The cities that make up Prince George’s County (Lanham included) are home to some of the busiest roadways in Maryland, given their location on the north-south Interstate-95 corridor that lines the east coast and is in close proximity of Washington, D.C. on the west. Given our area’s prime location, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that each Lanham truck accident lawyer on our team stays busy handling tractor-trailer crash cases.
According to the National Safety Council, more than 5,700 people died in fatal truck accidents nationwide in 2021. And more than 117,000 big rigs were involved in injury-causing crashes, many of which undoubtedly occurred in and around I-495 and other county and state highways and other main thoroughfares running through Lanham and other parts of our area.
Our Lanham truck accident lawyers are eager to assist you if you’ve had the misfortune of suffering a catastrophic injury or had a close relative perish in a crash at no fault of their own. Depending on the circumstances surrounding your accident, you may be able to recover compensation for damages you accumulated, including medical expenses, lost wages, and funeral and burial costs by filing an insurance claim or a lawsuit. Let us provide you with a free case evaluation to see what legal remedies are available to you.
What Our Attorneys Look at When Evaluating Maryland Truck Accident Cases
We find that many prospective clients often wonder what happens at a free case review meeting with a Lanham truck accident lawyer. During that meeting, you can expect an attorney to review any documentation you bring with you, including a police report, photographs of the accident scene, and witness accounts. Why do we do this? We do this with the goal of determining whether a tractor-trailer operator’s negligence resulted in your crash.
Why Does a Lanham Truck Accident Lawyer Focus on Liability?
We do because, in order to prove the necessary elements to forward an insurance claim or civil lawsuit in Maryland, your job as the injured party (plaintiff) is to establish the following elements of negligence:
- That the trucker owed the motorist a duty of care (to ensure their safety)
- That the tractor-trailer operator violated their duty of care they owed to a fellow motorist (like you)
- That the trucker caused you some harm by breaching the duty of care they owed you (such as by causing your injuries)
- That you suffered damages (like, for example, documentable harm with financial costs associated with it) as a result of the tractor-trailer’s negligence
Just to put things in perspective, it may seem fairly straightforward to you that the trucker is in the wrong because he cut you off short when passing, clipping your front bumper, sending you careening into the path of other vehicles where you got struck yet again.
However, at the same time, your actions that preceded the trucker pulling in tight ahead of you may have created the prime situation for that combustible chain reaction of events to occur. Also, your actions in the midst of or immediately after the initial impact with the big rig may have led you to make contact with other vehicles that otherwise would not have happened.
Potential contributing factors, both in terms of your own and that of the trucker and other motorists, all matter in making liability determinations. They can make it possible or impossible to secure a financial settlement when you have damages like the ones discussed above, as your own negligence prohibits you from recovering compensation.
How Our Lanham Truck Accident Lawyers Help if You Have a Viable Claim
Tractor-trailer crash cases are notoriously complex because:
- There are distinct laws that apply to semi-trucks and other commercial carriers that can shed light on whether (and what type) of negligence occurred.
- Trucking companies, truckers, and other parties can all engage in negligence that results in a crash and all, or just one, can be liable for it.
- Truckers drive a lot of miles and have different onboard technology that records their driving behaviors. Delays in requesting that evidence could mean that it gets erased.
The above are just three examples of ways it’s much more complicated to reach liability determinations in Maryland truck collision cases as opposed to other types. And these various factors can impact the type of and how much damages injury victims can recover when they indeed have a valid claim.
So, if our team at GDH Law can provide you with one valuable piece of advice, it’s to not take trying to sort out liability for your semi-truck wreck into your own hands. This is something that warrants the involvement of an experienced Lanham truck accident lawyer like ours, who knows just what to look for to determine what caused a crash and who’s responsible for it. Your initial consultation with our attorneys is free, so schedule it now.
Types of Tractor-Trailer Accidents Our Lanham Attorneys Take On
There are many accidents involving 18-wheelers that can happen, all of which GDH Law can help with. Our Lanham truck accident lawyers have experience investigating and representing clients hurt in the following types of truck-involved collisions (and more):
- Override and underride accidents
- Intersection wrecks
- Jackknife accidents
- Blind spot crashes
- Rollover accidents
- Delivery truck accidents
- Turning collisions
- Construction zone accidents
We also have significant experience in handling crashes attributable to a variety of contributing factors, such as:
- Weather
- Hours of service violations
- Speeding
- Drunk driving
- Maintenance or inspection violations
- Drowsy driving
- Exceeding load size or weight limits
- Distracted driving
- State or federal permit violations
If you don’t see the factor that you believe resulted in your accident listed above, still contact us. It’s likely GDH Law can also help you with it.
Steps To Take After a Trucking Accident in Lanham, MD
Accidents involving trucks often result in such serious injuries or fatalities that victims can’t do anything more than summon the police and paramedics or are unconscious or deceased and, thus, sadly, unable to even do that. We urge you to report your or a family member’s crash as soon as possible to insurers after it occurs to preserve your right to file a claim.
Be careful not to report any details other than the facts when calling an insurance company or if they reach out to you. Anything more than that can jeopardize your right to recover damages in your case.
Not knowing what to say to insurance adjusters when they undoubtedly call, email, or send letters is a problem injury victims or their surviving family members often face. The fact that insurers will continue bothering you by reaching out until you say what they want you to can affect your ability to recover from your injuries or mourn your loss. That’s where having a Lanham truck accident lawyer on your side can help.
Our law firm can be the point of contact for insurers so you can focus on getting better or getting your affairs in order after a loss. All it takes is an initial consultation to assess for liability and to let you know if we can represent you. So, reach out to GDH Law to have that conversation today. It’s completely risk- and obligation-free.
