In the blink of an eye, an errant semi-truck driver can take you by surprise, causing a catastrophic accident that leaves you with devastating injuries. As a result, you might be left with physical immobility to the point of permanent disability, mental anguish, and crippling financial loses. Taken together, these damages can leave you anxious and uncertain about your future.
If you want to secure accountability and recover the compensation that you need to pursue your recovery, then you need to consider legal action. To get as much out of your claim as you can, you must be prepared to file your claim against both the negligent trucker who caused your accident as well as their employer. If successful, this will allow you to reach into a pool of resources that are robust enough to actually cover your damages.
What defenses will you be up against in your truck accident case?
If you’re going to pursue a truck accident personal injury case, then you need to be prepared to counter the defense’s arguments. If you don’t, then your case can be quickly derailed, leaving you without the support that you need moving forward. Here are some of the most utilized and successful defenses that you’ll need to be prepared to tackle:
- Contributory fault: The defense’s first argument is going to be that you’re somehow to blame for the accident. If they successfully argue this, then your award can be reduced in consideration of Florida’s contributory fault law. So, before move forward with your case, scrutinize the evidence to find ways to minimize or eliminate arguments pertaining to comparative fault.
- Third-party liability: If your accident involved multiple vehicles, then the defense might try to argue that some other party is primarily responsible for the accident. Although this may not entirely block your ability to recover compensation, it could limit what you recover, as individual drivers won’t be as capable of paying you for your losses as a truck company would be.
- Frolic or detour: When the truck company can’t shift the blame on someone else, they’ll try to blame their own employee. Here, if they can show that the trucker was outside the scope of their employment when the accident occurred, then they might be able to avoid liability. Again, this won’t necessarily block you from winning your case, but it could limit the amount that you’re able to recover, as you could be prevented from recovering anything from the truck company.
- Credibility issues: The defense is going to attack the credibility of your witnesses, even if they’re experts. This can diminish the amount of weight that’s assigned to witness testimony, thereby reducing its impact on your case. This can turn the tides and even result in you losing your case if you’re not careful.
- Minimization of damages: Even if the defense is prepared to lose the case, they’re going to go all in on trying to minimize the damages that they’ll be forced to pay. Therefore, they might argue that you have pre-existing conditions that caused your harm or that your injuries otherwise aren’t as severe as you claim them to be. So, be prepared to present strong evidence that speaks to the extent and severity of your damages, including medical records, witness testimony, and your journaling of how your injuries have negatively impacted your life.
Be prepared to counter aggressive truck accident defenses
Before moving forward with your case, you need to think through every possible angle so that you can diligently address every potential problem that could arise. That’s hard to do unless you have experience in the legal arena, which is why many people seek out legal assistance when dealing with these matters.
However you decide you pursue and present your case, be sure you’re taking defense strategies into account so that you can maximize your chances of winning your case and recovering the compensation you need.
