Why You Need an Attorney Who Will Invest in Your Case Immediately

When you are involved in an accident with a semi-truck or other commercial motor vehicle, you need an attorney that will begin working on your case right away. Once a wreck happens, it becomes a race against time to gather the evidence and information needed to build a case.

Following a semi-truck wreck, depending on the amount of time passed and the location of the accident, evidence can be altered, lost, or destroyed. For these reasons, it is crucial to not only hire an attorney right away but also hire one that will invest in your case immediately.

Truck Wreck Cases are Different from Other Wrecks

When you are involved in a passenger vehicle wreck, it is often cut and dry. There are one or two drivers involved, maybe some passengers, a police investigation, as well as the insurance companies of the drivers.

But when you are hit by a semi-truck or other commercial motor vehicle, like a dump truck or flat bed truck, there are more people and companies that may be liable.

The driver of the truck, the company that employs the driver and/or owns the truck, the brokers, and the shippers could all be liable for the wreck. Additionally, commercial motor vehicles must follow Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, as well as state laws and industry standards. Truck drivers must obtain a commercial driver’s license (CDL) and follow the rules outlined in the CDL manual.

Equipment on trucks, like the brakes, must be in good working condition and function to industry standards. Commercial motor vehicles also contain an electronic control module that locks in driving data for a certain amount of time, and someone familiar with that equipment is needed to access that data. All these factors need to be considered and investigated when dealing with a truck accident case.

The attorney you hire must be knowledgeable of truck accident law, preferably board-certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Board-certification ensures an attorney has the expertise necessary to properly handle truck accident cases.

Truck Accidents Require Immediate Action

There is a lot that needs to be done at the beginning of a truck accident case. The attorney you hire should be prepared to act as soon as they are hired in order to preserve evidence.

Truck companies often try to get trucks back on the road as soon as possible after a wreck to keep business moving, but sometimes to hide evidence from an accident. This evidence must be preserved. The truck accident attorney needs to get started before the truck is repaired or altered.

In these cases, attorneys typically send Preservation of Evidence letters to those involved in the accident. This can include the driver, trucking company, vehicle holding facility, insurance carrier, and the police that did the initial investigation. Sometimes they may need to request a temporary restraining order to prevent the opposing parties from tampering with evidence. Failing to send these letters and requests immediately can lead to lost evidence, ultimately making a case more difficult.

Accidents that occur in construction zones also require immediacy. In these areas, the roads change rapidly with the workflow, sometimes overnight. Video and witness statements need to be taken quickly because the state of the construction zone must be captured as it existed at the time of the wreck.

A truck accident attorney that is hired promptly after a wreck can use a variety of tools at their disposal to gather evidence. They can deploy a rapid response team and immediately hire mechanics, reconstructionists, and private investigators to thoroughly investigate the scene of the wreck, the equipment of the vehicles, and those involved in the wreck. The sooner this is done, the stronger the case will be.

An Attorney That Will Invest

Truck accident cases typically have several initial costs. Maintaining a rapid response team, hiring an accident reconstructionist, a heavy truck mechanic, and private investigator all cost the lawyer money upfront.

These experts add value to a case, but they also require upfront costs. A credible truck accident attorney will not only have access to funds for these costs but will also be willing to deal with these expenses to ensure their client is well taken care of.

Truck accident attorney David W. Craig of Craig, Kelley & Faultless believes it is necessary to protect a client’s case and discover the true cause of the wreck. In his own words, he cares more about protecting clients than how much money he must invest; David promises his clients that he will hire the right people so that he can provide the client and their family with information about the cause of the collision.

Victims deserve to work with attorneys that are willing to pay the upfront costs needed to properly build these cases or even determine whether there is a valid case.

Ask David: Episode 66 of After the Crash with Harlan Schillinger

David W. Craig is the managing partner and a founding member of Craig, Kelley & Faultless, a personal injury and wrongful death law firm. He has authored two books, Semitruck Wreck: A Guide for Victims and Their Families and It’s Never Been Easier to Hire the Wrong Attorney, to help victims navigate the legal process.

Harlan Schillinger is a Legal Marketing Expert with over four decades of experience working in the legal advertising sector, focusing on legal marketing, intake, and conversion. He is considered the “Grandfather of Legal Advertising”, acting as one of the very first in the legal field to produce and market television advertising for attorneys. He currently works as a private consultant for lawyers looking to increase business, maintain accountability, and obtain high-value cases.

He and David discussed how commercial motor vehicle cases are different from other wrecks and what clients should expect from the right lawyer on a recent episode of After the Crash, David’s free podcast. Ranked fourth-best personal injury podcast by FeedSpot, After the Crash educates and empowers listeners.

Harlan asked David questions about legal advertising, his tips for researching attorneys, and more about the legal industry during episode 66.

Want to Know More? Check Out These Resources

Everything in this article — and even more — is discussed at length by attorney David W. Craig in Semitruck Wreck: A Guide for Victims and Their Families and It’s Never Been Easier to Hire the Wrong Attorney, available on Amazon.

Check out David’s “Red Flag” series to learn more ways to spot the wrong law firms or lawyers.

Learn more by following Craig, Kelley & Faultless on Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.

The attorneys at Craig, Kelley & Faultless are nationally recognized and have helped clients across the country recover from life-altering wrecks. They are prepared to fight insurance companies and motor carriers on your behalf.

Both attorneys David W. Craig and Scott A. Faultless are board-certified in truck accident law by the NBTA, accredited by the American Bar Association. The firm also has a rapid response team—including investigators, reconstructionists and mechanics—that is sent to the scene of a wreck to collect evidence as soon as the firm is hired.

For a free case consultation, contact the team at Craig, Kelley & Faultless today by calling (888) 253-5198 or submitting an online form.

David W. Craig is a nationally recognized truck accident lawyer who sits on the Board of Regents of the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys. He is board certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, accredited by the American Bar Association in Truck Accident Law. He is the managing partner and one of the founding partners of Craig, Kelley & Faultless LLC. He is recognized as a Top 10 Trucking Trial Lawyer and Top 100 Trial Lawyer in Indiana by the National Trial Lawyers, as well as a Top 50 Indiana lawyer by Super Lawyers. He was the recipient of the National Thurgood Marshall “Fighting for Justice” Award for his work helping victims of truck wrecks. David is the author of Semitruck Wreck: A Guide for Victims and Their Families and It’s Never Been Easier to Hire the Wrong Attorney, written to help people navigate a terrible situation by answering questions that come after a tragic wreck. He also hosts the podcast After the Crash, where you can gain valuable information about the dangers involving semis and large trucks that do not follow Indiana law safety protocol regarding speed, weather conditions, maintenance upkeep, etc.