How To Prove Negligence In Truck Accident Cases
Motor vehicle accidents between two similarly sized vehicles can be scary. When you are involved in a truck accident, it can be terrifying. Once you are past the initial overwhelm and fear, it is time to move forward with your life. For many, this begins with an insurance claim or a lawsuit against the truck driver or others. You may have questions about how to proceed, beginning with how to prove negligence in this type of accident. There are many things to consider when determining who is at-fault and who should be held financially liable for the accident.
What Is Negligence?
Georgia Code 51-1-2 states that negligence is the absence of ordinary diligence. The statute specifically defines ordinary diligence as the “degree of care which is exercised by ordinary prudent persons under the same or similar circumstances.” Negligence can also be defined as breaching duty of care, which the United Nations defines as a legal obligation to uphold a reasonable standard of care when performing actions that could harm others.
What Does Accident Due to Negligence Mean?
There are three types of harm that can be done to a person:
- Accidental: An accident is defined as an unfortunate occurrence. An accident is a harm that happens when no one is responsible and a reasonable person could not have foreseen it.
- Intentional: Intentional harm is when someone deliberately chooses to inflict harm on another person. An example of this type of harm is assault and battery.
- Negligence: Negligence means that the harm was not intentional, but could have been prevented with reasonable maintenance, repairs, precautions, or other protections.
An accident due to negligence means that the harm done was not intentional, but neither was it simply an unfortunate occurrence. This is an accident that, if someone had taken reasonable care, would not have happened.
How Do You Establish Negligence in Your Truck Accident Case?
When you are dealing with a truck accident, the question of how to prove negligence can be complicated. You must first establish negligence; then you must establish who was negligent.
Establishing Negligence
Establishing negligence requires establishing four things:
- The at-fault party had a duty of care: A plaintiff must first prove the at-fault party had a duty of care. Truck drivers are often held to a higher degree of responsibility because of the greater severity of damage that can occur when a truck driver is in an accident with another, often much smaller, vehicle.
- The responsible party breached their duty of care: The plaintiff must prove that the duty of care was breached and how it was breached. This means proving that something the at-fault party did or did not do directly caused or led to the events that caused the accident.
- That the plaintiff suffered damages as a result of the accident or negligence: The plaintiff suing for compensation in a personal injury case must prove that they suffered injuries and/or property damage as a result of the accident or negligence.
- The accident and injuries were caused by that negligence: The plaintiff in a personal injury case depending on negligence must prove that if not for the negligence, the accident and the injuries and damage sustained in the accident would not have happened.
Establishing Who the Negligent Party Is
In addition to establishing those four things, you must also establish who the negligent party is. In a typical motor vehicle accident, one or more drivers is at-fault. However, in a truck accident, there are several other parties who may bear some or all of the responsibility for the accident.
Other parties that may be considered liable in a truck accident include:
- Truck driver
- Trucking company
- Owner of the truck
- Cargo loader
- Government entities
What Is Evidence of Negligence in a Truck Accident?
In a truck accident, determining how to prove negligence can be more complicated than the same consideration in personal injury cases resulting from passenger car collisions, due to the number of potentially liable parties. However, there are many things that can prove negligence, including:
- Accident reports
- Video footage
- Photos of the accident scene and your injuries
- Eyewitness testimony
- Expert testimony from accident reconstruction specialists, mechanical engineers, trucking industry professionals, and medical experts
- Truck maintenance records
- Driver logbooks
- Proof of damages such as medical bills, pay stubs (to prove lost wages), and repair estimates
Proving Negligence in a Truck Accident Requires a Broad Perspective
If you are wondering how to prove negligence in a truck accident, it is not as simple as claiming the truck driver was at fault. While the driver may be partially or fully responsible, there are several other possibilities that should be considered before determining who was at fault. When you are seeking compensation for injuries and property damage, you do not want to identify the wrong party or parties. You want to be sure that the parties actually responsible for the accident are the ones held responsible.
Chris has successfully represented numerous clients in catastrophic personal injury, employment law matters, class action, consumer protection, business tort, and legislative matters involving multi-million-dollar damages.