How Can an Indiana Truck Accident Lawyer Help?

June 21, 2024

Truck accidents are a major concern in Indiana, injuring 1,609 Hoosiers in 2023 alone.  While you may be eligible for compensation if you get hurt by a truck in the state, success is never guaranteed, which is why many seek out legal assistance.  How can an Indiana truck accident lawyer help?  Join us as we discuss what a skilled attorney can do for your truck accident case. 

Your Indiana Truck Accident Will Be Investigated 

To be viable, an Indiana truck accident case must demonstrate both “negligence” – a term for the failure to exercise care to avoid causing harm – and “damages” – another term for harm.  If a defendant’s negligence leads to a truck accident that inflicts physical damages, the injured victim can go after that defendant for financial damages. 

With this goal in mind, your Indiana truck accident lawyer will start off by conducting a comprehensive investigation to identify the potential defendants for your case, which could be anyone whose negligence contributed to your injuries. 

The list of defendants may be quite substantial, possibly including the truck’s driver, its owner (if separate from the driver), and any company making use of the truck (if separate from the owner).  Others could be culpable as well, such as a servicing agent if a mechanical breakdown is involved in the truck accident, a manufacturer, distributor, or retailer if a defective component is linked to that breakdown, or an outside loader if improperly packed cargo is to blame.  In some instances, multiple parties might share varying degrees of legal liability for the same truck accident, for which they might share varying degrees of fiscal liability – and all of them will need to be pursued within the time allotted by law. 

Your attorney will also identify ALL of your damages from the truck accident, whether short-term, long-term, monetary, or non-monetary, including: 

• Past, present, and future medical expenses 

• Lost wages 

• Reduced earning capacity 

• Pain and suffering 

• Psychological trauma 

• Diminished quality of living 

• Mobility restrictions 

• Loss of consortium 

• Punitive and wrongful death damages (if applicable) 

Moreover, your lawyer will calculate what those damages are worth, which is a crucial step if you hope to get what you are owed. 

Your Claim Will Be Established 

Next, your attorney will establish a valid truck accident claim by sending formal notification in writing to the defendants and their insurance companies. 

Additionally, your truck accident lawyer can initiate a lawsuit if necessary, ensuring that it is filed correctly in the appropriate venue within the time allotted by law so that it is not dismissed. 

Your Indiana Truck Accident Case Will Be Built 

Your attorney will then work tirelessly to build a truck accident case that conveys both the totality of your damages and the extent of the defendants’ liability, acting swiftly to amass the evidence to support it.  Evidence of your damages could include treatment and employment documentation, while evidence of liability could include: 

• Police reports

• Citations and dispositions  

• Crash scene photos  

• Dash cam, traffic light, and surveillance footage  

• Black box data  

• Witness statements  

• Phone records  

• Hours of Service (HOS) and inspection logs  

• Accident reconstruction and forensic analysis 

The stronger your Indiana truck accident case is, the stronger your position will be during negotiations. 

A Settlement May Be Negotiated  

Once your case has been built, your lawyer will begin negotiating with the defendants’ insurance carriers, who are the chief source of economic recovery in most truck accident cases.  Because your attorney will have had far more experience dealing with insurance adjusters than you have had, he or she will be better equipped to meet them on a level playing field, overcoming the standard tactics that might doom a rookie claimant. 

Your lawyer will strive to reach a settlement that is commensurate with your losses, which statistics show you are likelier to obtain with professional representation.  In fact, the Insurance Research Council has found that personal injury plaintiffs with attorneys receive settlements or judgments that are 3.5 times higher than the ones received by plaintiffs without attorneys. 

And if your truck accident case should happen to go to trial, your lawyer will become indispensable, since plaintiffs who represent themselves in court only win about 4 percent of the time.  In contrast, plaintiffs who hire attorneys win their cases more often than not, which might secure them the resources to get their lives back to normal. 

Turn to Our Indiana Truck Accident Lawyers 

Hensley Legal Group has been standing up for the honest men and women of Indiana for more than 25 years.  If you have been injured through no fault of your own, turn to our Indiana truck accident lawyers to explore your legal options. 

Please call or text us at (317) 472-3333, chat with us online, or fill out our contact form to schedule a free consultation with a dedicated Indiana truck accident attorney today.