Bakersfield is an industrious place and is also surrounded by plenty of farms. Businesses and orchards can send out large trucks in every direction, and the truck drivers at the wheel can make mistakes and cause major accidents. Victims in other vehicles who get hurt can demand help from box truck drivers and the companies they work for.
Maison Law Accident & Injury Lawyers of Bakersfield offers a free, no-obligation consultation for all accident victims in Kern County. It’s a chance to make sure that large companies are held accountable for their employees, and that you receive everything needed to make a full recovery.
Should I Have a Lawyer When I Take on a Trucking Company and Insurers?
If a box truck hits you and your injuries are serious, it’s a good idea to speak to a skilled Bakersfield truck accident lawyer. An injury claim filed against a local business, a corporation, or an agricultural company can put you in direct confrontation with commercial truck accident insurance and even corporate lawyers.
A skilled lawyer can protect you when they try to blame you for an accident you didn’t cause. Your lawyer also fights to boost your settlement amount, so you are never left to cover your own recovery. A good lawyer can often earn you much more for your claim than you could win by handling it yourself.
Box Truck Accident Dangers on Bakersfield Roads
There are no roads that escape the rush of trucks across the Central Valley each day. Trucks head up Highway 99 to packing plants and manufacturing centers day and night. Box trucks, including refrigerated vehicles and moving trucks, can haul just about anything around Kern County.
The contents inside the box only serve to make any potential accidents that much more severe. The weight carries extra force into any collision. The higher-sitting trucks can also allow smaller vehicles to slide underneath at times, putting accident victims at even higher risk.
The physical qualities of the trucks lead to some devastating collisions, but the true cause of the accidents often lies with the decisions of the drivers at the wheel of vehicles that take longer to stop and do more damage in impacts.
Truck drivers generally focus on safety, but they can make mistakes like these to threaten other vehicles on the road:
- Drivers traveling too fast for the weight of their trucks and for congested traffic conditions.
- Drivers feeling pressure to arrive at a destination on time and becoming stressed and tempted to rush.
- Drivers becoming distracted by their cellphones, texting, calling, and watching videos.
- Box Truck Drivers distracted by communications with their employers, updating locations, and job duties.
Truck drivers can suddenly look up to notice a red light ahead, but be too late to brake and prevent a rear-end collision. They might run a smaller SUV off the road when changing lanes without checking mirrors.
Proving this can be difficult when a trucking company wants to question eyewitness accounts and even CHP accident reports. This is when having a skilled Bakerfield attorney becomes critical. A lawyer can investigate what happened, rely on accident reconstruction data, and deliver the evidence to hold a business or farm fully liable.
Who Is Responsible for a Box Truck Accident?
An accident caused by a vehicle hauling goods for a business or delivering merchandise can be different than a normal fender bender between two cars.
The driver involved is representing a company. Whose insurance will cover the damages can understandably be confusing.
These are a few of the parties that may bear fault:
- Truck drivers may work for themselves, owner-operator, and will have commercial truck insurance. This policy may be a less protective policy than the type that a major company could afford.
- Trucking company or Business. The employer of the truck driver and the owner of the box truck could be liable. These companies are required to do background checks to make sure they’re hiring safe drivers. They must maintain the trucks so that worn brakes or failing tires don’t cause accidents. They’ll have commercial truck insurance that likely will cover more for victims.
- Farms and Ranches. Box trucks and produce trucks leaving orchards and ranches can also cause accidents. The owner of the farm or an agricultural company would carry truck insurance to help victims with
- Box Truck Manufacturers. In some cases, the maker of the box truck could be liable if a design flaw or defect in manufacturing led to a crash. The liability might stem from a recall that should have been issued.
Your attorney would examine your particular accident and identify every party that held liability. In some cases, that might be more than one company and insurer. This would give victims a better opportunity to get all of their medical bills and other damages fully covered.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should I wait to speak to a lawyer after a Bakersfield box truck crash?
You should go over your case with a lawyer as soon as you can. Waiting can mean valuable evidence vanishes and witnesses become harder to track down. The sooner you file your claim, the sooner you can hopefully receive a settlement check. California allows victims up to two years to file a personal injury claim, but waiting months or years can hurt a case.
What kinds of hardships earn compensation in a box truck accident settlement?
Accident victims must first get help with their medical bills before they face bankruptcy. All bills now and any expected medical costs in the future should be covered. Repair costs for a damaged vehicle or full replacement money should be a part of the settlement. The paychecks victims lose while missing work must be reimbursed. The physical pain and emotional trauma left for victims to cope with must also receive consideration.
What type of documents and evidence should I bring to my meeting with a lawyer?
Any evidence you managed to collect at the scene will be helpful…things like pictures of the damage. A photo of the signage on the box truck showing what company it’s from will help. Turn over any witness contact information you secured. If you have a copy of a police accident report, bring a copy for your attorney. Bring all medical charts and invoices. Turn over all receipts you have for any other care and damages related to your crash. Paystubs will be important later to show the income that you’ve had to forfeit while you’ve been unable to work.
Contact a Truck Accident Attorney Who Backs Your Claim with Evidence and Fights to Earn You More
Our attorneys never want to see you struggling to pay medical bills after an accident caused by a truck driver. Those costs are the responsibility of employers. Our attorneys are ready to get aggressive with companies and corporations that don’t immediately accept blame for the mistakes of their drivers.
If you have a serious injury, and a careless truck driver caused your accident, contact Maison Law Accident & Injury Lawyers of Bakersfield to schedule a free consultation. It’s a confidential, no-obligation review of your case with a real truck accident lawyer.
If you end up needing our help to hold a local business accountable for a traffic accident, you don’t have to worry about how you’ll get a lawyer paid. We don’t charge anything up front, and we only get paid if we win your case for you. Then our attorney’s fee comes out of the settlement check written for you.