor is the behavior of the driver and all the other drivers that drive for that company. If they’re on the so-called unsafe list – and you can call us and we can look that up really quick and tell you – your case can be worth more money just because of that, because of their bad record. Again, that’s another reason why trucking cases are different than the hit-the-car-down-the-street kind of situation.

Another big difference is, because there can be so much more money involved, insurance companies and trucking companies are a lot more likely to say, “Hey, you know what, this is all we’re going to offer you. Sue us.” They think that they’ve hidden enough stuff and they don’t have to worry. Well, we’re very good at uncovering things that they’ve been trying to hide. We had a trucking company that rear-ended our clients and killed several of them, and they were saying, “Oh, your van, the brake lights didn’t work. Your clients are at fault, not our driver.” It took a whole year for the results to come back and show the truth, then the insurance company said, “Okay, okay, we’ll pay all our policy limits.” Up to that point, they kept blaming our client for something, but that certainly wasn’t the cause of that collision.

There’s definitely a difference, and that’s a reason to call us early and have one of our attorneys analyze your case, specifically go through that with you. Even if you’re not quite ready to hire us, at least you’ll have that information available to help guide your decision in choosing the best trucking accident law firm for your case. Remember, the call is free, the information is free, and it can be priceless. It can make the difference in tens of thousands, or even potentially millions of dollars, in a trucking accident. We really are here for you.

How Long is it Going to Take to Resolve My Truck Accident Injury Claim?

The question comes up often, “I was hit by a big semi-trailer and have been seriously injured. How long is it going to take for me to resolve my claim? I’m out of work. I’ve got these medical bills piling up. How long is it going to take?” That’s a common question. That was actually asked by a potential client a couple weeks ago. One of our attorneys talked to the client and told them this – and this is general information for you, but call and talk to one of our lawyers and we’ll give you specific information that’s specific to your case. What the attorney said is that truck accidents are not the same as a little fender bender that happened next block over.

Typically, the damage to your vehicle is much more, and the insurance companies and the trucking companies treat these cases very differently. Instead of maybe $15,000 or $25,000 of insurance coverage, they’re going to have $750,000 in insurance coverage, a million dollars, two million, ten million, twenty million dollars in insurance coverage, so they make sure that they’re protecting their own interests – which, by the way, doesn’t include you. Because of that, you need an experienced truck accident law firm on your side because it turns into a battle; it’s like a war. Sometimes in wars, some people win and some people lose, so you want to make sure that you have experienced truck accident attorneys on your side. You do not want to go against a trucking company or their insurance company on your own because you’ll normally lose.

Call us early to at least get that information that’s available, and then we can give you – once we know more about the trucking company involved and your injuries – a much better idea about how long it will take to resolve your claim. Call us, and don’t walk like a lamb to the slaughter. The call is free, the information is free, and it can make tens of thousands or even millions of dollars difference to you. Call us. We are to help you.

What Are Common Mistakes People Make if They Have Been Injured in a Truck Accident?

The question often comes up, for a serious trucking accident in Arizona, what are some of the biggest mistakes that people make in making a claim or handling their case? That’s an extremely common question. We had someone contact our office recently and talk to one of our attorneys and ask that question. He said, “I want to make sure I don’t mess up my case,” and the attorney said, “Well, the number one thing you did right is you called us.” The number one mistake that people make or families make, if their loved one died and stuff – they’re in grief and shock, and it’s all they can do to deal with what’s happened – is they say, “Well, you know, the legal stuff, we’ll do that later.” While they’re in shock and grief, the trucking company and their insurance company and lawyers are going into damage control mode. As the attorney explained, this is all kinds of – anything that could hurt the trucking company or cause you, the client, to get a lot of extra money, they’re going to do their best to make it either – I mean, if they’re not required to preserve it, it’s gone, that evidence. Sometimes when they are required, they just go, “Oops, mistake. We don’t know how that happened.”

Have somebody in the family contact us so we can start investigating the case. There’s no cost to the family for us to start an investigation, and there’s no risk. If for any reason we don’t end up getting compensation for the family, you owe us zero, not even for costs. Just make sure someone in the family calls us, starts us on the investigation, while the family is dealing with recovery or grief. We have some great referrals and references we can make to help the family with that. Just remember, that’s avoiding the number one biggest mistake.

Beyond that, other mistakes are thinking that, “Yes, I got injured. The semi cut me off and rear-ended me. My vehicle might be messed up, but I’m not hurt that bad.” Well, you know, still call us. A classic example is you’re having headaches that you didn’t have before the accident, and you think, “Maybe I didn’t get enough sleep,” or something like that. If those headaches started after the accident, you didn’t have them before, especially if they’re at the front, top or side of your head, that can be the number one symptom of you suffering a concussion, and concussions are no laughing matter. The only time they’re a laughing matter is if you don’t call us and we don’t get you into an expert and get treatment because, at the end of your case, the insurance adjuster, if you get no diagnosis and treatment, they will laugh at you.

It’s important that you call us early, that we get you into the best medical experts. There’s nothing wrong with your local chiropractor, but they are not going to be the ideal medical specialists if you’re seriously injured in a major trucking accident. Call us. We’ll give you great reference, great referrals. Even if you haven’t decided you’re going to hire us, that’s okay. We provide that as a public service to help clients or potential clients from harming their case. Call us in a serious trucking accident. The call is free, the information is free, and can actually be worth tens of thousands or even potentially millions of dollars to you and your family, and we provide it because you really are who is important to us.

What Should I Do if I Was Injured in a Commercial Truck Accident?

The question often comes up for truck accidents, “What should I do if I was seriously injured in a commercial truck wreck in Arizona?” We’re talking about 18-wheelers, dump trucks, etc. Those vehicles cause massive injuries just because of their size and mass. They can hit a vehicle going at a relatively low rate of speed and cause much greater injuries. If you ever took a high school physics course, there’s a formula for explaining that the bigger the mass, it doesn’t take as much speed to cause some massive damage. We actually have experts that will show the trucking company how much damage and injury they have caused our clients.

Anytime you’re in a serious accident with a commercial vehicle, you should contact an attorney as soon as possible. We have clients that call us right from the hospital. That’s not too early. We can swing into action and prevent evidence from getting destroyed, notifying the trucking company, “You better keep this information available because we’re going to come after it. If you don’t, there’s going to be legal consequences.” All those things, our attorneys will explain to you, relating to your personal case, if you call us. The earlier, the better, in that situation, even if you just call us and get the information so you know and have that to protect yourself. You can take your time selecting the best law firm, but at least start the process immediately.

Call us. The call is free, the information is free, and can be priceless and probably worth, in major trucking cases, potentially millions of dollars. Don’t delay. Remember, we really are here for you.