Melrose Law represents truck accident victims in Western North Carolina after a crash.
If a truck driver’s negligence caused your accident, every medical bill you receive and every paycheck you lose while out of work should be covered.
We will fully investigate your accident, then we demand support from the truck driver’s insurance provider and the employer’s insurance that covers everything you’ve been through. We are ready to talk to you in a free consultation. It’s time to focus on healing while allowing us to fight on your behalf.
Do I Need a Lawyer After a Traffic Accident?
If you are forced into a collision with a truck and somehow your injuries are only minor, or you only suffer property damage, you may not need a lawyer’s help to get compensated. However, truck accidents involve large, dangerous vehicles, and the consequences can be much greater than in a normal car accident.
Here are a few signs that may indicate you need to speak with an Asheville Truck Accident Lawyer:
- If you suffer a serious injury like a bone fracture, a neck or back injury, or a head injury. The higher your medical bills, the harder trucking companies and insurers will make it to win the support you need to recover.
- If the truck driver or the trucking company refuses to accept blame for what happened or tries to blame you.
- If the commercial truck insurance company offers you a quick settlement that doesn’t appear to cover all of your medical costs and time lost at work.
- If a trucking company involves its own lawyers. Make sure you have legal representation protecting your injury claim.
- If a loved one was taken from your family due to a fatal mistake by a truck driver.
Your lawyer demands that insurers provide for your needs for as long as it takes to heal. That may be months. When a catastrophic injury is involved, it could mean support lasting for years. It’s also likely that a skilled attorney could win you much more for your hardships than you could hope to win by filing a claim yourself and trusting insurance companies.
Truck Accident Hazards in Asheville
Buncombe County’s narrow highways and tight curves can be hard enough for drivers in cars to navigate. But traveling the mountains behind the wheel of a big rig can be even more difficult, especially for inexperienced truck drivers.
Those in the driver’s seats in semi-trucks and wide delivery vans can cause havoc on the roads by crossing over traffic lines and losing control in curves. They can also go too fast on an incline and be unable to brake with their heavy loads before crashing into the cars, SUVs, and motorcycles in front of them. Pickup trucks can swing trailers full of times across several lanes when switching lanes, putting several other motorists at risk.
And according to the latest data from the NC DOT Crash Facts reports, truck accidents are a major danger every year in North Carolina. The state recorded over 17,000 truck collisions in 2023, leading to 174 traffic deaths and many more serious injuries. The accidents included in these statistics include everything from delivery vans with two axles and six tires all the way up to trucks pulling loaded tractor-trailers.
The weight of these work vehicles makes them hard to keep on the road; their shapes can also allow smaller vehicles to get trapped underneath trailers, leaving drivers and passengers trapped until they can be rescued from the wreckage.
These are just a few of the reasons truck drivers are often involved in such devastating impacts:
- Speeding Truck Drivers
- Reckless Driving in Big Rigs
- New Truck Drivers Inexperienced with Mountain Roads and Mountain Weather
- Improper training
- Drowsy Truck Drivers
- Drivers Leaving Their Lanes Unintentionally
- Truck Drivers Who Use Drugs or Alcohol and Then Clock In
- Truck and Delivery Drivers Distracted by Work Communication or Their Cell Phones
- Overloaded Trucks and Unbalanced Loads
- Poor Maintenance on Trucks
Truck impacts can lead to traumatic injuries and leave victims needing lifelong medical care and physical therapy. Truck insurance companies will try to give you only enough to cover a trip to the emergency room, when you’ll actually need months to rebuild your health and finances. A skilled Melrose Law demands that you receive full support for as long as necessary.
Who Can Be Held Responsible for WNC Truck Accidents?
Another benefit your lawyer will provide is the ability to zero in on every party that should share blame for your accident. In truck accidents, there may be more than one at-fault party. This is key, because the more parties there are involved, the better chance you have of earning everything you need to pay all medical costs and restore your life back to normal.
These are just a few of the parties that may have to share in providing you with compensation:
Owner/Operator Truck Drivers. These drivers work for themselves. They are liable for their careless mistakes. They will have commercial truck accident insurance to help you after an accident.
Trucking Company. A trucking company may own a fleet of trucks and employ dozens of drivers to move stuff for other businesses. The company will insure each driver, and you can draw from the insurance policy. These businesses can also be responsible if they don’t properly maintain their fleets, and a maintenance issue causes an accident. It’s important to note that a company’s commercial insurance will usually have a much higher limit on the compensation it will provide to accident victims. This is often much more than the policy an owner/operator would carry.
National Distributor or Corporation. These will be the major businesses, like retailers, that employ their own drivers to stock stores and delivery hubs. An employer like Walmart or Amazon will also generally carry better insurance than drivers on the road working for themselves.
Farm Owners. The NC DOT also reports on the dozens of accidents involving farm equipment, tractors, and produce trucks on the road. A farm owner can be liable for any harm that comes to you or your family due to a collision caused by an employee.
Truck Maker. The manufacturer of the truck itself could be found liable if a design flaw is behind a crash. Your lawyer would be checking to see if a recall should have been issued for a dangerous truck model.
What Should I Ask For in a Truck Accident Injury Claim?
You’ll want to make sure everything you’ve faced since your accident is included when you submit your claim. This can include economic damages such as the cost of medical care and physical therapy. It should also include the mental and physical challenges you’ve faced, including mental anguish and the effects of pain that come with any major injury.
Your attorney can help you apply every damage you and your family have endured to your insurance claim. Your attorney will submit this claim for you while giving you time to focus on healing.
Your attorney will also ask for some things you may not have realized could earn you more in a truck accident injury settlement check:
- Money to pay all of your current medical bills and future medical costs
- Support to cover life with a permanent physical disability
- Support for the pain you’ll endure
- Support for the emotional upheaval caused in your life
- Support for the PTSD symptoms you may experience after a frightening truck collision
- Money to pay for travel to see specialists and surgeons
- Reimbursement for every work paycheck and benefit you’ve lost while injured
- Money to replace or repair your personal property, such as a car, motorcycle, pickup, or bicycle
The Power of Investigative Tools After a Truck Accident
It may be clear from an Asheville Police accident report who was at fault in a truck accident. But unfair truck insurance providers can still question everything about an accident, in the hopes they can convince you to accept less than you should receive.
Evidence may be the most powerful weapon you have in your case. Melrose Law can use proof to block insurance company tactics meant to rob you of support.
At Melrose Law, we have 30+ years of experience investigating serious truck accidents. While there are unique factors in every claim, we often employ the following methods to help prove that the truck driver was at fault for the collision:
- Obtain photographs and videos of the incident.Investigating officers will often take pictures of the scene. Sometimes witnesses or the involved drivers will take photographs or video as well. We will move quickly to make sure that the video is preserved so that we can get a better understanding of exactly how the collision occurred. If you are able, you should also grab photos immediately after your accident.
- Interview witnesses to the accident.Memories fade quickly, even of extremely traumatic events. The team at Melrose Law will reach out to the witnesses of the accident to get their best recollection of events while it is still fresh in their memories. While at the scene, if you feel up to it, try to get witness contact information. Later, we can get witnesses to sign witness statements or affidavits to preserve their testimony. On a related note, do not give a statement to an insurance adjuster without speaking to a lawyer first.
- Get information off the commercial truck’s “black box.”Commercial trucks are required to have what is called a “black box” in their vehicle. It is essentially a computer that records information about how the truck was traveling directly before and at the time of the accident, including speed data, and exactly when the driver stepped on the truck’s brakes. We send letters to the truck owner and their insurance company to preserve the information on the black box, which can be instrumental to proving that the truck driver was at fault for the collision.
- Retain expert witnesses for accident reconstruction and medical testimony.When the case calls for expert testimony, we hire nationally respected expert witnesses to help prove your case, including the three elements of negligence: duty, breach, and causation. We are dedicated to getting the best results for our clients and will pay for the most qualified experts necessary to get a favorable result for our clients.
Traffic Laws Meant to Protect NC Motorists from Truck Accidents
There are traffic laws in place from the Federal Government and North Carolina’s Legislature to help prevent vehicles that are too big onto local roads. There are also ordinances meant to get exhausted truck drivers off of NC highways.
The NC DOT explains that commercial motor vehicle owners transporting non-hazardous property and household goods must carry at least $750,000 in insurance coverage. Hopefully, you would never need to access it, but a truck carrying hazardous materials might have to carry one million to five million in accident protection.
Another key safety ordinance involves how long truck drivers can be on the road without breaks. North Carolina enforces the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) “Hours of Service” guidelines.
These are a few of the protective guidelines meant to keep truck drivers fresh and alert:
- Length of Shift. Drivers can operate a truck for a maximum of 11 hours straight after 10 consecutive hours off duty.
- Weekly Driving Limit. Drivers must stop after being on the road for 60 hours over a 7-day period. They must stop after being on the road for 70 hours on duty over 8 consecutive days.
The NC DOT also has specific restrictions for trucks on Asheville highways and interstates. One such restriction is meant to keep big trucks out of the left-lanes (the usually fastest-moving lane) along I-26 in South Asheville.
The mandate keeps trucks out of the left lane between the French Broad River and Long Shoals Road. The vehicles affected are trucks or truck and trailer combinations with a gross vehicle weight rating of greater than 26,000 pounds. A similar restriction is in place along westbound I-40 in Buncombe County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file a claim after a truck accident in North Carolina?
North Carolina sets the statute of limitations on injury claims at three years. Injured riders shouldn’t wait years to act, though. After months of delay, evidence can disappear, and witnesses can become hard to locate. Explore your options with a lawyer as soon as possible.
What if I can’t afford to pay an Asheville truck accident attorney?
You don’t need any up-front money to hire excellent legal representation in Western North Carolina. Melrose Law attorneys work on a contingency basis. It means we only get paid if we win your case. If we lose, you don’t owe anything. If we win, our fee actually comes out of the settlement money that an at-fault party must pay you.
Can my family sue if a truck driver causes an accident that claims a loved one?
Yes. North Carolina allows families left behind to file wrongful death claims and lawsuits. A personal representative or executor named in the deceased’s will would usually file a claim on behalf of close family members, such as a spouse or children of the victim. A skilled Asheville Wrongful Death Lawyer can also help file this claim and make sure family members receive enough in support to avoid financial difficulties in the coming years. Trucking companies could be forced to provide support for funeral costs and leftover medical bills. At-fault parties should also be responsible for the future income the family has lost since loved ones can no longer support their relatives with weekly paychecks.
Contact an Asheville Truck Accident Attorney
Your Melrose Law lawyer will fully investigate the circumstances of your truck accident. We collect all evidence to make sure the blame stays with the careless truck driver and the driver’s employer. We put truck insurance companies on alert that they will be held fully accountable. We also monitor your case to make sure insurers don’t needlessly delay the support you so desperately need at such a difficult time.
Our lawyers offer free consultations to all truck accident victims in Asheville, Waynesville, and across Western North Carolina. This informational session is confidential and comes without any obligation. Contact us to speak with a real, local lawyer today.
