A St. Louis Trucking Accident Lawyer Weighs In

Anyone who has been involved in a trucking accident knows that truck accident litigation is complex and highly political. The trauma of a trucking accident does not end when the vehicles come to a halt, or when the injuries heal; the legal process can be traumatic in and of itself. In order to avoid paying millions to accident victims, trucking companies employ crafty strategies to outsmart St. Louis truck accident lawyers and their clients.

A significant percentage of truck accidents are somewhat to blame on mistakes made by non-commercial drivers in cars on the road. One chief tactic to avoid making large payouts involves highlighting those other faults while diminishing any errors their driver or the company may have made. Errors made by commercial truck drivers include driving too fast, not leaving ample distance for safe braking, turning too sharply or too rapidly, and driving recklessly. Truck drivers are reckless when they drive aggressively, are distracted by a conversation with a passenger or on the phone, when they lose focus because they are tired, when they fall asleep behind the wheel, and when they use illegal substances. Truck companies policies and actions can also be blamed for causing truck accidents. For example, the company may over-work its drivers, fail to complete proper maintenance, or require communication by cellular phone from their drivers. Trucks can also be overloaded beyond federal safety limits, or truck loaders may not balance the load properly.

In the aftermath of an accident, a St. Louis truck accident lawyer will endeavor to collect evidence related to these possible causes. At the same time, the attorney for the company may actively seek to destroy evidence. Repairs may be completed on the truck in question before an accident report can be completed. Cell phone bills may be destroyed. Results of driver drug tests have been known to disappear. Log books kept by drivers and loaders may also vanish. In short, incriminating evidence is likely to evaporate if the trucking company has any power over it.

Obviously, destroying important evidence is reprehensible and in some cases, even criminal. But legal or not, if the evidence is destroyed there is little that can be done to reconstruct the causes of the accident. Without clear evidence to prove the company or driver was at fault, people injured in truck accidents may not collect as much or as easily for the damages and losses they have suffered. Thus, it’s vital that research be commenced immediately following an accident. This can be very challenging for a victim or their family; emotional trauma and grief take precedence. But once a St. Louis truck accident lawyer is involved in the case, this research will begin in order to recover any possible information about the causes of the accident. And you can trust that no stone will be left unturned; an attorney’s research process is aggressive and thorough. Attorneys on both side of the issue – those working for the company as well as those representing the people injured in passenger cars – have to be savvy, or they will easily be taken advantage of by the other party.