Commercial vehicle crashes involve vehicles from a normal cars to a car to pick up truck wrecks. The vehicles can weigh up to 80,000 pounds and require maintenance and care above and beyond a passenger car to operate safely on the roadways.
With special safety rules and the complexity of a case, truck crash litigation takes longer to develop and try to a jury.
Lawsuits can easily last two years from the filing date in Houston, Harris County, Texas, due to the backlog of cases most of the court’s face and scheduling issues with multiple law firms and attorneys.
Although Harris County has implemented the fast-track procedure for some litigation, truck crash cases are not well suited to the fast-track model.
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Some truck accident litigation revolves around simple negligence on the part of the truck driver, and other cases or more complex in that they involve such issues as safety, training, and the condition of the truck or trailer, which require much more time to develop.
Fortunately, most commercial vehicles now are equipped with onboard computers, also called “black boxes,” which have streamlined the procedure for establishing critical facts such as the truck’s speed before the impact and the truck driver’s breaking.
In contested cases, the services of an accident reconstruction expert may be required to assist the jury in understanding how the wreck occurred. If the case can be tried without an accident reconstruction, expert counsel should consider going that route.
However, a simple car crash may be much easier to make your case, and a car accident lawyer can try a typical case in days instead of weeks.
Undoubtedly, compliance with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations becomes a big issue in many lawsuits involving professional truck drivers and motor carriers.
The regulations are very specific in establishing the minimum standard of care acceptable to protect the motoring public and truck drivers.
Each case is unique and must stand on its own merits. However, a common theme that runs through most cases against negligent drivers and trucking companies is that they failed to live up to the minimum standard of safety required of them under regulations.
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Find a local truck accident lawyer for your case if you have been injured in a big rig crash or lost a family member. Out-of-state counsel is at a serious disadvantage.
Contact The Houston Truck Accident Lawyers for Help. If you have been injured in an accident in Houston, TX, and need help, contact our Houston truck accident lawyers (Top-Rated) by calling (281) 893-0760.
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