Shreveport 18-Wheeler Truck Accident Lawyer: Who Can Be "At Fault" for an 18-Wheeler Accident
If you have been injured in an 18-wheeler truck accident or if a loved one has been injured or killed, you are entitled to seek compensation under Louisiana law. You can benefit from hiring a top-rated accident attorney to help since these kinds of Louisiana personal injury lawsuits can be legally complex.
For example, proving your right to compensation requires legal competence. Proving liability means proving the elements of negligence here in Louisiana. The four legal elements of negligence are
Duty
Breach of that duty
Injury, death, or damage to property (like your car)
Causation -- that is, the wrongdoer's breach of duty caused the injury, death, or property damage
With Louisiana 18-wheeler and big rig truck accidents, there are many possible duties that the driver or some other at-fault party may have breached. For example, every driver on the roads of Louisiana must obey the traffic laws. So, if the driver of an 18-wheeler truck was speeding, then the driver was in breach of his duty to obey the traffic laws. As other examples, tractor-trailer drivers, owners, and companies have a long list of rules and regulations that they must follow concerning matters like cargo weight, cargo loading, rest period, training, etc. Each and every violation of these rules and regulations is a breach of duty which, if an accident is caused, is a basis for imposing legal liability for an 18-wheeler accident.
You also need a competent Louisiana 18-wheeler truck accident lawyer because experience and skill are necessary to find ALL of the at-fault parties. Most think that the only possible at-fault party is the truck driver. That is sometimes true in ordinary Louisiana auto accident cases. But, in Louisiana 18-wheeler truck accident cases, there are often multiple parties who can be held liable. In addition to the driver, these other parties include the following:
The owner of the big rig tractor-trailer truck -- owners of vehicles can be held legally responsible for injuries and deaths caused by their vehicles, particularly where owners allowed their vehicles to be used.
The trucking company that employed the driver -- through a couple of different legal theories, the employer of the truck driver can be held legally liable.
The manufacturer and/or seller of the 18-wheeler truck -- if design or manufacturing had a causal link to the accident and injuries, then the manufacturer and/or seller of the 18-wheeler truck can be held liable.
A maintenance company/repair shop -- in a similar manner, if a mechanical error was a cause of the accident and that failure is traced to a faulty repair or lack of proper maintenance, the maintenance or repair shop can be held legally liable for an 18-wheeler truck accident.
Another driver on the road -- sometimes 18-wheeler truck accidents are caused -- in full or in part -- by the wrongdoing of other drivers. If that is true, then those other drivers can be held legally liable.
And potentially others depending on the facts.
Contact A Louisiana Personal Injury Attorney Today
For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams. If you have been injured in a Louisiana accident, our Louisiana personal injury lawyers can help you recover the full compensation you are entitled to according to Louisiana law. To contact us, complete our "Contact Us" page here. We have the experience and legal knowledge that you need. We have offices in Shreveport and handle personal injury cases throughout all of Louisiana. Thank you for reading this blog post and visiting our website.