Scott City Truck Accident Attorney
Scott City Car and Truck Accident Lawyer Helping Fight Trucking Companies with Negligent Semi-Truck Drivers to Get Financial Compensation for Injury Victims in Western Kansas.
Our Scott City car and truck accident lawyers help fight trucking companies with negligent semi-truck drivers by getting financial compensation for truck injury victims in Western, Kansas that have had a truck accident involving a car, pickup, van or motorcycle. We help get money for pain and suffering, mental anguish, medical bills, wage loss, disability and wrongful death.
Our car and truck injury law firm has been helping injured Kansans in Western Kansas since 1983, winning millions of dollars for car and truck accident victims. We have excellent results on semi-truck accident cases with many in the million dollar plus range of settlements.
Truck Accident Lawyers Group (TALG) is associated with Bull Attorneys®. Our primary offices in Wichita and Western Kansas in Garden City are only a short drive. Our office location in Wichita is 10111 E. 21st Street North, Suite 202, Wichita, Kansas 67206. In Western Kansas our office is located at 3102 E. Kansas Avenue, #100, Garden City, KS 67846.
Regardless of which office location you choose our Scott City car and truck accident personal injury attorneys will visit you in the hospital or your home for free. It costs nothing to hire us and our Scott City car-truck accident attorneys work for free unless we win. The experienced car-truck accident injury lawyers have big rig cases across the entire state of Kansas and most border states adjacent to Kansas.
Our Scott City car and truck personal injury attorneys help injured truck victims with every step of your case from the beginning to end.
TALG and Bull Attorneys® help get you paid for damages and financial compensation by:
- Peace of mind.
Once we take over you cannot be bothered any longer by the insurance adjusters and their investigators. We take statements and investigate your case. - Find excellent medical care.
People in western Kansas often have a hard time finding quality medical doctors having to rely upon nurse practitioners. We have a network of the best doctors, hospitals and surgery centers across the state that work with our firm to help truck accident injury victims. Many doctors and hospital refuse to treat injury victims who are uninsured or only have Medicaid due to fear of nonpayment. The medical providers in our network will treat injury victims even without health insurance. - Insurance claims.
We file all necessary insurance claims for Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits and legal claims against all defendants who are at fault. - Settle property damage.
We negotiate your property damage claims and if your vehic le was totaled we help get the highest fair market value available. This includes setting up rental cars so you are not without transportation. - Investigators and accident reconstruction experts.
Whenever fault or liability of a potential defendant is at question or the insurance company blames you, we hire investigators and accident reconstruction experts to evaluate liability to prove the truck driver and their trucking company were more at fault than you are.
The 2021 Kansas Traffic Crash Book reported that Scott City, Kansas had 55 motor vehicle crashes resulting in 17 injuries. Scott County had 62 motor vehicle crashes with 22 injuries and 1 fatality.
Scott City is at the junction of K-96 and US-83 making it right in the middle of farming country, cattle ranches and feedlots. There are several feedlots in the area. US-83 comes directly through the Scott City area making this an extremely dangerous location for motorists to drive because of cattle haulers, grain trucks and semi-trucks.
Our Scott County car and truck injury lawyers are highly educated on how to understand and use the FMCSR and CSA BASICs . These regulations help prove negligence and fault of both the truck driver and their employer. The federal rules are almost always violated by truck drivers and motor carriers which increases the amount of your financial compensation.
When you hire TALG with Bull Attorneys® you get experienced trucking lawyers who have helped Kansans for four decades. Our team approach uses a proprietary and confidential case development method helps win cases.
The 10 proprietary case development methods our personal injury semi-truck lawyers and truck crash team use are:
- Accident scene investigation.
Investigation into the accident with accident reconstruction experts, mapping tools and recreation methods before critical evidence is lost helps prove the truck driver was at fault and caused the accident. - Unique questioning techniques.
We have developed a unique set of specific questions for drivers, witnesses, law enforcement, safety directors, dispatch personnel and hiring personnel from the trucking company. - Spoliation Letters.
We use specific spoliation letters to the motor carriers and maintenance companies to prevent destruction of key critical evidence necessary to prove their negligence like maintenance records, the black box data, trip logs, fuel receipts, toll both receipts and many necessary pieces of critical evidence. Many motor carriers destroy this evidence exactly 6 months from the accident. - FOIA request.
We use a unique FOIA request to obtain the entire motor carrier file from the FMCSA including monthly safety records, audit and fine history for prior violations of the FMCSR and request much more to assist our safety experts in building your case. - OP-1 Oath.
We use the OP-1 oath and safety certification in a manner that will clearly prove the company did not abide by their oath by implementing a proper safety plan required by the DOT and federal regulations. - Preventability analysis including root cause.
Analyze preventability and root cause of the accident by studying past truck crash incidents of the motor carrier, monthly safety profile, police reports and black boxes which requires obtaining their entire motor carrier file from the FMCSA. - Trucking Industry Library.
Use our proprietary library of trucking industry books, training manuals and safety director educational books that all trucking management professionals use to manage motor carriers. This helps us establish the negligence of the trucking company by proving their lack of compliance with federally required minimum standards of safety. - Multi-count petitions and complaints.
The use of very specific lawsuits that have more than 10 different areas of negligence claims against the driver and their trucking company. This increases the potential for liability of the motor carrier and can lead to punitive damages where it can be shown they acted recklessly without regard to human life. - Specially trained legal assistants.
Our office uses specially trained legal assistants that help gather federal records on the motor carrier and all of their drivers to help us prove fault and liability by noncompliance with federal and state rules related to semi-trucks. - Trucking safety experts. Our office routines uses highly experienced trucking safety experts who have spent their life working in the trucking industry by being former drivers and safety directors giving them keen insight into what a safe motor carrier should do to comply with the FMCSR.
Write us on out contact page or call us night or day for a free consultation at 785-708-0800. You can talk to a live experienced truck accident attorney 24 hours a day since our lawyers answer the phone at night and on the weekends, unlike many firms who use answering services.
What Type of Damages Can I Get for a Semi-truck Injury?
Semi-truck injuries from crashes with cars and pickups can cause severe injury allowing you to make claims for:
- Noneconomic damages.
Noneconomic damages are pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life and disfigurement. We help by hiring experts to evaluate your noneconomic damages so an insurance company or jury will give money to compensate you for them. - Economic damages.
Economic damages are for medical bills, lost wages, rehabilitation costs, future medical bills, future wage loss and all financial needs over your lifetime resulting from a large truck crash. We hire medical experts and economists or life care experts to project your lifetime medical expenses from your truck crash. - Wrongful death.
When a wrongful death occurs, we help you get financial compensation for your losses and your loved one’s conscious pain and suffering that existed from the time of the accident until their death. We obtain witness statements and evidence so we can prove your loved one had conscious pain and suffering before dying, which increases your financial compensation. This allows a survival claim. - Wentling Damages.
Wentling damages are a different type of damage that allows a jury to award additional money damages to a family member in a death case where we can show that the death of your loved one caused you to have an economic loss for the loss of services, guidance and counseling provided by the family member before death. - Funeral expenses.
Funeral expenses includes the funeral services, gravesite services and cost for a headstone. We help set up PIP claims to get money for the funeral expenses and then get the remaining balance from the negligent parties. - Punitive damages.
Punitive damages are known as exemplary damages and they are awarded when a defendant has harmed someone through reckless disregard of human life or has willfully, intentionally or maliciously harmed another person. Their purpose is to deter other people from similar bad conduct. - Vocational retraining.
When a severe injury causes amputation, or inability to perform your normal employment, we help with getting vocational training so that you can get into a new vocation. Due to the extreme force of an impact with these massive trucks we use vocational experts when you are hurt to badly that you cannot perform your former job. - Prosthetics for Amputees.
When an amputation is required, prosthetics are used to help restore function and mobility. There are static nonmoving prosthetics or the more modern bionic prosthetics which have a computer chip and are designed to function like a normal hand, foot, leg or arm. More expensive bionic prosthetics require the use of specially trained experts in prosthetics.
Why are Truck Accident Cases So Complex?
- Contingency fee charge.
Most truck accident lawyers will work on a contingency and get a percentage of the case settlement usually ranging from one-third to forty percent. - Case development expenses.
Trucking cases are expensive. It is important to work out an agreement with your truck accident lawyer to understand what you owe if they lose. Do they come back to you to pay for them? The best truck accident lawyers do not charge any fees or expenses unless they win and only expect reimbursement for expenses if they win. - Fees above Forty Percent.
Some truck accident attorneys believe they should be paid a higher amount and charge as much as fifty percent of the case settlement. These lawyers are unfair, charging way too much. Beware of those lawyers because they care more about themselves than their clients.
What are the Three Main Causes of Semi-Truck Accidents?
Truck accidents in Kansas have a two-year statute of limitations under Kansas statute 60-513. Minors have a longer period of time depending upon their age.
The statute of limitations can be longer in some of the bordering states around Kansas like Missouri which allows for a 5-year statute of limitations.
What are The Dangerous Roads in Scott City?
Scott City and Scott County is an area of high tractor-trailer and cattle hauling trucks in addition to grain trucks bringing grain into local elevators making the entire county dangerous to smaller vehicles.
The most dangerous roads in and near Scott City are:
- 5th Street and Main Street.
5th Street and Main Street are the city names for K-96 and US-83 respectively. There intersection in the center of Scott City is a dangerous area where large trucks heading east-west and north-south frequently travel. - US-83 highway.
US-83 is a north-south highway favored by truck drivers. This highway runs directly through Scott City. The lengthy highway starts in Westhope, North Dakota and runs south clear to Brownsville, Texas making this one of the main cattle hauling routes in the United States. Cattle haulers are dangerous to all motorists. - K-96 highway.
K-96 is an east-west highway that intersects with US-83 in Scott City making it an intersection point for semi-trucks, farming trucks and grain trucks bringing great danger to cars and pickups. Several feedlots are in the surrounding county near Scott City which makes for high traffic cattle semis bringing or picking up cattle from the feedlots. - South Hereford Road.
South Hereford Road to the west of Scott City is a dangerous road due to the cattle haulers bringing cattle back and forth to the HRC feedlot. - East Road 160 and N. Navaho Road.
East Road 160 and North Navaho Road is a favored route with cattle haulers bringing cattle to the Brookover Feedyard. - North Main Street aka US-83.
US-83 is North Main Street which brings cattle haulers running cattle to feedlots and then into or out of Scott City making the area dangerous to motorists.
Do livestock Haulers Have to Use ELD for Logging?
If a livestock hauler operates only within the 150 air-mile rule they are not required to use ELD. However, livestock haulers who operate their cattle trucks outside of the 150 air-mile radius are required to follow normal hours-of-service ELD Logs. The 150 air-mile radius rule is only for short hauls.
Livestock haulers driving from Nebraska through Scott City and other cattle routes in Kansas are traveling beyond the 150 air-mile rule and must follow the of the FMCSR. Livestock haulers often believe they are beyond the reach of law and this is untrue.
Livestock haulers moving through Kansas and Scott County cause accidents with cars, pickups and tractor-trailers due to the following:
- Fatigued driving.
Livestock haulers try not to stop because of the fear that stress will shed weight on the cattle. The truck drivers and shippers become penalized when the cattle shed too much weight so they push themselves past legal driving limits to get the cattle to the feed lot or beef plants. Long hours cause fatigue and accidents. - Bad weather driving.
Livestock haulers frequently bring cattle and other livestock through Scott City regardless of weather conditions. Part 392.14 of the FMCSR requires drivers to cease operations when conditions become “sufficiently dangerous.” Livestock hours outside of the 150 air mile rule must follow this federal law. - Driving in high winds.
Livestock haulers traveling down U-83 through Scott County are often subject to high wind conditions that cause them to shift across the highway. This is even worse when traveling north-south because of the high cross winds from winds coming off the Kansas plains. Cattle trucks present great danger to all motorists in windy travel conditions.
Should I Hire a Truck Accident Lawyer in Western Kansas?
It is always wise to hire a truck accident lawyer when you have a car or motor vehicle accident involving a large truck or semi to protect yourself from their insurance company tactics. You need to hire an experienced truck accident personal injury attorney who understands the unique laws and regulations in Western Kansas.
There are several reasons why it is important to hire a Western Kansas truck accident lawyer for your case.
The 10 important reasons why you need a Western Kansas truck accident attorney are:
- Insurance company tactics.
Insurance companies use sophisticated psychological tools to teach their adjusters how to keep truck accident injury victims from hiring experienced trucking attorneys because it helps them keep their payouts and settlements much lower than a represented client will receive. - Unrepresented vs represented injury victims.
Insurance companies hire sophisticated adjusters and attorneys who are paid to minimize the insurance company’s payments. Industry studies have shown that a represented personal injury client will get as much as 3 times more than an unrepresented injury victim. - Identifying the right parties who are liable.
Trucking cases are complex and many different parties may be liable. It requires an experienced truck accident attorney to properly identify who is at fault for your injuries. - Understanding the maximum hours of service rules.
Western Kansas has dozens of truck routes that cattle haulers and fatigued truck drivers use. The cattle haulers believe they do not need to comply with maximum hours rules. They are wrong. Experienced trucking lawyers know how to get around the agricultural exemption for logging driving time. - Higher insurance coverage makes insurance companies fight more.
As insurance limits rise in their amount, the insurance company has much more to fight about. They want to pay as little as possible for your injuries. The greater the amount of coverage, the harder they fight. - Trucking litigation is based upon federal regulations.
Ordinary personal injury lawyers who are unfamiliar with the FMCSR and the CSA BASICs are not properly trained to be able to help a truck accident victim get the maximum financial compensation available. - Critical evidence disappears rapidly.
Weather and traffic can erase evidence at the scene that can help properly locate the point of impact location to prove which vehicle was in the right. Adjusters, investigators and attorney for the trucking company will arrive at the scene within an hour or two of any injury accident. You need your own truck accident lawyer to do the same to obtain critical evidence needed to win your case. - Grain and farm trucks have different rules.
Western Kansas has a tremendous number of large truck crashes caused by farm vehicles, tractors and combines. Different safety rules apply to agricultural transportation businesses. The Western Kansas truck accident attorney will understand the differences between the agricultural industry and the trucking industry. - Finding the best medical doctors.
Western Kansas has limited medical doctors with little to no specialization and many small towns like Scott City may only have a nurse practitioner. A western Kansas truck injury lawyer will be able to send you to quality doctors who can help you heal faster. - Black boxes must be accessed immediately.
Black boxes are small data recorders in the truck and motor vehicle that record speed, braking information and other critical evidence which can be erased and written over if not immediately taken out of the truck. You will need a truck crash lawyer and an accident reconstruction expert to make sure the evidence in the black box is not destroyed.
What are the 10 Main Types of Injuries Caused by Truck Drivers?
Semi-trucks cause many different types of injury to the occupants in the smaller cars and motor vehicles colliding with the large heavy semis.
The 10 primary types of injuries caused by Scott County truck drivers are:
- Whiplash and neck injuries.
Sudden acceleration or deceleration upon impact shakes the body back and forth and can cause the curvature of the spine to lose its normal lordotic curve. When this happens the abnormal lordotic curve will cause the area in the spine nearby start to pull ligaments and tendons to get the normal alignment which is painful and causes strains, sprains and muscle spasms. - Shoulder injuries.
The great difference in weight of farm and grain trucks leaves cars and pickups heavily damaged after impact. The occupants suffer shoulder injuries frequently. Shoulder injuries to the rotator cuff, brachial plexus nerve branch, clavicle and scapula usually require extensive surgery. - Knee injuries.
Knee injuries happen from crush injuries to the passenger compartment. Knees can also be injured by the dashboard. These injuries often create meniscal tears, ACL and PCL tears, patella fractures and other significant damage that normally requires surgery to repair. - Back injuries.
When a heavier semi-truck or other large truck strikes the smaller motor vehicle it can cause damage to the back including, vertebrae, discs and ligaments. Many back injuries require epidurals, physical therapy, surgeries and radiofrequency ablations. - Psychological injuries.
Truck injuries are traumatic life experiences that cause post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), anxiety, nightmares and other psychological problems especially when a driver or passenger dies leaving the other occupants in the vehicle alive to continuously relive the moment. - Traumatic brain injuries.
Truck accidents can cause head injuries from a brain bleed or fractured skull to concussions and traumatic brain injuries. Most are lifelong medical problems that stop a person from normal functioning in life. - Spinal Cord Injuries.
Spinal cord injuries often lead to paralysis of part or all of the body and are life disabling creating a need for medical care over an entire lifetime. - Fractures and Broken Bones.
The force of the impact with a large truck can cause broken bones and fractures to your extremities like shoulders, hips, arms, hips, knees, and elbows. It can also cause severe fractures to the pelvis in the lower extremity or the humerus and clavicle in the shoulders. - Internal injuries.
Forceful impacts can cause internal bleeding and, in many cases, require the removal of organs like spleens. These are life threatening injuries. - Wrongful Death.
Internal injuries, fractures, infection and injuries from the force of the impact from a large truck can result in death to the occupants creating a tremendous loss to the remaining family members and spouse.
Who is Responsible to Pay for Injuries in a Semi-truck Accident?
The responsibility to pay for injuries from a semi-truck accidents is with the negligent driver and their employer. In many cases, multiple defendants may be responsible to pay for your injuries and damages.
The responsible parties in a semi-truck accident may be:
- Truck driver.
When the truck driver acts negligently or violates the FMCSR and other federal and state regulations he/she will be responsible. If a co-driver on a team is working the tractor-trailer both can be responsible. - Motor carrier trucking company.
Trucking companies are commonly referred to as the motor carrier. The motor carrier is usually responsible under the doctrine of Respondeat Superior when the driver is working in the course and scope of employment for the motor carrier making the motor carrier responsible to pay. The trucking company can also be responsible for negligent hiring, training and supervision. - Parent company.
Many larger transportation companies will enter into leases or contracts with smaller motor carriers. In certain factual situations both companies can be equally responsible to pay for your injuries. - Leasing company.
Leasing companies providing the tractor or trailer to the motor carrier may be responsible, depending upon their knowledge of a known crash history or unsafe violation history of the hired motor carrier. - Maintenance and repair companies.
When a trucking company uses an outside business to maintain and repair their tractor-trailers and they have improperly repaired the semi-truck that hits you, they can be responsible to pay for your injuries. - Manufacturing Companies.
Brake and tire manufacturers or other manufacturers who provide a defective safety part to the motor carrier can be responsible to pay for your injuries. - Cargo Loading companies.
Cargo loaders make negligent mistakes in loading the cargo onto the trailer making the weight uneven where cargo and the trailer can shift causing the trailer to leave the correct lane of travel and often cause the trailer to jackknife or rollover. - Brokers and shippers.
Brokers and shippers who negligently select unsafe drivers and motor carriers to transport their cargo can be responsible. - Dispatch companies.
When a smaller motor carrier uses an outside dispatcher who sends a truck driver on a shipment and the truck driver is over their legal hours of service, the dispatch company can be responsible.
What is the Best Type of Lawyer for an 18-wheeler Accident?
What are 5 Common Causes of 18-wheeler Accidents?
While there are many common causes of 18-wheeler accidents the five most causes are:
- Speeding.
According to the FMCSA speeding was the most frequent driver related factor in fatal crashes with commercial motor vehicles (CMV) making up 7.3 percent of all CMV fatalities. - Distracted Driving.
An FMCSA study from 2009 found that 71 percent of large truck crashes happened with the truck driver was doing something besides driving the truck and was not focused on the task of driving. - Following too closely.
The Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS) found that 5% of truck crashes occurred when the commercial motor vehicle driver was following the lead vehicle too closely. - Improper lane changes.
The FMCSA warns truck drivers that improper lane changes are a common violation for 18-wheeler drivers. - Fatigued driving.
The National Institutes of Health and NCBI reported that truck driver fatigue is associated with 13 percent of large truck crashes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I accept a Settlement from an Insurance Company?
You should never accept a settlement offer from an insurance company following a semi-truck accident without the advice of an experienced truck accident attorney. Insurance adjusters are taught to make low offers to see if they can make a case go away quickly with a minimal offer. Only an experienced truck crash lawyer will know the true fair amount for a settlement offer.
What if I am party at fault?
When a car-truck accident happens in Kansas your own fault is compared to the fault of the truck driver and employer. In Kansas, you must be less than 50 percent at fault to collect. In some states with a pure comparative fault law, you can still collect when you are 50 percent at fault.
How much will my lawyer cost in a truck accident?
Most lawyers representing truck accident victims work on a contingency which is a percentage of the total case settlement. The percentage is normally one-third before a lawsuit is filed and forty percent when a settlement is reached after a lawsuit has been filed in court.