Determining Your Liabilities For Your Truck Accident Injuries

Truck accident cases are complex for many reasons, mainly because determining liability can be challenging. While figuring out who is liable and proving fault can be overwhelming, you don’t have to do it alone. An experienced truck accident attorney in San Diego can help find answers to the most critical questions in a truck collision case, including those involving liability.

Determine the Cause of Your Truck Accident First

First and foremost, it’s essential to understand what caused your truck collision. Once you understand the cause, it can help determine who could be held responsible. Truck accidents can arise for several reasons. Some of the most common causes of semi-truck crashes include:

• Speeding
• Distracted driving
• Fatigued driving
• Impaired driving
• Unsafe turns and lane changes
• Brake failure
• Truck part defect or malfunction
• Lack of driver training
• Insufficient truck maintenance
• Improperly loaded cargo

After getting answers regarding the cause of your truck accident, it will likely become more apparent which party or parties could be held accountable for your collision. 

Proving Liability for Your Truck Collision

One of the primary reasons truck accidents are so tricky is that multiple parties often share responsibility for a single collision. To pursue maximum compensation, you must identify these parties and prove the relationship between their negligence and your accident.

Your San Diego personal injury lawyer will typically begin by identifying potentially liable parties. Parties that are commonly found responsible for semi-truck collisions include the following:

• Truck driver
• Truck driver’s employer
• Trucking company
• Owner of the truck
• Party responsible for truck maintenance and repairs
• Party responsible for loading the cargo onto the truck
• Truck and truck part manufacturers, distributors, and retailers

Once you know who may be responsible for your accident, you’ll need to successfully prove their negligence. Doing so requires satisfying the necessary elements of negligence, including:

• Duty
• Breach
• Causation
• Damages

While negligence often plays a role in truck accidents, certain parties may be held responsible under a theory of strict liability. Strict liability means the party is liable to you regardless of their actions. Under this legal theory, negligence is not a factor. 

Generally, when a truck crash involves defective products, those designers and manufacturers are held strictly liable under California’s strict liability laws. Establishing a party’s liability requires strong evidence and documentation. Some of the evidence you could use for your collision case includes:

• Photos and videos
• Surveillance footage
• Black box data
• Police reports
• Witness accounts
• Logbooks

Proving liability is one of the most complex parts of a truck accident case but also one of the most important. Fortunately, a truck accident lawyer has the right skills and tools to establish the at-fault party’s liability and pursue the compensation you’re owed for your injuries and losses. 

Let an Accident Attorney Help You

If you face injuries and a long road to recovery after a truck collision, do not hesitate to seek guidance and assistance from a truck accident lawyer. A knowledgeable injury lawyer in San Diego at The NALAN Law Firm, PC can handle your case and give you a better chance of obtaining the fair compensation you need most.