Personal Injury Lawyer in Peterborough knows that whether you collided with a big rig, a tanker truck or an 18-wheeler, as an injured victim you would have a right to file multiple claims.
Who might be the target of at least one of your claims?
• The truck’s driver
• Trucking company
• The truck’s owner, if the trucking company had leased the truck that was used by the driver.
• The owner of the truck’s cargo
• The loader of the cargo: That could be true, if that same loader had failed to follow the state’s regulations, regarding the load’s maximum weight.
• The maintenance company that had carried out an inspection, or had fixed any broken parts
• Those in charge of road maintenance: That would include the lighting at the places where trucks were provided with a place to pull over to the side, so that other vehicles could pass. Poor lighting could cause a driver to miss such a spot, when searching for a place to pull over.
• Those in charge of road design issues: Those issues should have been discussed with any design company, and that same company’s record should have been examined.
Possible challenges to specific claims
A claim against the trucking company could be met with this challenge: The driver was an independent contractor.
A claim against the owner of the cargo could be met with this challenge: We paid a loading company; we expected the company’s loaders to know what they were doing.
A claim against those in charge of road maintenance might be met with this challenge: The office in charge of road maintenance had not learned about any problems with the lighting system at that particular location.
A claim against those in charge of the road design might be met with this challenge: There were no earlier reports of accidents along that stretch of roadway.
The court would be prepared for certain challenges, like the one that the driver was an independent contractor.
The court could ask the trucking company to answer specific questions.
—Who controls the driver’s schedule?
—Is the driver free to enter into contracts with other trucking companies?
—Who has paid for the truck’s registration?
—Who has paid for the truck’s permit?
—Who has paid for the truck’s insurance?
An injured victim could check to see if it was true that there had been no earlier reports of accidents along that stretch of roadway.
In order to conduct such a check, the injured victim would need to visit the site of the accident, and search for any witness that might recall similar incidents in the area. Those recollections would cast doubt on claims about the absence of any earlier reports about accidents along that stretch of roadway.