Quirk Accident & Injury Attorneys, APC, fights for the rights of victims injured in frightening truck accidents caused by careless truck drivers. Our skilled Bozeman truck accident lawyers offer a free case consultation to all injured victims. Contact our office to schedule a confidential case review as soon as possible. There’s also no obligation to you or your family for this meeting. It’s a great opportunity to find out how to hold truck drivers and trucking companies 100% responsible for your injury hardships.
Do I Need a Lawyer After Getting Struck by a Big Rig?
If an accident involving a semi-truck or delivery van only results in vehicle damage and/or very minor injuries, you can usually handle your accident claim yourself. But truck accidents can very easily cause major injuries. If a collision caused by a reckless truck driver left you with a more serious injury, you should speak to a lawyer about your case. A more serious injury may include a bone fracture, a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), or even internal injuries.
You may be able to file a claim against the truck driver’s insurance or the insurance policy the trucking company provides. However, a trucking company will have insurance adjusters and corporate lawyers working to pick away at your case. If they can’t blame you for what happened, they’ll try to downplay the injuries you have, all to hold back the support you desperately need.
With a skilled lawyer’s assistance, you can protect yourself against these shady accusations and trust that you’ll be getting the maximum possible for your case. Your lawyer fully investigates your case and handles the frustrating claims process for you. You can often earn much more in an injury settlement than you would have on your own, by turning your case over to a proven Bozeman Truck Accident Lawyer.
Montana Truck Accident Dangers
It only takes a few minutes of driving on I-90 to see the dangers of traveling alongside semi-trucks and box trucks. Some drivers zoom along knowing that with their heavy loads, it’ll take them longer to slow down if interstate traffic suddenly slows down ahead. They can also veer from lane to lane, not checking mirrors properly to see that you’re practically forced under the tractor-trailer.
Loaded-down delivery vans from companies like Amazon and FedEx race through our neighborhoods to make deliveries, sometimes failing to spot families trying to walk across an intersection or an SUV stopped to make a turn on a busy road like Kagy Avenue. Farm trucks hauling vegetables or livestock also provide a unique and dangerous risk for Bozeman drivers.
Powerful collisions can leave victims with traumatic injuries such as crushed rib cages, amputated limbs, and life-threatening brain injuries. Not every victim receives the same attention and support from massive commercial insurance companies. An aggressive attorney on your side works to force insurers to pay all benefits available. An experienced attorney can often win you much more in accident support than you could win by filing yourself.
Bozeman Truck Accident Statistics
- The National Highway Traffic Safety Agency (NHTSA) reported that Montana saw 41 tragic deaths in accidents involving large trucks in 2022. Truck collisions accounted for about 17% of the fatalities in the state for the year. That was lower than the national average of truck accidents being involved in around 13.5% of fatalities totaling the data from all states.
- The 2022 figure was up from 2021’s 38 deadly outcomes for victims in Montana truck accidents. It will be interesting to see if the unwanted upward trend continues when 2024 and 2025 statistics are released.
After a serious accident, victims and their families can ask more than just truck drivers for help in paying for medical care. A Gallatin County truck accident lawyer can help victims identify other parties that owe compensation, including a major transportation company that hired the driver.
Who Can I Sue After a Bozeman Truck Collision?
In some cases, truck drivers will be on their road representing themselves. You’ll have to count on their basic commercial truck insurance coverage for help. However, trucking companies usually provide a bigger accident policy for the drivers they employ.
Victims can often recover more for their injury recoveries by filing a claim with a trucking company’s insurer. This gives the injured party a better chance of avoiding having to cover some or all of their own medical expenses for an accident they didn’t cause.
Quirk Accident & Injury Attorneys, APC, doesn’t think victims should have the money to get the best medical care available.
We’ll be going after some or all of these parties to earn you the most for your injury recovery:
- Owner-Operator Truck Driver — Local truck drivers may work for themselves. They’ll have commercial truck accident insurance for victims to draw from. These individual policies may have low policy limits, leaving victims short of the money they need to pay all of their medical bills. That’s why it’s important to determine every party who may be liable after a truck accident.
- Trucking Company – The truck driver’s employer could be fully liable for your hardships after an accident. Your lawyer might find that a company didn’t do proper background checks on an unsafe truck driver. The trucking business may not have kept up with maintenance on a truck, leading to a collision. The one drawback is that a corporation will have corporate lawyers ready to defend their truck drivers. They hope to limit the support you receive. It’s important to have a truck accident lawyer on your side to fight back against these teams of lawyers.
- Farm or Agricultural Company – Gallatin County and the surrounding area are home to many farms and ranches. Farm trucks and manufacturing semis all use local roads. Their drivers can get reckless and cause devastating accidents. These businesses can be held liable when their drivers make mistakes.
- Truck Makers and Tire and Brake Manufacturers – A malfunction or defect on the truck that caused your accident could make the truck maker liable. If it’s found that faulty tires contributed to your accident, your lawsuit could also include a tire maker. Your lawyer would check on recalls to see if dangerous truck parts were replaced when they should have been.
Finding Support for Bozeman Truck Accident Victims
Montana is a state that features steep mountain highways and long, flat stretches. Truck drivers who don’t practice safe driving can lose control in a curve to smash into an innocent motorist. They can doze off after skipping a break or a rest period and end up ramming someone in a rear-end impact.
Due to the weight and shape of these sometimes massive rigs, victims often suffer the worst injuries possible. They can even lose their lives while trapped under a tractor-trailer and waiting for medical care.
Victims and their families need support to recover and rebuild their lives. Your lawyer lists every damage you’ve suffered and backs up every claim with receipts, invoices, and hard evidence. These and other factors will determine the size of your truck accident settlement check:
- Totals for current medical bills and estimates of future healthcare costs
- Lifetime support estimates for any permanent disability
- Support for the pain victims endure in crashes and through recovery
- Support for the emotional trauma caused by a major truck accident
- Support for a loss of enjoyment of life
- Support for a loss of consortium (loss of intimacy with a partner)
- Totals on the income and benefits victims lose while unable to make their work shifts
- Money for car repairs or replacement
- Wrongful death benefits for families who lose a loved one in a truck accident
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I talk to the insurance adjusters and lawyers who work for trucking companies?
No. Only offer basic information. Lawyers and insurers will hope to get you on the phone to make a recorded statement about what happened. They are hoping they can pressure you into saying something they can twist later to hurt your case. You can politely refuse. You aren’t required to give a statement. You should refer them to Quirk Accident & Injury Attorneys and let us handle all communications. We want to provide as little disruption to your recovery process as possible.
How long can I wait to file a truck accident claim?
Two years. You must file your claim within two years of the collision. However, you should act as soon as possible so that evidence doesn’t disappear and witnesses don’t become hard to locate.
What if I can’t afford to pay a truck accident lawyer?
You don’t need to worry about having money when you hire Quirk Law. We don’t accept payment unless we win your case for you. Then our attorney fees are paid out of the compensation you receive.
Contact a Bozeman Truck Accident Attorney
Schedule a free case review with our Truck Accident Lawyers here at Quirk Accident & Injury Attorneys, APC of Bozeman We can talk about what happened, how it happened, and how it has affected you or your loved one. After that, we will go over all of the legal options available to you and your family.
There’s no obligation for your case consultation and it’s completely confidential. It’s a great way to discover what your injury is worth and how to hold a trucking company fully responsible.