Side-Impact Truck Accidents in El Centro
While most commercial truck traffic around El Centro passes through the area quickly on Interstate 8, plenty of tractor-trailers exit the freeway to stop at local businesses or get on the freeway after picking up cargo. The local roads around El Centro were not designed with massive semi-trucks in mind, making it especially important for truck drivers navigating this area to be careful, considerate, and law-abiding behind the wheel.
If you were T-boned, sideswiped, or involved in any other kind of side-impact truck accident in El Centro, you may have grounds to demand civil compensation from the truck driver and their employer. To get the best possible result from your claim, consult the seasoned 18-wheeler crash lawyers at Walter Clark Legal Group.
Building a Strong Claim Over a Side-Impact Truck Crash
As with any other type of auto accident, holding someone legally liable for causing a side-impact truck wreck in El Centro generally requires proving that they were legally negligent in some way prior to the wreck. Depending on the circumstances, this could mean showing that a defendant truck driver did something expressly against the law, or just that they acted in a broadly irresponsible way—for example, running a red light and T-boning someone else in an intersection, or failing to check blind spots and sideswiping someone else while merging onto a freeway.
Either way, the injured plaintiff trying to pursue civil restitution will need extensive evidence supporting their claim for compensation, typically including things like:
- A copy of the accident report created by police officers who responded to the crash scene
- Testimony from eyewitnesses or other parties involved in the crash
- Footage from surveillance or dashboard cameras which captured the accident as it happened
- Data from a truck’s onboard data recorder
- Photos/videos of the crash scene and damage to the vehicles involved
- Input from accident reconstruction experts
Qualified legal counsel could help with collecting and effectively using all relevant information in pursuit of fair financial recovery.
Are Trucking Companies Liable for Truck Driver Negligence?
While individual truck drivers are generally the people most directly to blame for side-impact truck collisions in El Centro, they rarely have much in the way of personal assets. Fortunately, it is often possible to name the company a negligent trucker works for as a co-defendant in a civil claim against them, allowing for far greater financial recovery.
Most of the time, this is possible thanks to the legal doctrine of respondeat superior, which holds that employers can be held vicariously liable for the misconduct of employees acting in the company’s name and in service of the company’s goals. In some situations, though, trucking companies are directly liable for these crashes based on their own negligence—for instance, hiring an unqualified driver who was unreasonably likely to cause a collision.
An El Centro Attorney Could Help Take Action Over a Side-Impact Truck Accident
Regardless of how or where it happens, a side-impact truck accident in El Centro is a uniquely traumatic and all too often life-altering experience to go through. Taking proactive legal action after being involved in a crash like this can be hard for numerous reasons, not the least of which is the challenge of navigating California civil law while dealing with debilitating physical, financial, and personal losses.
Help from compassionate legal counsel can be all but essential to handling this sort of claim effectively and getting paid everything you deserve for your damages. Call Walter Clark Legal Group today to get the help you need and deserve.