Publication Details

Your Own Truck Accident Defense Team. Too Expensive? Think Again …

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Article Originally Published: February 2004

The information contained in this article is not intended to be legal advice. Readers should not act or rely on this information without consulting an attorney.

In a perfect world, every trucking company would have an accident response team in place to respond quickly to any road accident and preserve all evidence which may help in the defense of any subsequent litigation.

Witnesses would be interviewed, physical evidence would be photographed and preserved, and the accident scene would be surveyed and mapped. The company would not need to rely on a police agency’s interpretation of the evidence, prepared with an eye to prosecuting the company’s driver.

While such a team may not be necessary for every accident, when disaster strikes in the form of a fatality or multiple injury incident, an accident response team can be critical in preventing serious threat to a trucking company’s finances or its very survival.

Unfortunately, in the real world of most trucking companies, the cost of an in-house accident response team is likely prohibitive. There is, however, an effective alternative which can be yours, and at no cost.

An accident response team should, at a minimum, consist of an attorney, accident adjuster, and accident reconstruction expert. Having an attorney at the helm from the start makes the information collected in the investigation part of the attorney’s work product, which is usually legally protected from disclosure to the other party.

The attorney should have a solid background in personal injury accidents, including catastrophic injuries. He or she should practice with a firm which has a transportation group, ensuring experience with the DOT regulations dealing with driver qualifications, hours of service, drug testing, the allowable use of such test results, as well as a general knowledge of the trucking industry, the equipment used, and trucking insurance issues. And there is more. The attorney also should have an accident response team already in place to become involved quickly in any accident investigation.

The accident adjuster should have heavy vehicle experience. He or she will obtain witness statements (while memories are fresh) and take photographs of significant physical evidence, such as points of impact; yaw, skid and traction marks; fluid spills; all sides of all vehicles; resting positions of the vehicles; and the surroundings.

The third member of the team is the accident reconstruction expert. This expert should have heavy vehicle accident experience and be familiar with DOT regulations on truck standards. The expert will measure the relative positions of everything at the scene, perform an inspection of the vehicles and obtain information from any electronic control module units on the engines or trip recorders. From all of this information the expert attempts to reconstruct the accident and establish its causes.

So how do you assemble this team without having to pay for it? The key is to have an attorney who has an accident response team already in place appointed as your preferred counsel to handle your truck accident claims at your insurance company’s expense.

That is accomplished by requesting through your insurance agent that a particular attorney or law firm be appointed as your preferred counsel for any truck accident litigation. Your agent will contact your automobile liability carrier and have the attorney

appointed as preferred counsel.

Then, if a catastrophic accident occurs, one of your first calls would be your insurance company, requesting your preferred counsel be immediately assigned to the case. This will put someone who is on your side, your emergency response team, at the scene while evidence is still fresh and critical information is being developed, all at no cost to you.