Fort Lauderdale Commercial Truck Accident Lawyer
Commercial truck accidents are common in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Because of the substantial size and weight of commercial trucks, these accidents often lead to catastrophic injuries and wrongful death. You need an attorney if you or a loved one has suffered an injury or incurred property damages.
Call an experienced Fort Lauderdale commercial truck accident lawyer with Englander Peebles at (954) 500-4878 for a free case evaluation. We will fight for your right to receive the compensation you deserve.
Why Choose Englander Peebles Fort Lauderdale Commercial Truck Accident Lawyers?
We are not like other firms. We’ve been there and understand what our clients have endured.
At Englander Peebles, our truck accident attorneys are passionate about building trusting client relationships by providing dedicated services and delivering optimal outcomes. We work closely with our clients to help them achieve the best outcome.
Our purpose is to advocate for our clients’ legal needs so they can focus on recovery and rebuilding their lives after a commercial truck accident. We’ve recovered millions for our clients injured in Fort Lauderdale car accidents, rideshare collisions, motorcycle crashes, and slips and falls.
Free Case Evaluation
Our trusted attorneys provide free case evaluations to discuss the details of your commercial truck accident and address any questions you may have.
During our meeting, we offer a preliminary legal assessment of your accident and explain our services and their relevance to your case. You need not retain our services after receiving our free legal advice.
Contingent Fee Structure
Between expensive medical bills and missed work, we recognize the overwhelming financial stress accompanying commercial truck accidents.
At Englander Peebles, we operate under a contingent fee structure so our clients can breathe easy when retaining our services. Contingency allows anyone to afford legal representation, guaranteeing no upfront fees or out-of-pocket expenses. You don’t owe us anything if we don’t win your case.
Commercial Truck Accident Evidence
Commercial truck accidents are much more complex than standard auto collisions due to aggressive insurance claim adjusters, multiple liability, federal trucking regulations, and the significant amount of evidence involved.
You need a lawyer to navigate these intricacies.
Our attorneys have extensive experience handling commercial truck accident claims and confidently manage these complexities. Trust us to build a strong case by substantiating compelling evidence for your commercial truck accident claim.
The evidence we may gather, preserve, analyze, and present to win your case includes:
- Reports and Records: All relevant reports regarding your commercial truck accident, including police or accident reports, vehicle maintenance reports, and detailed medical records demonstrating diagnoses, injuries, treatments, and prognosis.
- Witness Statements: After obtaining essential contact information for witnesses to your commercial truck accident, our team calls and verifies statements. We document any new information and secure solid testimonies when cases require litigation. We may also identify new witnesses and obtain vital testimony.
- Visual Evidence: Englander Peebles understands that the visual evidence of your commercial truck accident is compelling and works quickly to secure it before it is lost or destroyed. For example, we can obtain video footage from traffic or nearby business security cameras. We will also acquire truck and vehicle dashcam videos when applicable. Visual evidence includes photographs of the accident scene and your injuries immediately following the collision.
- Commercial Truck Evidence: Our legal team will collect essential data from the electronic logging device (EDL), including the commercial truck’s speed, braking patterns, and the trucker’s driving hours. We may also secure the event data recorder (EDR) data. Like the black box on airplanes, the EDR records detailed data regarding the truck’s operations leading up to your collision.
- Trucking Company Evidence: Englander Peebles collects pertinent evidence from trucking companies about their drivers, records, and policies—including truck dispatch, inspection, maintenance, and pre-trip and post-trip records. Cargo or freight manifests are also considered.
- Truck Driver Evidence: In commercial truck accidents, the driver’s GPS data and cell phone records may be recovered. We can also obtain the trucker’s toxicology report to prove drunk or impaired driving, as well as the trucking company’s drug test policies and the driver’s drug test history.
Truck drivers must adhere to strict hours of service (HOS) regulations. At Englander Peebles, we examine driver logs for violations that indicate negligence.
These violations may reflect the negligence of both the trucking company and the truck driver. The evidence in your case is the foundation for proving negligence and establishing liability.
We investigate all potentially liable parties and hold them accountable. The more substantial the evidence in your case, the higher the settlement.
If you’ve suffered an injury, you need an experienced Fort Lauderdale commercial truck accident lawyer to negotiate and secure fair compensation for your claim.
Contact Englander Peebles at (954) 500-4878 for your free case evaluation and get started today. Our office is conveniently located in the Cypress Creek Medical Pavilion, just north of the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.
How Much Is My Fort Lauderdale Commercial Truck Accident Worth?
The compensation amount you receive for a Fort Lauderdale commercial truck accident depends on the severity of your injuries, the sum of your economic damages, and the extent of your non-economic damages.
Before sending a demand letter to liable insurers, we comprehensively evaluate your claim with relevant experts, including medical professionals, economists, life planners, and vocational rehabilitation specialists.
Economic Damages
The economic damages in your case refer to compensating the objectively verifiable financial losses incurred from your commercial truck accident.
Depending on the type and severity of your injuries and their impact on your daily life, we may recover compensation for economic damages, such as:
- Medical Expenses: These include ambulance and emergency services, surgical and post-operative care, primary care visits, diagnostics, imaging, assistive devices, and prescription medications.
- Rehabilitation Costs: These entail physical therapy, orthopedic care, chiropractic adjustments, audiology, speech and language therapy, massage, occupational and vocational therapy, and other rehab services.
- Mental Health Care: Costs for mental health services after a commercial truck accident in Fort Lauderdale are recoverable. These can include services from counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists.
- Long-Term Needs: When commercial truck accident injuries require long-term care, our team works with your treating physicians and a life care planner to determine care needs and the associated expenses for our calculations.
- Professional Damages: Our comprehensive claim valuation includes income losses incurred from missed work. Professional damages can compensate for lost income, non-salary compensations, overtime, and paid time off. We may also determine lost promotions, healthcare benefits, and retirement.
- Diminished Earning Capacity: When injuries hinder your ability to return to work at full capacity or stop you from working, we will assess your diminished earning capacity or lost future income.
- Property Damages: Vehicle repairs or the total cash value of totaled vehicles, damages to homes or commercial buildings, and destroyed personal belongings are recoverable property damages in commercial truck accident claims.
- Household Services: Our lawyers assess household services when injuries are severe enough to warrant them. These encompass assistance with cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, medication reminders, and basic needs.
- Transportation Needs: Commercial truck accidents often leave injured parties without vehicles. We can recover transportation costs like rideshare services, rental cars, taxis, and public transportation.
- Disability Modifications: In cases of severe injuries, vehicle modifications to accommodate disabilities, including wheelchair-accessible vehicles, may be considered. Our truck accident attorneys calculate home modifications such as ramps, chair lifts, and accessibility features for bathrooms and kitchens.
Proving economic damages involves keeping organized records of monetary losses. You may provide healthcare bills, vehicle repair invoices or estimates, bank statements, and receipts for your direct costs.
Paystubs, tax returns, and lost-wage statements from employers demonstrate income losses. When valuing the damages in your commercial truck accident claim, we will ensure their calculations with proper documentation.
Non-Economic Damages
The non-economic damages in your commercial truck accident refer to the intangible losses. They aren’t easily proven, so you significantly benefit from having an experienced Fort Lauderdale commercial truck accident lawyer review and value these damages to ensure fair compensation.
on-economic damages are often referred to as pain and suffering and encompass a multitude of symptoms and impact of injuries, including:
- Physical or chronic pain and life-long pain management
- Development of substance use disorder from prescribed pain medications
- Inability or limited ability to perform daily tasks
- Inability or limited ability to perform work-related duties
- Emotional distress and mental anguish
- Sleep disturbances, such as discomfort, nightmares, and insomnia
- Loss of society and companionship
- Development of semiochophobia or the fear of semi-trucks
- Anxiety and depression
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium (companionship)
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Permanent impairment, such as a loss of hearing or vision
- Severe disability, like with spinal cord or traumatic brain injuries
- Lost years for a shortened life expectancy
- Sexual dysfunction
- Loss of bodily functions
At Englander Peebles, we use your detailed medical records, physician notes outlining the impact of the injury, and a post-accident journal to prove non-economic damages.
You must keep dated, daily entries outlining your pain and suffering and other injury symptoms if you expect to be compensated for them. Journals should include detailed documentation of physical pain, including levels, frequency, location, duration, and methods of management that provide relief.
Wrongful Death Damages
The National Safety Council (NSC) reports that Florida is among the top three states nationwide for traffic fatalities resulting from commercial truck accidents.
Family members who have lost a loved one in a Fort Lauderdale commercial truck accident may have the right to file for wrongful death if they are the executor or personal representative.
In Florida, the personal representative of the deceased’s estate is appointed through their will or by a designation in probate court. Claimants in wrongful death cases may recover compensation for final healthcare costs, lost income, and the pain and suffering experienced by the decedent.
Other damages for which we may obtain compensation include pain and suffering for surviving family members, lost financial support, loss of consortium, parental guidance, and potential inheritance.
Where Do Commercial Truck Accidents Happen in Fort Lauderdale?
Commercial truck accidents are a serious problem in Fort Lauderdale. Driver negligence, including distraction, drunk, impaired, drowsy, and aggressive driving, contributes to these accidents. However, faulty mechanical work or parts also cause collisions.
These accidents occur on interstates such as I-95 and I-595 and intersections such as Sheridan Street and South Federal Highway, FL 7 and Sheridan Street, and East Las Olas Boulevard and Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway.
Commercial Truck Accidents and Injuries
Commercial truck accidents are also known as tractor-trailer accidents, 18-wheeler accidents, and semi-truck accidents. They can occur due to driver error, trucking company negligence, malfunctioning trucks or parts, or hazardous road conditions.
Standard commercial truck accident types in Fort Lauderdale are:
- Jackknife accidents
- Rollover accidents
- Read-end collisions
- Underride accidents
- Wide-turn accidents
- Head-on collisions
- Unsecured load accidents
Due to commercial trucks’ significant size and weight, injuries are generally more severe in these collisions. The type of commercial truck accident can influence injury severity.
Accident victims commonly suffer broken bones, spinal cord injuries, concussions, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), internal injuries, burn injuries, scarring, disfigurement, and disability.
Let Englander Peebles handle your legal needs while you focus on recovery.
Fighting Insurers After Sustaining Commercial Truck Accident Injuries
We understand the importance of securing reasonable settlements and will fight insurance companies to compensate claims fairly. The insurance claims adjuster who calls sounding like a concerned friend attempts to get you to say anything they can use to deny or devalue your claim. Their job is to minimize their financial liability.
They may use several tactics to accomplish this, such as:
- Misrepresenting insurance policies
- Delaying claims to get victims to accept the first lowball settlement offer
- Blaming the commercial truck accident victim
- Disputing the severity of injuries and the need for medical treatments
- Refusing to pay valid claims
Our firm will not tolerate these tactics and has experience navigating them successfully. We will comprehensively value your claim damages before demanding fair compensation for your commercial truck accident claim.
When insurers utilize bad-faith insurance tactics, England Peebles will file the necessary complaints and legal action to seek further compensation for your emotional distress.
Speak to a Fort Lauderdale Commercial Truck Accident Lawyer
If you suffered injuries or are grieving the negligent loss of a loved one, you deserve a caring and understanding attorney to represent your legal needs.
Contact Englander Peebles at (954) 500-4878 for your free case evaluation with an experienced Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyer. We are committed to helping accident injury victims recover the fair compensation they deserve.
Englander Peebles – Fort Lauderdale Office
2122 W. Cypress Creek Road, Suite 206
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309
P: 954-500-4878