Peoria, Arizona Truck Accident Lawyers
Trucks are an essential element of the supply chain distribution network that keeps grocery store shelves stocked, building materials and large equipment available, and safely transports dangerous chemicals. Large trucks can also be a hazard to the vehicles they share the road with when the truck driver is unable to avoid a collision due to distraction, fatigue, impatience, intoxication, or mechanical failure of their truck.
As personal injury lawyers, our team at Lerner and Rowe knows that in a Peoria truck accident, it is typically the other road users who are seriously injured, even if the truck driver or a third party is at fault. If this describes your Arizona truck accident, you may be able to recover compensation for your damages in a personal injury lawsuit. Our team is available to schedule free consultations, and we encourage you to give us a call at 602-977-1900 or complete a free online case review today.
Why You Should Choose Lerner and Rowe to Represent Your Truck Accident Lawsuit
If you are planning to take legal action after a devastating Peoria truck accident, you need a personal injury attorney who will carefully consider the long-term implications of your truck accident injuries, gather sufficient evidence to confirm the defendant’s liability, and effectively apply their negotiating experience to maximize compensation for these damages. Truck accident lawsuits cannot be left to a novice attorney or a law firm with an excessive caseload.
The truck accident attorneys of Lerner and Rowe have repeatedly demonstrated our capacity to secure fair settlements that acknowledge the harm done to our client’s physical health, emotional well-being, and financial stability. Injured Arizonans have turned to our team for almost 20 years, and we have consistently offered top-tier support that yields outstanding results.
At Lerner and Rowe, we handle a variety of Peoria truck accident claims, such as rollover truck accidents on Carefree Highway, T-bone accidents on Cotton Crossing near the Old Town Walmart, and jackknife accidents on Route 60. You can trust our team to dedicate our time and attention to your Peoria truck accident case until we are satisfied that you are being treated fairly and compensated properly.
Understanding Peoria, Arizona Truck Crashes
Drawing its name from the city in Illinois, Peoria, Arizona, spans Maricopa and Yavapai counties. With a population of 197,866, Peoria is among Arizona’s larger cities, although it is considered a suburb of Phoenix. Trucks regularly frequent Peoria roads, as major highways like Route 60 cut directly through Peoria, and Loop 101 divides it from Sun City. Peoria is also located directly north of Tolleson, a distribution hub for multiple retailers and grocery store chains.
Peoria reported 2,993 traffic collisions with 16 fatalities in the Maricopa County portion of the city in 2021. For the same year, the IIHS estimates that 11% of motor vehicle fatalities are attributable to accidents involving large trucks. IIHS data also warns that of the vehicle occupants killed in collisions involving a passenger vehicle and a large truck, almost every fatality was traveling in a passenger vehicle. This reiterates the destructive capacity of a truck in a collision with a vehicle that is often 20 times lighter.
In addition to costing lives, truck accidents on Peoria roads contribute to the staggering amount of economic damage Maricopa County sustains each year from traffic collisions. Peoria drivers, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians should make an effort to reduce their risk of being involved in a truck accident by ensuring they are visible to the truck driver, indicating lane changes, turns, or plans to cross the street, giving them additional space to navigate, and reporting instances of reckless driving to the appropriate authorities.
Common Causes of Peoria, Arizona Truck Accidents
Although no two truck accidents are identical, there are certain similarities among these types of collisions. If the truck driver has delayed reaction times or does not use considerable caution when maneuvering, regardless of the reason, the risk of a truck accident increases exponentially. Truck accidents are often attributable to the driver’s behavior, as they are responsible for directing the vehicle’s significant momentum, which requires hypervigilance.
While a truck driver may be tempted to check their phone in the midst of a long route, push past the speed limit to make a delivery deadline, tailgate a car that cut them off, or make a swift lane change to avoid missing their exit, that can result in them colliding with a vehicle in their blind spot or not having enough time to safely stop as traffic slows down. Typical Arizona truck accident causes include:
- Distracted driving
- Speeding
- Texting and driving
- Rubbernecking
- Reckless maneuvering
- Unsafe lane changes
- Excessively wide turns
- Drunk driving
- Aggressive driving
- Ignoring traffic laws
- Running red lights and stop signs
- Drowsy driving
- Mechanical failures
- Road rage
- Poor road maintenance
In order to safely operate, truck drivers depend on their employers, the owner of the fleet, truck parts manufacturers, and cargo loaders to do their jobs with care. Employers who impose unrealistic delivery deadlines, truck owners who fail to conduct routine maintenance inspections, negligent manufacturers who design, produce, distribute, or fail to warn users about faulty truck parts, and cargo loaders who do not secure and balance the truck’s freight can be held liable for causing a truck accident.
Peoria Truck Accident Injuries Can Be Debilitating and Painful
Unfortunately, it is rare to see a truck accident where the motorist, bicyclist, or pedestrian who was hit by the truck emerges without serious injuries. Even if the truck was traveling a local Peoria road at a lower speed, the weight of a truck’s tractor, let alone a fully loaded tractor-trailer, can inflict devastating injuries on the other party while the truck driver is relatively unharmed.
Immediate medical attention is essential to preventing further harm and preserving the integrity of the injured party’s future claim. If you allow a truck accident injury to languish without proper treatment, you run the risk of an insurance company using this against you to say that your injuries are less severe than you have claimed. Given the typical types of injuries that are sustained in Arizona truck accidents, you can’t afford to compromise your claim for damages. Truck accident injuries can include:
- Spinal cord injury
- Nerve damage
- Whiplash injury
- Disfigurement
- Soft tissue injury
- Fractured or broken bones
- Crush injury
- Amputations
- Deep lacerations
- Traumatic brain injury
- Contusions
- Severe burns
- Dental injuries
- Facial injuries
Catastrophic truck accident injuries often have other ramifications beyond the original damage, some of which stem from the treatment. For example, a truck accident survivor’s injuries may require surgery that makes them susceptible to infection, compromises organ function, and leaves them with disfiguring scars.
The intense and painful recoveries that are often standard with truck accident injuries can lead to mental health issues like depression. For survivors who are facing permanent disability, this is an even greater possibility.
What Damages Are Available in a Peoria Truck Accident Lawsuit
Truck accident plaintiffs are often burdened with a slew of costs both in the immediate aftermath of their injury and in the long term as they recover. Some of these can be clearly quantified with a receipt, such as the out-of-pocket cost of a medication or a bill for a skin graft surgery. In most cases, these are considered economic damages because the plaintiff experienced monetary consequences.
While economic damages are usually the focus of a personal injury claim, non-economic damages are often heavily featured in a truck accident lawsuit. Non-economic damages are a way for civil courts to recognize the immaterial and emotional costs of sustaining serious injuries. They can be more challenging to validate, as there is no price tag for the loss of self-esteem from disfiguring scars or the inability to play your piano after sustaining nerve damage in an Arizona truck accident.
Damages in a Peoria truck accident claim may include:
- Medical bills
- Lost wages
- Reduced earning capacity
- Car repairs or replacement
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of quality of life
- Wrongful death
Why You Need a Peoria Truck Accident Attorney
While it may seem unnecessary to hire an Arizona personal injury lawyer to represent your case, this is highly inadvisable. The settlement outcome of your personal injury lawsuit depends on first being able to make a convincing argument for the defendant’s liability, which requires being well-versed in knowledge of legal procedure, evidentiary standards, and the responsibilities of various parties.
The most suitable person to take on this task is a Peoria truck accident lawyer. Negligence can have destructive consequences in a Peoria truck accident, and it is a personal injury lawyer’s job to utilize reliable evidence to establish that the defendant’s negligence is responsible for the plaintiff’s injuries and damages. Unfortunately, this may not be a quick process, as it is not uncommon for multiple parties to share blame and plaintiffs often have extensive damages.
Your Arizona personal injury attorney will have the legal experience to ascertain the best way to pursue compensation for your damages. As a part of their services, they will gather evidence of negligence, conduct depositions, assess medical records, and bring in experts to help create a foundation for your case. Once liability is established, they will function as your advocate to reach a fair settlement.
Frequently Asked Questions About Peoria, Arizona Truck Accident Claims
How much does it cost to hire a Peoria, Arizona truck accident lawyer?
As a client seeking a personal injury lawyer, you should not be asked to make any upfront payments to the law firm representing you. They will manage your Peoria truck accident claim for you and take on expenses that arise throughout the claims process, such as paying for an expert witness. After they settle your truck accident claim, they recover the cost of their services as a contingency fee directly out of the settlement.
Contingency fees are usually worth about a third of the final settlement amount or court awards. Personal injury lawyers are incentivized to work hard for their clients because the amount they recover is dependent upon how much compensation they secure for their clients. If a personal injury lawyer is unable to settle your truck accident claim, you do not owe them anything for their services.
Why are lost-load truck accidents dangerous?
At best, a truck losing its cargo is an inconvenience to other motorists. At worst, it is a danger to everyone in the vicinity. When a truck loses its load after sustaining an impact, maneuvering recklessly, or because the cargo was improperly secured, it can upset the balance of the truck or spill into the roadway. An unstable truck can swerve into other vehicles, including oncoming traffic.
Spilled cargo can result in a multi-car pile-up as vehicles attempt to swerve out of the way, or create environmental conditions that immediately threaten the health and safety of motorists and other road users. Keep in mind that the cargo may not be something as innocuous as bottles of soda or shoes. Truckers often transport explosive, flammable, and toxic materials, which can create low-visibility situations or slick roads, start fires, detonate near cars, and expose road users to poisonous chemicals.
I was injured in a Peoria, Arizona truck accident. How long do I have to file a personal injury lawsuit?
Don’t make the mistake of waiting too long to file a personal injury lawsuit after you have been injured in a Peoria, Arizona truck accident. You have 2 years after your truck accident to file a personal injury lawsuit if you believe another party’s negligent actions caused your injuries according to Arizona law. If you don’t file a claim within this two-year period, the insurance company or a judge will likely have the grounds to dismiss your claim altogether, leaving you with limited or even non-existent options for recovering compensation.
Contact the Peoria Truck Accident Attorneys of Lerner and Rowe
The Peoria personal injury lawyers of Lerner and Rowe specialize in truck accident claims, and we can help you seek compensation even if you are partially at fault for your injuries. Our results proven team of truck accident attorneys has honed our skill set over the last two decades, making us formidable negotiators at the negotiating table and in the courtroom.
Lerner and Rowe clients know that they can expect to receive regular updates about the status of the case, have access to beneficial resources, and be treated with respect by our truck accident attorneys and staff. We want you to have the best experience possible while we work towards settling your Peoria truck accident claim for the compensation you need for medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages like emotional distress.
Our team of experienced truck accident attorneys encourages you to give us a call at 602-977-1900 to schedule a free consultation or complete a free online case review today. One of our highly qualified Arizona truck accident attorneys will provide you with an overview of what to expect during the personal injury claims process, review the facts of your case, and estimate the value of your damages.