Truck Injury Lawyer Blog : Truck Accident Lawyer & Attorney: Morgan Adams : Contingency Fee Truck Accident Lawyer

Are They a Member of One or More Lawyer's Groups That Focus on Truck, Bus, and Commercial Vehicle Wrecks?

Generally this means that a lawyer you want to hire should not only be a member of his state trial lawyers association, and the national trial lawyers association (called the American Association for Justice [AAJ] (www.justice.org), but should also be a member of the AAJ Interstate Trucking Litigation Group and/or the Association of Plaintiff Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America (www.apitlamerica.com). Then there are other groups that, while not specifically related to trucking, indicate a special level of competence of a lawyer in representing the injured. These groups include, amongst others, the Belli Society and The Academy of Trial Advocacy. Both groups are invitation only with a strict membership criteria.

The Truck Accident Lawyers at the Law Offices of Morgan Adams concentrate in protecting the rights of those who were seriously injured or lost a loved one in an accident with a commercial truck or bus. Our lawyers are based in Tennessee, but serve clients throughout the nation. If you or someone you love has been seriously hurt by a careless driver, don’t sign anything the trucking company gives you -- contact us as soon as possible at 800-580-4878 or by email to learn more at a free, confidential consultation.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

As a truck accident lawyer I have posted on this topic several times because it is so important, see my prior posts. I am not the only one that is aware of this problem. A friend of mine just returned from The American Bar Association's Transportation Mega Conference, where insurance claims executives for trucking companies and insurance companies adjusters were speaking with the information straight from the horses mouth. According to Steve Gursten, a fellow lawyer who represents victims of trucking accidents, this is what was said:

Senior claims executives from a number of high profile motor carriers have done away with the adversarial “deny and defend” methodology in resolving truck accident disputes. Instead, these executives advocate an “apology program,” where the truck company will do anything possible to ease the pain of the accident victim and his or her family.

Trucking Companies Push Gifts to Settle Claims Fast 

While this may sound like an example of good public relations, in reality, the program is a backdoor approach to saving litigation costs at the expense of an accident victim’s right to a full recovery; especially since these cases can be worth millions.

According to stories shared by the commercial transportation panelists, trucking companies will stop at nothing to settle a claim as quickly as possible. One account had an executive rushing to a truck accident victim’s rusted mobile home, which rested upon broken cinder blocks leaning alongside a mountain. He came equipped with an apology, a check and an offer to buy the family a brand new house. Another story had a defense attorney visiting the home of a victim, whose vehicle was worth a paltry $500 prior to her horrific accident. After learning the victim “really liked the new Buicks” she’d seen on the road, the defense attorney was quick to take her car shopping for the day.

Other attempts at an “apology” are less blatant.  Some carriers will mail “apology letters” with offers for “any request necessary to help make the family whole once again.”  However these apologies are disguised, the end result is the same: Motor carriers and their insurers are taking advantage of unrepresented clients and offering them quick and easy money during these traumatic and difficult economic times

For more from Steve on this topic see his full blog post. It is critical to hire an experienced tractor trailer lawyer in a catastrophic trucking accident.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

One of the critical items to consider in every case is the "black box" data that many cars and trucks are equipped with. These boxes save data on speed, turn signals, braking, and other information that is very useful to determine in a wreck. Many is not all but that is soon to change. As of September 2012, NHTSA regulations (49C.F.R. 562) will require vehicle manufacturers to provide commercially available systems which can be used to retrieve event data recorder (black box) information. Moreover, the information will have to be available in a standardized format. At present, the Bosch Vetronix retrieval system is the only commercially available system. However, the Bosch system cannot be used on all vehicles.

 It is still critical to have an expert and lawyer who is familiar with these systems if you are involved in a wreck. And commercially available doesn't mean cheap, but after 2012 competent lawyers will have a much better chance of proving, scientifically and with objective proof, that their client was not at fault in causing a wreck.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

"I'm here to help." Scary words when said by the government or by an insurance adjuster. I will leave you to your own thoughts about the government's statement, but let me tell you a little about what "I am here to help" means when said by a trucking company executive.

First it means they know you have a serious case, and are desperately trying to avoid paying serious money. Now don't get me wrong, it will seem like a lot of money to you, but the amounts will be far less what your case is really worth. How do insurance companies do this? There are so many underhanded ways that an insurance company can cheat someone out of a fair settlement I could post forever on just that topic.

First, remember the insurance company makes money whenever it pays you less than you deserve.

Some ways that insurance companies cheat you out of money include:

1. Pretending to be your friend. At a recent trucking seminar several adjusters (the folks who resolve injury and death cases for insurance companies) stated that they would try to become friends with a family by apologizing and offering to buy them a car and a house if they people gave up their claims. They would take this opportunity to demonize lawyers that the family might  hire to represent them. They wanted, at all costs, to prevent the family from talking to an experienced trucking lawyer who would find out how many laws were broken by the trucking company and the driver in causing the wreck. If the real facts of the wreck came to light, showing the company put profits over people, the trucking company would owe many millions of dollars.
2. The misuse of annuities. Insurance companies will often show that they will pay your family a million dollars over the next thirty years, while failing to mention that the annuity only costs $100,000 today and that your case, today, has a fair value in excess of a million dollars. additionally they will use one of their own corporations to hold the annuity, essentially just switching the money from one hand to another. These captive companies are typically weak financially and are subject to failure over time, leaving you with little or nothing at the end of the day.
3. They fail to show the impact of inflation on the sums they discuss.
4. They fail to account for the impact of future medical expenses that wears away at the money paid to the family.
5. They fail to take into account the full loss of income of the victim. Studies have repeatedly shown that individuals who suffer major injuries can't stay in the workforce as long as those who were never seriously injured, even if back to work at the same job and at the same pay.
6. They treat the non-economic losses of the family as having no, or minimal, value. The lack of a father or mother growing up in a child's life, or the lack of a child in a parents life, has huge consequences which must be accounted for in a fair valuation of a case.

This is a small sampling of the ways in which insurance companies cheat victims out of proper compensation for the loss and damage suffered at the hands of an unsafe trucking company. Should you ever have specific questions I will be more than happy to answer them.

Morgan Adams is a trial attorney licensed in Tennessee and Georgia. He is listed as a "2008 Mid-South SuperLawyer" (Limited to the top 5% of the lawyers in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas), is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum (limited to lawyers who have recovered 1 million dollars or more for their clients), and is the Chair-Elect of the American Association of Justice's Interstate Trucking Litigation Group. He has served as chair of the Tennessee Association of Justice's Trucking Litigation seminars since 2004, and is a frequent speaker at national continuing legal education programs on trucking liability cases.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Another tragedy occurred Saturday when a tractor trailer struck Armando Roca’s car from behind, killing his passenger and wife Dorothy Roca, on interstate 81 in Greene County, Tennessee. The collision occurred at approximately 2pm when the Roca’s car, driven by Mr. Roca, was rear ended by a tractor trailer driven by Samuel Alvarenga. How do tragedies like this happen? It all starts with the tractor trailer company.

If the Roca’s hire an experienced trucking lawyer to represent them they will find that this wreck was the result of safety and training violations by the trucking company. The driver of the trucking company was most likely over his hours of service, making him fatigued and unable to react in time to avoid the collision. This is a topic I have written extensively on in the past in this blog and elsewhere. Further the company probably did not train the driver on safe following distances and unique problems in stopping his truck.

The Roca’s wreck was complicated by a prior wreck that occurred a tenth of a mile from the site of this wreck. Why is this a complication, since it is a professional driver’s duty is to pay attention to what is on the road in front of him?   Simply because the defendants will use this, the prior wreck, as an excuse to avoid accepting any responsibility for causing the wreck involving the Roca’s. Regardless of the prior wreck, had the trucking company properly trained their driver the wreck involving the Roca’s would never have occurred.

Another horrible part of this collision is while Mr. Roca is in the hospital, and having to arrange for the funeral of his wife and is being forced to deal with a thousand other worries and burdens as a result of this tragedy, the defendant’s insurance carrier has sent out a rapid response team to preserve evidence favorable only to the truck driver and the truck company. The insurance company is taking advantage of the tragedy to benefit its insured at the cost of the Roca’s. I have written about this insurance industry practice extensively in prior blogs. If the Roca's know qualified investigators they should hire them immediately to protect their rights. If they don't know where to turn, they should hire an experienced truck litigation lawyer to assist them ASAP.

The most frequent mistake I see by people injured by tractor trailers is the hiring of lawyers that are experienced in car wrecks, or some other are of the law, to handle a truck wreck case. To put it simply they are different. Please see my prior posts on ways to check out if a lawyer is experienced in the handling of tractor trailer cases or whether they just have a nice (if misleading) ad.

At this firm we regularly represent drivers who are injured by the negligence of truckers. We are always available to review such incidents.

 Morgan Adams is a trial attorney licensed in Tennessee and Georgia. He is listed as a "2008 Mid-South Super Lawyer" (Limited to the top 5% of the lawyers in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas), is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum (limited to lawyers who have recovered 1 million dollars or more for their clients), and is the Chair-Elect of the American Association of Justice's Interstate Trucking Litigation Group. He has served as chair of the Tennessee Association of Justice's Trucking Litigation seminars since 2004, and is a frequent speaker at national continuing legal education programs on trucking liability cases.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

A new organization for lawyers who represent victims of truck, bus, and commercial motor vehicle accidents was recently founded. The organization is limited to those lawyers who represent individuals against these large companies and their huge insurance companies. See:  www.aitlamerica.com/CrashVictims.aspx 

AITLA is the counter to the long established Trucking Industry Defense Association (TIDA) whose members are allowed to only represent trucking, bus, and commercial motor vehicle companies, insurance companies, and at fault commercial drivers. If you represent individuals who have been harmed by the trucking industry you can't be a member. See their web site at: www.tida.org  TIDA was founded in 1993 and has 1,200 motor carriers, trucking insurers, defense attorneys and claims servicing companies as satisfied customers.

I previously posted a blog on how to choose a trucking lawyer. Let me now add that if the lawyer you are considering hiring for your case is not a member of AITLA, you should consider another lawyer. Trucking cases are complicated, hard fought, and require specialization and most lawyers simply don't have the depth of knowledge necessary to handle these cases.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

First, if you were involved in a collision with a tractor trailer, you are probably reading this some time after the collision, probably a long time after the collision. That's OK. People understand that because of the significant forces involved with a crash involving tractor trailers, most people involved in the crash are either in the hospital or dead. In fact a majority of my clients are surviving family members who had to plan funerals and deal with the overwhelming grief of loosing a loved one and didn't even think of filing a lawsuit until some months after the collision. So what should you do if you, or a loved one, was involved in a collision? I previously posted on this but a reminder is in order because it is important. Please

1. Make sure you and yours are safe.
2. Get medical treatment, if needed, as soon as possible.
3. Get the names addresses, and numbers of any witnesses. If a witness calls you later to see how you are, or drops by the hospital, make sure you can contact them again. Make sure you copy down the DOT number on the cab AND the trailer. Remember to get the names of the driver of  the other vehicle and anyone they might have in cab.
4. Once you are safe and have sought medical care take photo's of your car, the truck, the  accident scene, and modest photo's (pretend we are showing them to your pastor) of the injuries.
5. Do not give recorded statements to anyone. You are probably on pain killers, may have memory problems as a result of a blow to the head, and generally are not trained to handle questioning by the well trained, highly experienced insurance adjuster assigned to these cases.
6. Get a copy of the accident report and check it for accuracy
7. Have someone take photo's and the measurements of any skid marks.
8. Have someone take photo's of the tractor-trailers' tires and any damage or paint scrapes on the tractor trailer.
9. Contact an experienced trucking lawyer as soon as possible. I have previously posted a blog on what to look for in an experienced truck injury lawyer if you decide to hire one.  Those comments remain as true today as they did then. An experienced lawyer will help you save important information which might show the trucking company created the conditions for the wreck and the driver is just the fall guy for the trucking companies willingness to cut corners. Information in a trucking case is quickly lost. For example: Pre and post trip inspection reports of the tractor trailer are required to be kept for only three months. see 49 CFR 396.11(c)(2) Some electronic information can disappear in as little as 14 days. An experienced commercial vehicle injury lawyer will be able to obtain this information and make sure it is available for trial.

The Truck Accident Lawyers at the Law Offices of Morgan Adams concentrate in protecting the rights of those who were seriously injured or lost a loved one in an accident with a commercial truck or bus. Our lawyers are based in Tennessee, but serve clients throughout the nation. If you or someone you love has been seriously hurt by a careless driver, don’t sign anything the trucking company gives you -- contact us as soon as possible at 800-580-4878 or by email to learn more at a free, confidential consultation.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

One of the most devastating injuries anyone can have, and still live, is a mild traumatic brain injury or TBI. This is sometimes referred to as post concussive syndrome.

In fact, there is nothing "mild" about a TBI. If you or someone you love has this type of damage to the brain you know what a problem it causes within and without the family.

There is greater chance that a person involved in a collision with a tractor trailer will receive a TBI than in other, milder collisions, although it must be considered and evaluated in EVERY case involving a truck or a car wreck. Even mild impacts to the head can have devastating results. In fact there does not have to be a significant amount of damage to a car to cause a TBI. One of the greatest myths perpetuated by defense lawyers is that you can't have a TBI without a loss of consciousness. This is simply not true.

Many Dr's don't look for TBI it as it doesn't show up on an X-Ray, and it generally requires consultation with other experts. What should a family look for if they are concerned about a TBI in someone they love? Factors include:

1. Headaches
2. Dizziness
3. Diplopia (double vision of one or both eyes)
4. Fatigue
5. Irritability
6. Sleep Problems
7. Concentration Problems
8. Memory Problems
9. Problems involving stress, emotional, alcohol
10. Affect changes, anxiety, depression
11. Changes in personality
12. Apathy
13. Tinnitus (ringing in the ear)
14. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

If any of these are noted after a collision, WHETHER OR NOT THERE WAS A KNOWN LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS, the treating doctor should be told as soon as possible. Even after the problem is diagnosed, treatment remains an issue. The Brain Injury Association of America has stated that:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that at least 5.3 million Americans currently have a long-term or lifelong need for help to perform activities of daily living as a result of a TBI.

According to one study, about 40% of those hospitalized with a TBI had at least one unmet need for services one year after their injury. The most frequent unmet needs were:

Improving memory and problem solving;
Managing stress and emotional upsets;
Controlling ones temper; and
Improving ones job skills.

TBI can cause a wide range of functional changes affecting thinking, language, learning, emotions, behavior, and/or sensation. It can also cause epilepsy and increase the risk for conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and other brain disorders that become more prevalent with age.

The national brain injury associations can be very helpful. One of them, The Brain Injury Association, can be reached at: www.biausa.org To read about someone who has had a TBI and provides insight , links, and other resources to those who have, or have had a loved one with a TBI, see secondchancetolive.wordpress.com

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

I have been asked this question in one form or another over the years and thought I would share the following thoughts on how to hire a great lawyer for your trucking case:

1. The lawyer should not ask you for money, and should appear to be well to do. Trucking cases are expensive, an accident reconstructionist can easily run up $15,000 in charges reconstructing a collision. The case may also require an expert on trucking company practices, an economist, a vocational expert, etc... The doctors who are involved in the case must be paid for their time to explain the injuries to a jury. Then there are the focus groups , these can run up to $20,000. In short a lawyer can spend $100,000 in getting a case into court. Can the lawyer you hire afford to do that? You may never know how the lawyer is doing but, if your lawyer is in a dump, that should give you a clue.
2. Are they a member of one or more lawyer's groups that deal with truck, bus, and commercial vehicle accidents? Generally this means the lawyer should be a member of his state trial lawyers association, the national trial lawyers association (called the American Association for Justice [AAJ] www.justice.org (and they should also be a member of the AAJ Interstate Trucking Litigation Group)),and finally they should be a member of the Association of Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America www.aitlamerica.com . Then there are other groups that, while not specifically related to trucking, indicate a special level of competence of a lawyer in representing the injured. These groups include, amongst others, the Belli Society and The Academy of Trial Advocacy. Both groups are invitation only with a strict membership criteria.
3. Anyone you entrust your or your families case to should have the experience of handling, and recovering, at least one, and preferably several million dollar cases.
4. You should chose someone who has lectured other lawyers in the area of trucking litigation, and preferably more than once. Only the best lawyers can stand before fellow lawyers, who do the same thing they do, and teach them something new about how to handle a trucking case. Any lawyer might be given one chance to speak at a seminar, but since the presentations are graded by the audience, only the best of the best get invited back to teach their fellow lawyers a second time. If the audience of lawyers feels the seminar is not worthwhile the speaker won't be invited back a second time.
5. The lawyer should be able to immediately hire the best experts and get them involved in your case. Frequently I am retained on cases by other lawyers who failed to to get experts involved early in the case. This can result in evidence being lost and a host of other problems. Knowing the best experts in a field of study, and when to get them involved in a case, is critical in the succesful representation and conclusion of a commercial trucking case.
6. CHECK OUT THE LAWYER'S WEB SITE - The web site will tell you what type of cases the lawyer's firm handles. Do they have an extensive trucking site or is it more focused on car wrecks or general personal injury matters? Does the lawyer have a blog, and if so in what area of the law? Do they list papers written by the lawyers, and if so what are the topics?

My firm fits the above qualifications (I am an officer of the AAJ Interstate Trucking Litigation Group, on the National Advisory Board for the Association of Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America, etc...) and most of the other good trucking lawyers I know have accomplished the above... at a minimum. There are a few lawyers in every state that meet the above qualifications and it is to these lawyers that you should entrust your case. If you don't know who they are, give me a call toll free at 866-580-4878 and I will be happy to discuss your case and pass on a name or three for you.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

The American Trucking Association (ATA) has announced plans to lobby states to put large truck company profits over the well being of owner-operators (O-O) (See Transportation Topics, December 10, 2007 page 1). Specifically the ATA stated that they were lobbying states to ensure owner operators were exempted from workers compensation laws (stating O-O’s had to be covered by workers compensation insurance by the companies that hired them) since it was clear that any federal legislation taking away this benefit would not pass. 

Workers compensation protects O-O’s by insuring that, if they are hurt on the job, they can get their medical bills paid and have a small income until they heal. Under the laws of many states O-O’s are considered employee’s for purposes of workman’s compensation. This is because the trucking companies dictate the route, times, and frequently provide the truck to the O-O on a payment plan. In my experience the payments under the workers compensation system are never enough to keep the O-O’s truck from being repossessed, but are sometimes enough to keep the driver’s house out of foreclosure until the driver can go back to work. If the large companies don’t cover workers compensation for the small O-O, then many will go without insurance or go to work for a larger company. If the O-O goes without insurance, and is injured, it is the taxpayer that will eventually pick up the medical bills.

These O-O’s are frequently mom and pop drivers and often reflect the finest ideals that the trucking industry has to offer. They are pursing the American dream of owning their own business and making that first step. While any other employer would have to cover workers compensation insurance, the trucking companies want to shift this cost to the O-O who already are facing all the costs of higher fuel and taxes, with none of the pricing power of the larger companies to pass these costs on. The ATA should be ashamed of its position on this issue.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

Truck Drivers are at risk every time they step into a truck because the cab of the truck they are driving can easily be crushed in a rollover. While manufacturers have long know of this problem, little has been done about it. The fix is cheap and inexpensive, yet the manufacturer's refuse to admit responsibility despite government data and lawsuits which have highlighted the problem.

If someone you know was injured or killed in a cab crush, whether multiple vehicles were involved or just a single vehicle accident, you should immediately act to preserve the tractor. Without the cab there is little a lawyer can do to bring a case. Trucking company insurance companies know this, frequently destroying the tractor after a wreck. This is why it is critical to send a spoliation letter to preserve evidence. Please see my earlier post for an example.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks