Abbeville Truck Accident Lawyer

Abbeville Truck Accident Attorney

Being in any kind of vehicular accident can be a lot to handle, both physically and psychologically. The toll can be considerably higher when you are hit by a truck. Trucks, particularly commercial vehicles, have the potential to cause devastating accidents that can affect every vehicle on the road. The size is enough to cause catastrophic damage and rampant injuries. If it happens to you, you should reach out to an Abbeville truck accident lawyer quickly.

The legal team at Sanchez Burke, LLC can assist you throughout your truck accident case. You don’t want to end up being taken advantage of by a trucking company or its insurance carrier because you failed to hire an Abbeville truck accident attorney to help with your case. A lawyer can help you understand Louisiana’s truck accident laws, provide consistent guidance, and protect your interests during settlement talks or in court if it comes to it.

Common Causes of Truck Accidents

Commercial truck drivers receive specific training and undergo extensive drug and background testing. This doesn’t make them immune to causing accidents, though. The size and weight of 18-wheelers can make them dangerous, and further industry characteristics can cause additional safety complications.

Large vehicles experience more difficulty with acceleration, braking, visibility, and turning. Eighteen-wheelers are also prone to a type of accident known as jackknifing under certain conditions. Sudden braking or turning can increase the risk that the truck will twist horizontally. Jackknifing accidents can occur due to unforeseeable roadway conditions or abrupt turns to avoid other motorists. They’re not always truck drivers’ fault.

Right turn accidents are also common among truckers. These turns typically require the use of two lanes, as drivers must make wide swings to accommodate their fixed-wheel trailers. Determining liability in right-turn accidents can be challenging.

In some cases, it’s truck drivers who cause their own accidents. Some of the most common underlying causes of truck accidents involving commercial drivers include:

• Insufficient training in driving techniques, safety concerns, and defensive driving
• Pay structures that encourage faster speeds and more consecutive hours of vehicle operation
• Unrealistic schedules and expectations, which encourage drivers to prioritize speed over safety
• Drivers who operate their vehicles while fatigued, impaired, or distracted
• Cargo that is improperly loaded in the back of the truck

Passenger vehicle drivers can also cause truck accidents. They may have difficulty calculating how a truck’s size, speed, and braking ability impact its driving mechanics and commit unsafe acts in the vicinity of large trucks. These can include:

• Driving in “no-zones” with limited visibility
• Changing lanes directly in front of trucks
• Driving to the right of trucks making right turns
• Misjudging speed at intersections
• Failing to accommodate trucks that are changing lanes
• Merging improperly and causing trucks to maneuver or brake too quickly
• Unsafe passing with insufficient headway
• Passing a truck without planning for crosswind
• Pulling into traffic without accelerating sufficiently
• Driving in between large trucks

In Louisiana, you could still be eligible to receive compensation even if you were partially to blame for the accident. Because Louisiana is a pure comparative negligence state, you can seek damages even if you were deemed up to 99% to blame for the crash. Your settlement will, however, be adjusted accordingly.

Insurance companies sometimes try to deflect the blame for accidents onto passenger car drivers. Your Abbeville truck accident attorney can help you establish who caused the crash so that you can get the full compensation to which you are entitled in your truck accident claim.

Types of Injuries Incurred in Truck Crashes

Truck crashes are more likely than accidents involving only smaller passenger vehicles to cause catastrophic injuries. Fully loaded semi-trucks are many times heavier than passenger vehicles, and this weight disparity can cause more substantial injuries. Some of the most serious injuries you can incur in a truck crash include:

• Traumatic brain injuries. TBIs can lead to lasting cognitive and physical impacts, leaving victims unable to perform basic daily tasks.
• Spinal cord injuries. Spinal cord injuries can lead to full or partial paralysis.
• Internal bleeding. Internal bleeding can occur due to broken ribs or blunt force trauma. This life-threatening condition must be treated immediately at a hospital.
• Broken bones. Broken bones are common in even relatively minor truck accidents due to the difference in size between the vehicles.
• Back and neck injuries. Back and neck injuries range in severity from minor cases of whiplash that resolve themselves with minimal medical intervention to severe damage to the spinal cord.
• Facial disfigurement. Facial disfigurement can occur when passenger vehicle occupants hit their heads against steering wheels, dashboards, and other internal surfaces of the car.
• Burn injuries. If a fire occurs, burn injuries may follow. These can be severe and leave victims with lasting disfigurement and disability.

In some cases, accident victims’ injuries are fatal. If you’ve lost a loved one in a truck crash, you can file a wrongful death claim to seek compensation for the damages you’ve suffered because of that loss. While being compensated for their death won’t bring back your loved one, it can help you pay for expenses associated with their passing.

Dealing with the Aftermath of a Truck Accident

Truck accidents tend to result in severe, often life-threatening injuries. If you are seriously injured in a truck accident in Abbeville, EMTs will most likely take you to Abbeville General Hospital for immediate emergency care.

If your injuries are critical and you require higher-level trauma care, you may be transported to a trauma center in Lafayette or Baton Rouge. There were only 11 commercial truck injury crashes in Vermilion Parish in 2024, but those injuries were substantial.

It’s important to have a plan in place in the event that you end up in a vehicular accident, particularly an accident with a truck. According to the Center for Analytics and Research in Transportation Safety (CARTS), there were over 146,000 vehicular crashes throughout Louisiana in 2024 alone. That’s a lot of opportunities to get hurt.

You may not know how to handle yourself after an accident. Here are some general actions you can take to protect yourself.

• First, don’t panic. Being in an accident with a truck can be frightening, confusing, and painful. You may be feeling a lot of conflicting emotions all at once. Don’t try to guess what happened. Distracted driving is one of the leading causes of accidents in Louisiana, causing 22% of vehicular fatalities. That doesn’t necessarily mean it was the cause of your accident. Let the police figure that out.
• Next, you should check your body for any visible injuries. You may be in a state of shock, and that shock might make it hard to feel your injuries. Feel around your body for blood, lacerations, bruises, and possible broken bones. When the EMTs arrive, tell them everything you’ve found. Leave nothing out. If you’re in pain but can’t find an injury, tell them that first, as that might mean the injury is internal.
• Call 911 as soon as possible. When the police arrive, they’ll want to get your statement if you are lucid. If you’re too injured to speak, they can get it later. Be honest with them about what happened, but don’t accept any blame for the accident itself. Don’t even apologize to anyone, as that can be seen as an admission of guilt. Answer their questions respectfully, don’t speculate, and get a copy of the police report when you can.
• Swap contact and insurance information with the truck driver. Make sure you get their name, phone number, trucking company contact info, and their insurance contact info. Don’t forget to call your own insurance company and tell them you were in an accident.
• After you document the accident scene with photos, see a doctor for a medical record of your injuries. Next, you should go see a personal injury lawyer to start the process of filing your accident claim.

Damages Available in a Truck Accident Case

Truck accident laws allow victims to recover compensation not just for economic damages such as hospital bills and lost wages, but also for non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of consortium. In cases where the truck driver’s behavior was particularly egregious, such as drunk driving cases, a results-driven attorney may also be able to get accident victims assigned punitive damages.

Economic damages in truck crashes often include:

• Hospital bills
• Future medical care
• Lost wages
• Loss of future income
• Modifications to the home to accommodate lasting disabilities
• Funeral and burial expenses if the accident victim’s injuries were fatal

Non-economic damages can include:

• Pain and suffering
• Mental anguish
• Emotional trauma
• Loss of consortium
• Loss of guidance and nurture

Punitive damages are rarely awarded in Louisiana. The intent of punitive damages is not to compensate victims, but to punish wrongdoers and those who act with an egregious disregard for human life. Impaired drivers are generally the only ones who are assigned punitive damages.

Determining Liability in Truck Accident Cases

It’s often more difficult to determine liability in truck accident cases than in crashes that involve only passenger vehicles. Truck drivers are required to follow stricter rules than passenger car drivers, including limitations on driving hours and higher standards for driver qualification. Trucking companies can be held liable for the actions of their drivers, or for failure to uphold the Federal Motor Carrier Association Regulations themselves.

In addition to truck drivers and trucking companies, other parties may also hold some amount of liability for the crash. If improperly loaded cargo imbalanced the truck and that led to the accident, you could file a claim against the cargo loaders. If a mechanical failure contributed to causing the crash, the fleet management company, the mechanic who performed the repairs, or the manufacturer who made a defective part could hold some of the blame.

Determining who was responsible for the crash can also become more complicated in situations where truck drivers are independent contractors or vehicles are leased. Determining liability often includes extensive investigation. You’ll need the help of an experienced truck accident lawyer who understands how to identify potential defendants so that you can improve your chances of getting a full recovery.

FAQs

Q: Who Is Held Liable in a Truck Accident in Louisiana?

A: Who is held liable in a truck accident in Louisiana varies. To determine liability after a truck accident in Abbeville, Louisiana, an investigation has to be made by the insurance companies. Most of the time, the truck driver is found to be at fault due to driver fatigue, distractions, speeding, or reckless driving. However, it’s possible that the accident was the fault of a mechanical error, and the manufacturer of the truck itself could be found liable. It all depends on the findings of the investigation.

Q: How Long After a Truck Accident Can You Make a Claim in Louisiana?

A: In Louisiana, you generally have two years to file a claim after a truck accident, provided that your case falls under the statute of limitations for a personal injury case. To make sure that this doesn’t impact your case, it’s recommended that you file your claim as soon as possible after your accident. If you can’t file your claim within two years, you likely won’t be able to file for damages at all, as the deadline is very strict.

Q: What Is the Value of My Truck Accident Case?

A: The value of your truck accident case varies significantly based on the circumstances. The potential settlement you could be looking at is determined by multiple contributing factors to the case. Those factors include the severity of your injuries, any evidence of negligence, and your lawyer’s own negotiation skills. Many truck accident settlement amounts are considerable, as the trucking company may want to avoid any public legal action.

Q: What Happens if You Get in an Accident with a Truck Driver?

A: If you get in an accident with a truck driver, an investigation will be held to determine who or what caused the accident. In the immediate aftermath, you want to prioritize your own health and safety. Call 911, check for injuries, document the scene, see a doctor, and call a lawyer. The trucking company will likely launch an investigation and probably reach out to your lawyer about settling out of court before your case goes to trial.

Abbeville Truck Accident Lawyer | Results-Driven Attorneys

The smartest thing you can do for your case is hire a truck accident lawyer to represent you. This can help you avoid setbacks, mistakes, and lowball offers. At Sanchez Burke, LLC, we believe in helping our clients succeed in the wake of an injury. Our team has been recognized by numerous accredited organizations, including Super Lawyers.** Contact us to speak to someone who knows how to help.

**Awards and recognition are not guarantees of future results. Selection criteria vary by organization.