Flickinger Legal Group
Our personal injury law firm helps people who have been injured due to the negligence of others. We will do everything we can to help injury victims get better in all aspects of your lives.
Trucking Accident Attorney Grove City, OH
Truck accidents are more destructive and potentially deadly than car accidents. They also generally involve more parties, more complex insurance coverage, and more complicated legal considerations. That’s why you need a lawyer with extensive experience representing those injured in trucking accidents.
If someone else caused the crash that injured you, you may be entitled to compensation. The seasoned truck accident lawyers at Flickinger Legal Group can seek that compensation for you. Schedule your free initial consultation with a truck accident lawyer serving Grove City today.
Common Causes of Truck Accidents in Grove City
There are strict regulations on the commercial trucks you see out there on I-270 that are designed to make trucking as safe as possible for everyone. However, that doesn’t mean truck accidents don’t happen—and when they do happen, they can be devastating. Here are a few of the most common causes of truck accidents in Grove City.
Driver Fatigue
Truck drivers run on tight schedules, and they spend extended hours on the road. Although federal regulations call for mandatory 30-minute breaks after eight hours of driving and a maximum of eleven hours of driving after ten off-duty hours, drivers are often pressured to ignore the rules in favor of making better time. This results in drowsy driving which can be incredibly deadly in any vehicle, let alone in one that weighs up to 80,000 pounds.
Distracted Driving
Smartphones have made distracted driving a serious issue for drivers of all kinds in recent years. For truck drivers, the margin for error for distracted driving is remarkably thin. Their trucks can cause devastation in the blink of an eye if they so much as drift into another lane at the wrong time or take a second too long to realize traffic up ahead has stopped. Federal regulations prohibit truckers from texting and from typing or reading a text while driving.
Impaired Driving
Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is potentially deadly no matter what vehicle you’re in, but it can be even more devastating in a commercial truck. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association (FMCSA) regulations prohibit a driver from having a blood alcohol concentration greater than (.04%). Additionally, drivers are prohibited from drinking or being under the influence of alcohol within four hours of going on duty.
Mechanical Failures
Engine issues, brake failures, poorly secured cargo, tire blowouts, and more can all lead to serious accidents. When they do, the liability can fall on a variety of entities, including the driver, the mechanic, the cargo loader, the truck owner, or the manufacturer of the failed part.
Why Truck Accidents Are More Complicated
Accidents involving commercial trucks involve factors that don’t play a part in collisions between most other types of passenger vehicles. Some of those factors include:
Trucks Are Bigger and Heavier
Commercial trucks can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, which means the devastation they’re capable of is astonishing. The greater weight of these vehicles produces tremendous force on impact with another vehicle. As a result, physical injuries and property damage are often more severe than in car accidents, so injuries may be catastrophic and require expensive, ongoing medical treatment.
Multiple Parties Are Involved
In most cases, a regular car accident involves two drivers and their insurance companies. With commercial truck crashes, the driver, their employer, the truck’s manufacturer, the cargo handlers, maintenance providers, and possibly all of their insurance companies can be involved. On top of that, the insurance policies held by these parties are all varied and complex.
The numerous parties involved in a truck accident can also share liability. For instance, if a truck driver violated regulations at the behest of their employer and caused an accident, they may both be held accountable.
Trucking Regulations
Both regular drivers and truckers are beholden to traffic laws, but truckers are also beholden to the strict regulations placed on them by both state and federal authorities. Investigating whether or not a driver was in violation of any regulations is a complicated but critical aspect of these cases that can weigh heavily on the outcome.
Who Can Be Liable for a Truck Accident in Grove City?
A surprising number of parties may be liable in a truck accident case. The number of potential parties can complicate the case but can also make it possible to secure full and fair compensation for the losses you suffered in the crash. These parties are commonly held liable in these kinds of accidents.
Truck Driver
The truck driver usually bears some level of responsibility in a truck accident case because they operate the vehicle. Instances in which the driver is found solely responsible are commonly impaired, fatigued, distracted, or reckless driving cases.
Trucking Company
They may not be out on the road driving the truck, but the trucking company that employs the driver bears a level of responsibility for ensuring that their employee is not a danger to the public. Some companies are also held accountable for truck accidents if they pressured their drivers to violate regulations so they could meet tight delivery windows. If the company’s hiring practices were insufficient to remove dangerous or untrained drivers from their hiring pool, they could be liable for accidents caused by those drivers.
Maintenance Companies
If a trucking company uses a maintenance company and that company’s inspection process is not thorough enough, or the truck has mechanical issues they failed to address, and an accident occurs because of those issues, liability may fall on them. If a trucking company has an in-house mechanic or truck maintenance department that similarly failed to identify and repair faults, the trucking company could be liable.
Truck Manufacturer
When a manufacturer sells a vehicle or a truck part, the expectation is that it will work properly. If a truck, its systems, or its parts fail while the truck is in operation, the results can be disastrous. The manufacturer could be liable for the accident caused by the defective system.
Cargo Company
Poorly secured or overloaded cargo can be the reason a truck accident occurs. An unbalanced load can make a truck top-heavy and prone to rollover accidents. A truck with a poorly secured load could drop cargo onto the road or onto nearby vehicles. In those circumstances, the company that loaded the cargo may be held responsible.
Compensation for Truck Accident Victims
Truck accident victims can seek compensation for:
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages and benefits
- Property damage
- Pain and suffering
The amount of compensation depends on a variety of factors including severity of injuries, extent of financial losses, relevant laws, and the liable parties.
How Our Truck Accident Lawyers Serve Grove City Clients
Flickinger Legal Group has 30 years of experience fighting for clients who have been injured or lost loved ones in truck accidents. You’ll be speaking directly with Russ and Justin. When we take on your case, we can:
- Investigate the crash to determine who was at fault
- Gather evidence to prove the extent of your losses
- Engage expert witnesses to support your version of how the crash occurred or the extent of your injuries and their effect on your life
- Obtain all your medical records
- Handle all communication with the insurer
- Send a demand letter to the insurance company
- Negotiate for the compensation you deserve
- Take your case to trial if necessary to get the compensation you need
Grove City, OH Truck Accident FAQs
Truck accident cases are more complex than the average car accident, and there are probably some questions running through your mind right now. Who’s at fault? What evidence do you need? Should you talk to the insurance company?
At Flickinger Legal Group, we hear these concerns every day. Our law firm has prepared the following answers to help you take your next steps with less stress and more clarity.
You can count on trucking companies and their insurance providers to start looking out for their own interests immediately after a truck accident. You should do the same. Here’s what you can do to protect your legal rights in the aftermath of a truck wreck:
- Go to the doctor right away to get treated and create a record of your condition.
- Contact a knowledgeable truck accident attorney serving Grove City.
- Save all medical records, bills, and discharge instructions related to your injuries.
- Take photos of your injuries and any damage to your vehicle.
- Keep documentation of missed work, income losses, and property damage estimates.
- Don’t speak to the trucking company’s insurer—let your lawyer handle this.
- Don’t post about the accident or your injuries on social media.
As soon as you can. Trucking companies often send teams out right away to protect themselves. Their goal is to limit what they owe. That’s why it’s so important to get someone on your side early—someone who knows how these cases work and can start preserving evidence immediately.
The longer you wait, the harder it can be to access trucking company records, camera footage, and witnesses. A lawyer can also help you deal with insurance calls and medical bills. Don’t wait and hope things will sort themselves out. A quick call can now save you from bigger problems later.
Grove City truck accident cases turn on strong evidence. After a crash, you’ll want to gather photos from the scene, crash reports, medical records, and the names of any witnesses. Those can help you show how the crash happened and how it affected you.
Evidence like driver logbooks, black box data, maintenance records, and dashcam footage is also key in these cases.
These records can show whether the truck was safe, how long the driver had been on the road, and whether any rules were broken. But trucking companies don’t keep all this forever. Some records get deleted within weeks unless someone demands they be preserved. That’s why it’s important to get a lawyer involved early, so they can make sure key case evidence doesn’t disappear.
Yes, you can still recover compensation, even if the truck driver or their insurer tries to blame you. Ohio follows a modified comparative fault rule, which applies in cases where more than one party is at fault. This rule says that you can still get paid as long as you were no more than 50 percent at fault.
Here’s how it works in practice. If you were 51 percent or more at fault, you can’t claim any money from other parties. If you are 50 percent at fault or less, you can still recover money, but your payout gets reduced based on your percentage of fault. For example, if you were 30 percent at fault, your maximum payout would decrease by 30 percent.
That said, trucking companies and their insurance providers will almost always try to shift the blame since their goal is to reduce what they have to pay. You don’t have to accept their version of the story.
Our attorneys can help you challenge unfair accusations and protect your right to recover what you deserve. Don’t rely on what the other side says. Let us review the evidence and give you a clear, honest view of where you stand.
Contact Flickinger Legal Group Today
We know exactly what kind of financial and emotional toll it can take and we’ve recovered millions in our efforts to recoup those kinds of losses. If you’ve been injured or lost a loved one in a truck accident, don’t delay.
Contact the Flickinger Legal Group personal injury lawyers serving Grove City to schedule your free consultation today.