Commercial Crashes: New York Trucking Accident Personal Injury Claims

All accidents are dangerous and stressful, but those involving large trucks or commercial vehicles are both more complicated and catastrophic. If you have been struck and injured by a truck, you are entitled to compensation for the damages and injuries you suffered, which you can recover with a personal injury claim. This article explains how these cases differ from other personal injury accident claims, notably:

• What causes trucking accidents in New York, and what injuries tend to occur in them.
• Who is liable to pay for the damages you suffer in a trucking accident in New York.
• What kind of compensation you can expect after being injured in a commercial vehicle accident.

What Are The Most Common Causes Of Commercial Vehicle And Truck Accidents Across New York?

Every accident is different, and few have just one cause. Instead, a multitude of factors tend to contribute, some of which come up again and again in the post-accident analysis of the blame, such as:

• Distracted or inebriated drivers,
• Fatigued or inattentive drivers,
• Poor maneuverability or road conditions,
• Bad maintenance on the truck or vehicle,
• And more…

What Do Commercial Vehicle Or Truck Accident Personal Injury Claims Look Like In New York?

Trucks come in all shapes and sizes, and as a result, so do trucking accident personal injury claims. These days, you are as likely to be hit by an Amazon delivery vehicle as an 18-wheeler – and maybe even more so!

Drivers of smaller commercial vehicles are often overworked and undertrained, while teamster drivers sometimes get better working conditions and training. Nevertheless, the worst accidents are still often those involving larger trucks because of the size and weight of the vehicles involved.

What Severe Injuries Tend To Occur In Accidents Involving Semi-Trucks Or Large Commercial Vehicles?

Given the mass of semi trucks, (even when going at slow speeds), they can cause substantial damage to far more fragile cars…and the delicate human bodies within them.

The injuries that result tend to be severe and life-changing or life-threatening. They vary from soft tissue injuries and broken bones to traumatic brain injuries and paralysis after spinal injuries. Unfortunately, many also result in fatalities.

What injuries arise depends on how the accident happens, where the impact happens on the car, and the size, weight, and speed of the commercial vehicle in question. Given the severity and expense of the injuries you can suffer, it is important to understand who will and can pay for those costs.

Who Is Potentially Liable For My Serious Injuries After A Truck Accident In New York?

Truck accidents are more complex than ordinary car accidents, they have layers with multiple insurance companies involved.

One liable party might be the driver of the truck, another the company that the truck driver works for, a third the company that owns the trailer of the truck, and yet one more being the company that owns the goods inside the truck. Each of these can potentially bear some of the liability and responsibility for the accident.

There are a lot of layers of insurance coverage in trucking accidents in New York, which means plenty of potential defendants and liable parties. Fortunately, these companies’ insurance companies tend to have deeper pockets as well.

Do Trucking Companies Carry Larger Insurance Policies To Cover Accidents Involving Serious Injuries?

Due to the greater damage caused by trucking accidents, trucking companies and commercial vehicles have to carry larger insurance policies. New York law imposes a minimum policy coverage of $250,000.

This will definitely come into play when there are serious injuries in an accident, and you will need it, given the commonly high cost of the injuries and other damages suffered.

How Much Compensation Can I Get For Serious Injuries Suffered In A New York Truck Accident?

The short answer is: you can recover as much as you need to cover the costs and damages suffered in the accident as a result of your injuries. The long answer is: the amount you recover will depend on your case, as every accident will need to have its personal injury claim total calculated by an experienced personal injury attorney.

As such, your claim’s value is completely dependent on your injuries, your treatment, and your disability period. There are, additionally, threshold laws in New York that protect some bigger policies from spurious claims with insubstantial injuries just because a truck hit your car.

With the help of an experienced attorney, you will be compensated fairly based on a scale of what type of injuries you have and what their treatment cost you both economically and emotionally.

Why Is It Important To Hire An Experienced Attorney For Trucking Accidents?

Given that you are dealing with larger insurance policies after a trucking accident, there are a lot of layers to get through. This means even more time, paperwork, and complications to get access to the compensation you need and deserve.

For example, someone who has never worked in a trucking accident before might not realize that there is a lot more at stake than the truck driver’s Progressive insurance policy. There are multiple layers to a commercial trucking accident that would need to be all exposed and sorted out before any type of settlement could be reached.

The insurance companies might try to pass you off on each other, each rejecting responsibility and liability. It takes time and experience to make sure your claim is opened correctly to expose those policies. For more information on Filing A Trucking Accident Injury Claim In New York, an initial consultation is your next best step.