530+ Google Reviews
If you suffered injuries related to a truck accident on U.S. 221, U.S. 74, or anywhere near Spindale, NC, contact Farmer & Morris Law, PLLC, for a free consultation. A Spindale truck accident attorney can investigate your accident, determine liability, and fight for the fair compensation you and your family need to recover.
Call us today to learn more about your legal options and how a Spindale personal injury lawyer can help. We‘ve helped over 10,000 clients, and we’re ready to take charge of your legal needs after a crash.
How a Truck Accident Lawyer in Spindale Can Help
Our law firm can assist with all the legal challenges you face when taking on trucking companies after a collision. You can rely on our personal injury attorneys to:
- Answer all of your legal questions
- Investigate what happened
- Explain what to do after a truck accident
- Track your losses
- Bring you compensation through a settlement or a lawsuit
We understand that commercial vehicle accidents that involve passenger vehicles carry a higher risk of severe and fatal injuries. Commercial vehicles often weigh several tons more than typical cars, making the impact of an accident especially violent and destructive.
We’re here to help after this kind of motor vehicle accident. We can also help with a wrongful death claim if you lose a loved one in a crash.
Compensation You Can Get After a Crash
When you sustain injuries from a crash that cause financial and non-economic losses, you can pursue a personal injury claim against the other driver. North Carolina generally does not cap damages in personal injury claims involving motor vehicle accidents.
Economic Damages You Could Collect
Economic damages encompass all financial costs associated with your accident. Specific injuries may leave you unable to work, making it difficult to pay your monthly expenses and medical bills. An attorney can help you recover compensation for your:
- Medical expenses
- Prescription medications you need as a result of the accident
- Medical devices you need because of your injuries
- In-home nursing services
- Rehabilitation costs
- Property damage, such as repairs to your vehicle
- Lost wages while you recover
- Transportation costs while your car is being repaired or replaced
- Future lost earnings
While medical insurance covers a portion of your medical bills, severe injuries that require hospitalization or extensive treatment may cause excessive medical debt.
If your injuries preclude you from working or force you to take a lower-paying position, you can receive compensation for lost wages. You can receive lost wages if you can no longer do the work you performed before the accident.
Economic losses are actual damages you absorbed as a direct result of your accident, meaning we can prove them with receipts or bills. Therefore, it is essential to keep records of your expenses.
Non-Economic Damages You May Be Able to Recover
Unlike actual costs, non-economic damages consider how the accident impacted all areas of your life, not just your finances. Our team can help you pursue compensation for your:
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of affection
- Mental anguish, including anxiety and depression
- Disability
Serious accidents can cause trauma, especially if your injuries are debilitating. Losing the ability to work can cause you to rely on unemployment or even Social Security disability benefits, which can make it challenging to maintain your standard of living.
Losing the ability to walk or an essential bodily function can impact your independence. If injuries result in the loss of bodily functions, it can negatively impact your personal and familial relationships.
Non-economic damages consider whether your injuries are permanent and require future medical care. They reflect a diminished quality of life, especially if you are unable to enjoy the same activities you engaged in before your accident.
Common Causes of Truck Accidents
Most truck accidents can be the result of errors made by drivers, including:
- Distracted driving, such as using electronic devices
- Reckless driving, including speeding
- Impaired driving in a commercial vehicle, as in having a BAC of 0.04% or greater
- Fatigue due to exceeding hours of service regulations
In addition to those errors, the cause of the accident could also be from the following:
- Mechanical failures, such as faulty parts
- Loose and falling cargo
- Lax hiring practices and poor training
All drivers have a responsibility to follow traffic laws to improve safety. When you sustain injuries from a trucking accident, you may be entitled to collect financial compensation from the at-fault driver. However, the truck driver may not be the only liable party in your accident.
Injuries Caused by Trucking Accidents
Commercial vehicle accidents can result in catastrophic injuries, including:
- Spinal cord injuries (SCIs)
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs)
- Broken bones
- Internal injuries
Our legal team can help you get the compensation you need to recover from these injuries.
Determining Liability in Your Truck Accident
Following an accident that involves a commercial truck, there may be multiple parties at fault that you could pursue for compensation, such as:
- The other driver
- The other driver’s employer
- The truck or part manufacturer
- The maintenance crew
- Cargo loaders and shippers
Our legal team may even identify a local municipality at fault due to poor road maintenance.
We Can Identify All Liable Parties
What our Spindale truck accident lawyers do is work towards identifying:
- Who was at fault
- How the accident occurred
- Who is liable
The reason why liability matters is that North Carolina is an at-fault insurance state, meaning that the responsible parties’ insurance policy is the payor for your losses. However, in the trucking industry, multiple parties are involved, and if our investigation uncovers more than one party at fault, we will file personal injury claims against each.
We Need Evidence to Build Your Claim
Our investigators will search and collect such evidence as the following:
- Police report
- Medical records
- Witness statements
- Photos and videos
- Blood and breathalyzer test results
- Electronic logging data (ELD)
- Driver’s truck logs
- Personnel files
- Dispatch records
- Training records
- Maintenance reports
Our lawyers will also speak with expert witnesses. Accident reconstruction specialists can add clarity to how the accident occurred, and your doctors can explain your prognosis.
We Can Explain How North Carolina Laws Could Affect Your Case
Be advised that certain laws could influence your claim:
Minimum Insurance Coverage
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-279.21 requires all vehicle owners to carry auto insurance that has at least:
- $50,000 in property damage liability (PDL) coverage
- $50,000 in bodily injury liability (BIL) coverage for one injured person
- $100,000 in BIL coverage for two or more injured people
Commercial and business vehicles will have additional coverage and large insurance companies defending their clients, which is why you may want to retain a lawyer following an accident.
Contributory Negligence
North Carolina follows a strict contributory negligence doctrine. Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-139, defendants must prove the plaintiff contributed to their own accident. The courts have held that you are prevented from recovering damages if you are partially responsible for the accident.
Whether you are 1% or 99% at fault, you could lose your chance of getting compensation. Insurance companies are aware of this law and may try to use it to deny your claim. However, our Spindale truck accident attorneys can often utilize evidence and testimony to prove the other motorist was fully responsible.
Statute of Limitations
Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-52, personal injury lawsuits involving vehicle accidents must be filed within three years of the accident with the Rutherford County courts. The courts could bar your case if this deadline expires. In turn, the insurers will have no reason to negotiate any settlement with you without this right.
You should consider retaining a truck accident lawyer to ensure you comply with this and other procedural requirements. Plus, they can start collecting evidence.
To understand these laws and other aspects of your Spindale truck accident, call Farmer & Morris Law, PLLC, today for a free consultation.
Call Farmer & Morris Law, PLLC, for a Free Consultation Today
Truck accidents can not only be very traumatic, but they can also leave you with chronic injuries that limit your independence and happiness. Our Spindale truck accident attorneys recognize your needs and will fight to secure maximum compensation for you and your family.
Call Farmer & Morris Law, PLLC, today for a free consultation to discuss your legal options following an accident in Spindale.
