Denver Truck Accident Attorney
Driving on the highway in and around large trucks should never be a safety problem. However, there are times when the careless or negligent actions of a truck driver cause significant harm to those inside passenger vehicles. At our law firm, we are here to help when you need a Denver truck accident attorney. We will thoroughly investigate your case in order to secure full compensation for your claim.
Denver Truck Accident Legal Resources
- Why Choose Us?
- How Can a Denver Truck Accident Lawyer Help?
- What Are Common Truck Accident Injuries?
- What Are Common Factors in Colorado Truck Accidents?
- What Are Common Federal Trucking Regulation Violations?
- What Types of Damages Can Be Recovered After a Truck Accident?
- How Much Is a Truck Accident Claim Worth in Denver, CO?
- What Is the Time Limit to File a Truck Accident Claim in Colorado?
- Contact Us
Why Choose Us?
Truck accident victims can suffer from serious injuries that can be life-altering. You need an attorney that handles every aspect of your case. Cannon Law is ready to help you today.
- We have a dedicated team of Denver personal injury lawyers working to achieve the results you deserve, and we have vast experience handling Denver trucking accident cases.
- We work with other lawyers, doctors, and expert witnesses that can help us recreate a truck accident case to prove liability and losses.
- We take all Denver truck accident cases on a contingency fee basis, which means our clients pay no legal fees until after we secure the compensation they deserve.
How Can a Denver Truck Accident Lawyer Help?
A truck accident attorney in Denver is going to level the playing field for your case by bringing the resources necessary to stand up to commercial trucking industries and aggressive insurance companies. Experienced trucking accident attorneys will:
- Obtain all evidence required to prove liability, including video and photo surveillance, truck “black box” data, statements from eyewitnesses, accident reports, and more.
- Work with trusted medical professionals to properly evaluate their client’s injuries and correctly calculate their total losses.
- Negotiate with all parties involved to obtain maximum compensation on behalf of their client.
What are Common Truck Accident Injuries?
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Is responsible for regulating truck drivers and control companies, and they say that a fully loaded semi-truck commercial vehicle can weigh as much as 80,000 pounds. In a collision with a passenger vehicle, the results can be devastating. At Cannon Law, our truck accident lawyers in Denver regularly help clients who have sustained the following:
- Spinal cord trauma with paralysis
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Crush injuries or amputations
- Internal organ damage or internal bleeding
- Broken and dislocated bones
- Significant scarring and disfigurement
- Severe psychological and emotional trauma
During the latest reporting year in the United States, the FMCSA reported that large trucks were involved in more than 119,000 injury accidents and 5,005 fatal accidents. Many tractor-trailers roll through Denver County on a regular basis, as this area is an economic powerhouse for Colorado. Unfortunately, the careless or negligent actions of a truck driver or trucking company can lead to severe injuries for others on the roadway. These incidents often occur because the driver was distracted, impaired, or fatigued behind the wheel. Trucking companies often neglect to perform required inspections or maintenance on their vehicles, which can lead to vehicle failure on the roadway.
What Are Common Factors in Colorado Truck Accidents?
In Colorado, the person or party at fault for causing a truck accident is who must pay under the state’s fault insurance law. This means it is necessary to determine who or what caused your collision with an 18-wheeler before you can file an insurance claim. Determining causation may take an investigation and assistance from a law firm or the police. Statistically, most truck accidents are caused by driver error – either on the part of the trucker or motor vehicle driver. Truck drivers and trucking companies make many mistakes that result in Colorado truck accidents.
Some of the most common factors involved in these wrecks are:
- Malfunctioning brakes
- Tire blowouts
- Poor truck maintenance or upkeep
- Truck driver negligence
- Distracted driving
- Truck driver fatigue
- Following too closely
- Speeding
- Red-light running
- Blind spot accidents
- Rollovers
- Swinging turns
- Overloaded cargo
- Lost cargo loads or falling debris
- Violated safety regulations
It is a truck company’s responsibility to be proactive about preventing truck accidents. It must take steps to prevent foreseeable crashes, such as properly inspecting and maintaining its fleet of trucks, training its truck drivers, and following federal safety requirements. Similarly, all truck drivers have a legal obligation to take reasonable care to prevent collisions and lost loads. If either of these parties breaches or violates their duties of care, this can dramatically increase the risk of a truck accident in Colorado.
What Are Common Federal Trucking Regulation Violations?
Unlike standard motor vehicles, trucks and common carriers must obey a long list of federal laws and regulations. These laws are executed and enforced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The purpose of these laws is to improve the safety of commercial trucks, big rigs and the trucking industry as a whole. Unfortunately, many truck companies and their drivers cannot be trusted to obey these laws. Violations of federal regulations occur regularly, often in an attempt to save the company time or money.
Some of the most common regulation violations are:
- Trucker hiring and training violations
- Drug violations
- Alcohol violations
- Hours-of-service violations
- Maintenance violations
- Overloading violations
Breaking any federal trucking law can result in a preventable traffic accident. Failing to hire qualified truck drivers, for example, can lead to dangerous driver behaviors behind the wheel. Improperly loading a trailer can lead to a fatal loss of cargo in transit. Truck drivers failing to take enough sleeper-berth breaks increases the risk of drowsy and fatigued driving. If an investigation of a truck accident in Denver finds that a trucking company or driver violated one or more federal laws, this is evidence of negligence.
How Much Is a Truck Accident Claim Worth in Denver, CO?
If you or a loved have suffered trucking accident injuries caused by the negligent or careless actions of a truck driver or trucking company in Denver, you may be entitled to significant compensation. The value of these cases is often high due to the severe nature of the damages suffered by victims, such as catastrophic injuries and wrongful deaths. At Cannon Law, we investigate your case in order to secure the following on your behalf:
- Coverage of all truck crash-related medical treatments
- Any lost income or benefits you incur
- Pain and suffering damages
- Loss of enjoyment of life damages
- Property damage coverage
- Possible punitive damages against the driver or trucking company
You should always discuss the value of a truck accident case with an attorney in Denver before settling with an insurance company. This is because insurance providers are for-profit businesses that are notorious for taking advantage of clients. The initial settlement offered is often much less than what a client deserves. Our lawyers will give you an accurate estimate of how much your case is worth, and then pursue maximum financial compensation for you using aggressive negotiation tactics.
What Types of Damages Can Be Recovered After a Truck Accident?
The types of damages available for a victim or plaintiff in a Colorado truck accident case are divided into two main categories: compensatory and punitive damages. Compensatory damages are meant to make a victim whole again by providing monetary compensation that reimburses the victim for specific losses. This category is further broken down into economic and noneconomic damages. The second type, punitive damages, serves to punish the defendant. Here is a breakdown of all three:
- Economic damages. Economic damages are granted to make up for the financial burden suffered by the victim of a truck accident. They can cover all of a victim’s specific and tangible losses connected to the crash, including hospital bills, lost wages, vehicle repairs, rental car costs, travel expenses and attorney’s fees.
- Noneconomic damages. Noneconomic damages provide compensation for intangible or general losses experienced by a crash victim. Also referred to as pain and suffering, this category typically includes physical pain, mental anguish, emotional distress, psychological damage, PTSD, lost quality of life, lost future capacity to earn and loss of consortium.
- Punitive damages. The third category of damages, punitive damages, is used to penalize a defendant for egregious acts of wrongdoing or negligence. If a trucking company knowingly ignored safety laws, for example, and this caused a devastating accident, the trucking company could be guilty of gross negligence and forced to pay punitive damages to the victim as punishment.
If a loved one tragically lost his or her life in a fatal commercial truck accident in Denver, you may also be entitled to death benefits. A successful wrongful death case or survival action could result in payment for your family’s related bills, including the victim’s final medical care costs and funeral and burial expenses. A wrongful death claim can also award an appropriate amount for the loss of your loved one’s services, care, companionship, love, guidance and intimacy.
Are Damages Capped in Colorado?
Colorado has laws in place that cap, or limit, the amount of damages available in a personal injury case. Although many states have ruled damage caps unconstitutional, Colorado still has maximum limits in place on both economic and noneconomic damages. The cap on economic damages only applies to medical malpractice claims, with a limit of $1,000,000. The cap on noneconomic damages, however, applies to all personal injury cases, including truck accident claims.
Here’s how Colorado’s damage caps currently work:
- Pain and suffering: $250,000 cap before inflation and $500,000 after inflation.
- Wrongful death: $250,000 before inflation and $500,000 after inflation unless the death was caused by medical malpractice, in which case the cap is $300,000.
- Dram shop case (for drunk driving): $150,000 cap per person injured.
- Punitive damages: an amount that does not exceed the economic damages awarded in the case, with an exception for extreme circumstances (in which case the cap is three times the amount of economic damages).
Note that for the purpose of valuating a settlement or judgment award, physical impairments are categorized separately from compensatory damages in Colorado. Under this rule, physical impairments such as disruption to internal organs, neurological damage, scarring or disfigurement, and disability are not capped the same way as economic and noneconomic damages. A lawyer can help you accurately calculate what the damage caps are for your specific case.
What Is the Time Limit to File a Truck Accident Claim in Colorado?
You must act quickly if you’ve been injured or a loved one passed away because of a truck accident in Colorado. There is a law called the statute of limitations that places a strict deadline on your right to file a lawsuit. With only a few exceptions, if you wait too long and the statute of limitations expires, the courts will refuse to hear your case. Even if you manage to file your lawsuit late, the defense will almost certainly use the expired statute of limitations as a reason to file a motion to dismiss the case.
Here are the time limits to file a truck accident case in Colorado:
- Two years from the date of the crash for a personal injury or property damage resulting from a truck accident.
- Two years from the date that you discovered or reasonably should have discovered your injuries if this differs from the date of the truck accident.
- Two years from the date of the decedent’s death for a truck accident wrongful death claim.
- Two years from the time that the individual turns 18 if he or she was a minor injured in a truck accident.
- Two years from the date that a victim has his or her mental competence restored if he or she was mentally incompetent at the time of the accident.
- 180 days for a claim brought against a government entity, such as a truck accident caused by an unsafe road condition.
Some circumstances can toll, or pause, the clock on the statute of limitations, such as if the defendant goes into hiding or leaves the state. It can be difficult to understand which time limit applies to your case. Always contact a truck accident attorney in Denver as soon as possible. An attorney can calculate your time limit, let you know how much time is remaining, and quickly and efficiently file the paperwork necessary to initiate a claim. If you need to speak to a truck accident lawyer in Denver now, Cannon Law offers free case reviews.
Contact Our Denver Big Rig Accident Lawyers
Our semitruck accident lawyers in Denver have helped injured victims recover compensation for the injuries, property damage and emotional injuries that an accident has left on their person and family. Our Denver personal injury attorneys understand how to approach large truck companies, and our firm only collects compensation if damages are awarded to a plaintiff.
When you need help our Denver truck accident attorneys are here for you. Please contact us for a free consultation or by calling (970) 471-7170.