Essential Steps for Recovering Compensation After a Texas Delivery Truck Accident
When you’re waiting for a package to arrive, you can’t wait to see a delivery truck coming down the street. If you’re in a rush, the last thing you want is to be held up by a delivery truck. Texans tend to have a love-hate relationship with delivery trucks.
While absolutely essential, the vehicles can also be a pain. Delivery trucks can also be dangerous on Texas roads. Accidents can and do happen. While the common causes of Texas delivery truck accidents can vary, something tends to stay the same. Accident victims want to know if they can recover compensation for their financial damages. Usually, the answer is yes but you will need to follow a few key steps.
What to Do Immediately After a Commercial Trucking Accident
If you’re involved in an accident with a commercial truck, it’s natural to feel a little overwhelmed. You’re suddenly facing unexpected financial costs and this is often just the start of your damages. However, a primary concern, other than your well-being, should be to protect your rights. This means following a few simple steps.
Seek Medical Attention
Since most trucking accidents result in noticeable injuries, seeking medical attention should be a given. After all, you don’t want to sit there bleeding from your injuries instead of getting medical treatment.
Your health is always a priority and this means visiting a healthcare provider after the accident. Some injuries aren’t always immediately obvious. Soft tissue injuries are a good example, along with damage to some internal organs. You may feel fine for a few days or even weeks before noticing any pain or bruising. Adrenaline from the accident can also hide injury symptoms for a while.
To be safe, and protect your right to file a claim, a visit to your primary healthcare provider shouldn’t be overlooked. Make sure you save all of your medical records relating to the accident, these will be crucial to receiving compensation.
Report the Accident to the Authorities
All states have varying requirements when it comes to reporting accidents. However, most are in agreement when the accident involves a commercial truck, this includes Texas. You must report all accidents that result in injuries, fatalities, or excessive property damage. In the Lonestar State, any property damage exceeding $500 must be reported immediately to the authorities.
Reporting the accident immediately helps to ensure there’s an official record of the incident. Your accident report is also a requirement when you’re filing a compensation claim against the truck driver or vehicle owner. Without the report, it’s tough to prove the accident happened. Your accident report also contains crucial details that can help support your claim.
You can usually pick up your accident report in around ten business days. You should also expect to pay a nominal fee for your copy of the report. The fee is usually around $10 so don’t panic at the possibility of another large expense.
Try to Gather Evidence
Okay, so gathering evidence doesn’t mean crawling around the accident scene. If you’re injured, your health is a priority. Let the authorities handle gathering the evidence. If you’re wondering why you’re also gathering evidence, it’s to simply help speed up the claim process. Remember, it can take up to ten business days for your accident report to be ready for pickup. There’s no reason why you can’t help speed up the process if your injuries allow it.
What types of evidence should you try to gather? You’re only sticking to the basics. You’re probably not a licensed accident scene investigator. Plus, you don’t want to get in the way of the professionals. Grab your cell phone and take pictures of the accident scene, focusing on where your vehicle ended up. This can help prove fault. Don’t forget to take photos of any visible injuries, this includes your passengers. Your medical records will list your injuries but pictures can help prove the severity.
Don’t forget to jot down the location of any video surveillance cameras. This includes both traffic, business, and residential cameras. The footage can be subpoenaed by your personal injury attorney to help support your version of the accident.
Go ahead and exchange information with any witnesses but don’t discuss any particulars about the accident. The defendant’s insurance adjuster will also talk to the witnesses and you don’t want your statements to be used to try to devalue your injury claim.
Texas is an At-Fault State
Adding to the confusion after a commercial trucking accident are state insurance laws. Texas is an at-fault state so far this part is pretty easy. You file a claim with the at-fault party’s insurance provider. So far so good but just wait until we get to comparative negligence.
The Lonestar State follows comparative negligence rules and this can impact your ability to recover financial compensation. Essentially, the insurance rule lets more than one individual or entity be responsible for causing the same accident.
Everyone involved in the delivery truck accident is assigned a percentage of blame. As long as you’re not more than 50% at fault for the accident, you shouldn’t run into any problems filing an accident claim. Here’s where the downside of comparative negligence typically kicks in.
Your potential settlement amount is going to be reduced by your assigned percentage of blame. So, if your delivery truck accident settlement is $100,000 and you’re 25% responsible for causing the collision, you receive $75,000 in compensation.
Pay Attention to the Statute of Limitations and Protect Your Rights By Talking to a Texas Delivery Truck Accident Attorney
The last thing you’re probably thinking about is a timeline to file a claim after a delivery truck accident. Unfortunately, it’s something you need to pay attention to regardless of the severity of your injuries. You have two years to file a personal injury claim after a commercial truck accident in Texas.
If you miss the statute of limitations, there’s a good chance you can’t file a claim for damages. You should also plan on working with an experienced Texas delivery truck accident attorney. Your attorney can help protect your rights and ensure you can recover fair compensation.
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