Chanute Truck Accident Lawyer
Chanute Car and Truck Accident Lawyer Helping Fight Trucking Companies with Negligent Semi-Truck Drivers to Get Financial Compensation for Injury Victims.
Our Chanute car and truck accident lawyers help fight trucking companies with negligent semi-truck drivers by getting financial compensation for truck injury victims that have had a truck accident involving a car, pickup, van, or motorcycle.
Truck Accident Lawyers Group (TALG) is associated with Bull Attorneys® We concentrate our law practice in helping injury victims who have had a car accident with a large truck or 18-wheeler. Our focus is to bring legal claims for injuries against the truck driver and motor carrier. Our mission is to help restore the lives of truck accident victims to get back to a normal life.
Our Chanute car and truck accident injury attorneys help with everything. We get financial compensation for any car or truck accident with an injury victim that has a claim for pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, medical bills, future medical treatment, wage loss, future economic losses, scarring, disfigurement, disability, and wrongful death.
In the unfortunate event that you lost a loved one, we help the spouse and family get financial compensation for the loss of their loved one, including bringing wrongful death claims, claims for survival and conscious pain and suffering, funeral bills, Wentling damages and other losses.
The 2021 Kansas Traffic Crash Book reported that Chanute, Kansas had 86 motor vehicle crashes resulting in 25 injuries and 1 fatality. Neosho County had 397 motor vehicle crashes resulting in 90 injuries and 5 fatalities. Kansas had 90,045 motor vehicle crashes in 2021 causing extreme pain and suffering, property damage, injuries, and fatalities.
Chanute and Neosho County is in the middle of farming and the agricultural industry. Neosho County has a large group of grain elevators owned by Beachner Grain, Inc. The farming and grain business means that the county will have farming and grain trucks traveling across the county. Many grain truck drivers do not have a CDL and are unsafe drivers.
Our experienced Chanute truck accident injury attorneys understand and apply the FMCSR to large truck crashes with smaller motor vehicles. Our skilled trucking lawyers help truck injury victims because of our knowledge of the CSA BASICs. Even when the farming truck drivers have an agricultural exemption, we can help prove negligence from lack of safety training.
Our skilled Neosho County trucking lawyers follow a proprietary case development method that maximizes your financial recovery. This stems from a developed technique over the past 40 years that enables our personal injury attorneys use highly unique safety questioning about risk management safety procedures that many farmers disregard.
Our team uses sophisticated manuals and textbooks solely related to the commercial motor vehicle carrier industry that helps take depositions of trucking company managers from Human Resources, Safety Directors, Dispatch Officers, Operations Directors, and other necessary company employees. This allows us to bring additional claims against the employer of the truck driver for negligent hiring, supervision, and training.
We obtain the black boxes from the truck or large motor vehicle to establish speed, braking, and other critical factors related to the truck driver’s driving leading up to the moment of your car accident. This essential data can be destroyed or erased if not obtained immediately after your car and truck accident. Older farming vehicles may not have black boxes.
Our Chanute trucking attorneys provide their personal cell phone to every client so that you can focus on medical treatment and getting better. We focus on your case development. Truck injury victims always have ongoing questions during a case. You can call our personal injury lawyers with your questions day or night.
To hire a Chanute trucking injury attorney call TALG for a free consultation at 620-690-0600. You can write to us on our contact page. You never pay us unless you win and your initial call for legal advice is free. We have a track record of superb client settlement results.
Are Truck Accident Cases Difficult?
Truck accident claims are difficult because of the complexities surrounding development of evidence to prove negligence and fault.
Some of the reasons truck accident cases are difficult are:
- Increased insurance limits make fighting necessary.
Truck accident cases are difficult because of many reasons. The largest reason is that a commercial truck must carry at least $750,000 of liability insurance so the insurance carriers for the trucking company will fight as hard as they can not to pay out the money. This means that they will not just make a simple payment they owe. - Devious and crafty defense lawyers.
Defense lawyers for trucking companies are crafty and devious lawyers who are highly paid to save money for the insurance company. They refuse to answer interrogatory questions and requests for production of documents and in many circumstances, they claim certain evidence does not exist when it does. The difficult part comes from getting management of the trucking company to truthfully admit that the evidence does exist. - More than one party at fault.
Car/Truck accidents with semis and large business trucks are more difficult because tractor-trailer cases can have more than one at fault party. The correct parties have to be identified before a lawsuit is filed. - Regulations must be followed.
Trucks with DOT licenses are Commercial motor vehicles (CMV) which makes them subject to state and federal regulations and laws. The difficult part for the trucking lawyer is to truly understand the purpose of the regulations. Many lawyers have never even read the FMCSR so it is difficult for them to use a regulation with which they are not familiar. - The OP-1 oath and safety certification.
The OP-1 Safety Certification oath is a difficult area to establish in a trucking case because most truck drivers and safety directors have no idea what it is. Our trucking lawyers use unique questioning to get admissions from upper management for not complying with this oath.
What is the Statute of Limitations to Sue a Truck Driver?
If a truck driver has an accident with you remember that Kansas statute 60-513 places a time limit for filing a lawsuit which is two years from the date of your car-truck accident. Minors have a longer period of time that varies from case to case.
It is best to bring an immediate legal claim against the truck driver by hiring a trucking lawyer the same day as your accident.
What are The Dangerous Roads and Intersections in Chanute and Neosho County, Kansas?
Chanute is in a location of Kansas that has two main highway providing routes in and out of Chanute. The north-south route, which is US-169, connects Kansas City to Tulsa going through Chanute. This makes it a service route for long-haul and short-haul truck drivers carrying freight, cargo, foods, and products between these two major cities.
The most dangerous roads and intersections in Chanute and Neosho County are:
- US-169 highway.
US-169 highway runs north-south and intersects with K-39 highway towards the northwestern edge of Chanute. This same highway intersects with 190th Road to the southeast area. It is a trucking route and makes travel on this highway and especially near intersections dangerous to smaller vehicles.
- K-39 highway.
K-39 highway runs east-west through Chanute and is called Cherry Street as it makes its way through Chanute. The same highway changes names from Elm Street to North Lincoln Avenue and then becomes Cherry Street. There are many different intersections as it travels through the city that provide areas of danger.
Should I Represent Myself in a Truck Accident or Hire an Attorney?
People that have been involved in an injury accident with a truck should never represent themselves. Trucking attorneys concentrate their practice in trucking law to help truck injury victims. The normal person injured in a truck accident is not familiar with state and federal regulations like the FMCSR. A truck accident attorney will increase your total financial compensation.
What are the 5 Common Types of Injuries Caused by Heavy/Large Trucks?
Heavy/large truck can weigh 20-30 times more than a car or smaller van or pickup. The specific weight ratio compared to a smaller vehicle means that the smaller vehicle will be more damaged than the heavier and larger truck. In fact, the CrashStats publication of the NHTSA reports that 80 percent of fatalities in accidents between cars and trucks are the occupants of the car.
Five common injuries from car-truck accidents are:
- Back and neck injuries.
The force of the heavy/large trucks will usually cause injury to the back or neck and spine causing damage to vertebrae, discs, ligaments and the lordotic curve of the spine. Surgeries are common and long term disability is likely. - Head injuries and concussions.
Head injuries resulting in concussions, traumatic brain injury, brain bleeds and fractured skulls are hard to diagnose. It is not necessary to have a brain bleed or fractured skull to have a traumatic brain injury. Diffusion Tension Imaging (DTI) is noninvasive medical imaging to investigate damage to the white matter structure by showing hidden lesions. - Broken Bones.
Broken bones can occur upon impact from striking objects in the car including side windows, windshields, dashes, and steering wheels. The substantial force of the impact with a heavy/large truck can cause multiple fractures and compression to vertebrae in the spine. Bones can be splintered into many smaller bone fragments called a comminuted fracture. - Hip, femur, and pelvis injuries.
The likelihood of injury to your hip, pelvis and femur from heavy/large truck accidents is a frequent routine lower extremity complication of these accidents. These types of injuries take months of healing where a patient is restricted from movement and may be cast. - Wrongful death.
Heavy/large truck accidents with smaller cars and lighter pickups often result in wrongful death. There are multiple claims that can be brought including a wrongful death claim, survival and conscious pain and suffering claim and a claim for Wentling damages for certain types of damages that can be additionally added in wrongful death claims in Kansas.
How Do I Find the Best Car-truck Accident Attorney in Chanute, Kansas?
To find the best car-truck accident lawyer in Chanute, you should seek out a lawyer with expertise in federal regulations and trucking cases. This requires that you speak to the potential lawyer about expertise. You should ask what they know about the following:
- Regulatory knowledge.
Determine if the lawyer can explain the FMCSR and CSA BASICs without referring to a website or other informational page. A real trucking lawyer should instantly recognize and be able to recite this knowledge. - Past results for trucking cases.
Determine how often the lawyer handles commercial trucking litigation and find out what their win rate and average settlements for truck accident cases are. - Knowledge of negligent hiring, training, and supervision.
Speak to the potential truck accident lawyer and ask to see an actual petition they have already written to see whether they have the knowledge to make appropriate legal allegations to prove negligent, hiring, supervision or training claims. - Fee and expense policies.
Inquire about their policy on handling cases on a percentage and whether they ask for litigation expenses up front or to be paid back if they do not win.
What are The Common Causes of Car and Truck Accidents in Kansas?
Common causes of car and truck accidents in Kansas are from:
- Inattentive driving.
Truck drivers causing accidents are performing an activity that is unrelated to the task of safe driving and are inattentive drivers. This may be talking or texting on a cell phone, looking at computer screens for delivery instructions, and changing audio functions on a radio. The KDOT reported that the number one contributor to accidents is inattentive driving. - Fatigued driving over legal hours.
Part 395 of the FMCSR requires that both the truck driver and the motor carrier must comply with the hours-of-service regulations. Fatigue is a normal hazard of the occupation of truck driving. - Speeding.
Speeding is one of the most frequent contributors to commercial motor vehicle crashes. According to the FMCSA, 7.3% of large truck crashes causing fatality are due to speeding. - Following too closely.
Following too closely is a common violation of drivers of commercial motor vehicles. - Improper lane change.
Part 383.51 of the FMCSR requires disqualification of drivers for a period of 60 days when they commit a serious violation like making improper lane changes or erratic traffic lane changes. Many fatigued truck drivers will drift back and forth between lanes where they can cross the center line killing the people in the oncoming vehicle. - Drunk driving.
Part 383.51 of the FMCSR requires that motor carriers disqualify truck drivers for drunk driving for a period of one year. Truck drivers are held to a higher standard and lower limits of alcohol concentration at .04 because of the high risk of causing injuries and fatalities. - Tight schedules.
Tight driving schedules cause major heavy/large truck crashes by pushing the driver to exceed the maximum driving limits under fear of suspension and termination. Trucking companies are more concerned with on-time delivery and profit than with saving human lives. - Overloading.
Overloading of semi-trucks violates the FMCSR which has different weight limits based upon the number of axles in the semi-truck. Overloading results in rollovers and jackknife accidents. Jackknife accidents usually lead to the death of people in the smaller motor vehicles.
There are other causes of large truck and tractor-trailers accidents. To review the Top 20 Causes of semi-truck accidents, click here.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can you prove a traumatic brain injury when there is no skull fracture or brain bleed
Traumatic brain injuries can be proven through newer imaging techniques like Diffuse Tension Imaging (DTI), through neuropsychological testing and through clinical diagnosis from a neurologist.
How often are truck drivers driving while distracted?
The FMCSA has reported that 71% of truck accident fatalities are due to the truck driver being distracted from the task of driving and doing something completely unrelated to driving.
What is a professional truck driver?
The FMCSA Commercial Driver’s License Program for a professional truck driver of a Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) requires a higher level of knowledge, experience, skills and physical abilities than required to drive a noncommercial motor vehicle. The professional driver must have a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) and must pass a skills and knowledge test over higher driving standards.