A side-impact or T-bone collision can leave you reeling with tremendous pain, suffering, injuries, and damages. The angle of the impact in these types of motor vehicle wrecks can heighten the severity of your injuries and leave you with long-term physical challenges. When these incidents involve a large commercial truck and a regular motor vehicle, the possibility of grave or deadly injuries is even greater.
When you are injured in a side-impact truck collision in Lewisburg, you may be entitled to monetary compensation. Our truck crash attorneys can investigate how the collision happened and who may be responsible for paying for the value of the losses you have endured.
Frequent Causes of Side-Impact Truck Collisions
Side-impact truck collisions in Lewisburg can often be traced back to numerous types and acts of negligence. Dangerous driving behaviors by the trucker are one potential source of negligence. A truck driver who is operating the commercial vehicle while under the influence of drugs, alcohol, or another impairing substance, is making unsafe lane changes, fails to observe a traffic light or sign, or is otherwise driving recklessly could endanger the life of any other motorists in the vicinity.
When a commercial truck or tractor-trailer impacts the side of a regularly sized motor vehicle, the smaller vehicle could easily be crushed or thrown across the highway. Sometimes, other parties besides the truck driver involved in the accident may be liable for what happened. For example, the truck carrier could be considered legally liable for the losses when their employee caused the accident.
If the truck was overloaded or over the maximum weight limits, and this contributed to the side-impact collision, the company responsible for loading cargo on the truck could bear a portion of legal liability. In situations where a faulty vehicle component, such as bad brake systems, contributed to the collision, the manufacturer of the truck could even bear liability for what happened.
Getting Compensation for Side-Impact Truck Accident Injuries
A person injured in a side-impact semi-truck crash in Lewisburg could be left facing staggering physical, financial, and emotional losses. Common side-impact truck accident injuries can include broken or fractured bones, the loss of a limb, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, paralysis, and other forms of catastrophic harm.
The type of compensation you may be entitled to recover in the aftermath of a side-impact truck collision will depend on a number of factors, including the facts of the accident, the severity of your injuries, the party or parties at fault, and the type of insurance coverage you have. The reason your insurance policy matters is that drivers in Pennsylvania have the option to buy full tort or limited tort coverage.
With full tort coverage, you can pursue compensation for your non-economic damages like pain and suffering as well as economic damages for costs like medical bills, property damage, and lost wages. However, if you have limited tort coverage, an option that some drivers choose because of the lower monthly premiums, you can be limited to recovering only the value of your economic damages.
The good news is that the law enumerates multiple exceptions to the limited tort rule. For example, if you have suffered a permanent or otherwise catastrophic injury in a T-bone truck accident, you could claim compensation even if you have limited tort insurance. Other exceptions may apply to your situation, so you should not wait to contact an attorney regardless of the type of insurance policy you have, as there may be multiple types of compensation available for your injuries.
Call a Lewisburg Side-Impact Truck Accident Attorney
When a negligent truck driver causes a T-bone collision, they should be held accountable for the harm they have inflicted as a result of their failure to observe their legal duty of care. Our attorneys have handled side-impact truck accidents in Lewisburg before and can determine the chain of events leading to the wreck to identify all responsible individuals or entities.
Call Ostroff Godshall Injury and Accident Lawyers today to receive an evaluation of your case by one of our attorneys. We can provide you with tailored advice in a free, confidential case consultation and help you understand your best legal options.