Truck Accident Lawyer

Any vehicle accident can be serious, but if you are hurt in a truck crash, your injuries may be life-changing. You may need extensive time and finances to recover, and fighting with insurance providers and trucking companies to secure compensation will be overwhelming when you are hurting. Instead of giving up, put your trust in a personal injury lawyer from our law firm.

At Riley & Jackson, we are dedicated to treating you with respect, compassion, and integrity. Beginning with a free initial consultation, we can answer your questions and give you the confidence to pursue your claim. We believe our experience and preparation can yield satisfactory results for you, so contact us to meet with a Birmingham truck accident lawyer today.

Why Riley & Jackson Should Be Your Choice for a Birmingham Truck Accident Claim

After a truck crash, your first priority is to get the medical care you need. As your bills begin to pile up, your next priority is to finding an attorney to help you with your case. Fortunately, Riley & Jackson understands the stress and fear many truck accident victims experience, and we focus on taking those worries off your shoulders.

You should choose a Birmingham truck accident attorney from Riley & Jackson for your case because we offer the following essential services:

We aggressively collect the evidence and information that is needed to give you the best chance of a satisfactory recovery.
We listen to your circumstances, collect important details, and answer your questions.
When we accept your case, you can relax and let us handle the legal details and paperwork. We manage every claim with efficiency, experience, and skill.
We identify all at-fault parties and forcefully negotiate for your best interests with their insurance company or legal advocates.
We conduct a thorough investigation to find out what happened and demonstrate how the liable party’s negligent actions led to your injuries.
We will be ready for trial. While we strive to reach a fair and appropriate settlement through negotiations, we are always ready to proceed to trial to obtain full damage awards for you if we are unable to reach a settlement. .
We communicate with you constantly, ensuring you are not left wondering what is going on with your case.

Founding partners Rob Riley and Keith Jackson are Birmingham natives and childhood friends. They understand what people in the Magic City believe and stand for, and they connect with clients on a personal level. This connection fuels their motivation to never be outworked by any other law firm.

Get the Superior Legal Representation You Need Without Worrying About Cost

Many clients hesitate to contact us because they believe they need to pay a big fee upfront to even get in the door. Because we only take cases we believe we can win, we use a contingency fee system for payment. This means that we only get paid when we secure a settlement for you. We receive a percentage based on the amount that we recover.

The amount of the percentage is unique to each case and is based on several factors such as, the number of parties involved, the injuries sustained by the client, the complexity of the case, etc. Our proven records of verdicts and settlements can give you confidence in our dedication to ensuring you get what you deserve from those who are to blame. We have experience in truck accident cases from decades of representing other victims in similar cases.

Truck Accident Causes in Birmingham

According to Drive Safe Alabama, truck accidents across the state numbered over 10,400 in the last reporting year. These incidents left 2,417 people injured and 162 dead. Almost 60% of these crashes happened on U.S. routes or interstates.

Birmingham sits near the center of the state, with commercial trucks traveling through all hours of the day and night. Visitors and locals must also contend with these large vehicles on city streets making deliveries. These conditions, coupled with frequent rain, sleet, and occasional snow, lead to the most common causes of truck accidents in Birmingham:

Failure to yield the right-of-way or an improper lane change
Misjudged stopping distance
Crossing the center line
Driving too fast for road or weather conditions
Driving while drowsy– not resting the appropriate amount of time
Driving under the influence of alcohol or illegal substances
Speeding or other reckless behaviors

The majority of truck accidents are caused by human error or carelessness, whether by the driver engaging in dangerous driving habits or by negligent mechanics, cargo loaders, inspectors, parts manufacturers, or fleet owners. In many truck crashes, there is more than one party at fault.Riley & Jackson aggressively pursues every at fault party to maximize the compensation for our clients.

Your Serious Truck Accident Injuries Deserve Full Compensation

With the average fully loaded 18-wheeler weighing about 80,000 pounds, the damage it can cause when it slams into your passenger car, SUV, or light truck can be devastating. No matter the type of collision, such as head-on, rear-end, sideswipe, rollover, or jackknife, you are likely to suffer extremely severe injuries, needing immediate medical care and ongoing treatment. Many of our clients must recover from injuries such as:

Burns and abrasions
Puncture wounds from flying debris
Crushing injuries
Head and face injuries
Traumatic brain injuries
Whiplash or other neck and shoulder damage
Spinal cord injuries, potentially causing paralysis
Internal bleeding and organ damage
Amputation or other loss of limb function

In most instances, these conditions will require months of healing, during which you cannot work or support yourself. You may only partially recover from your injuries and you may experience permanent disability, limiting your future earning capacity, from the accident.

Riley & Jackson understands the medical issues that are associated with truck accidents and the importance that you receive the maximum compensation that you can receive since you only have one opportunity to recover for injuries that may affect you for the remainder of your life.

Under Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requirements, commercial trucks must carry minimum levels of liability insurance to pay for injuries they cause in a crash, ranging from $300,000 up to $5 million, depending on where they operate and the vehicle’s weight. While there may be funds available, you are at risk of not receiving the funds that you deserve if your case is not properly prepared and presented.

Insurance Often Pays Only Economic Losses, Which May Not Cover Your Full Damages

Most insurance policies will pay your losses that have a specific price tag, such as your medical bills, lost income, and treatment costs. They usually do not address the added burden you face from non-economic damages such as your pain and suffering. If you are severely disabled or disfigured after a truck accident, you deserve financial acknowledgment of your mental anguish, depression, loss of society, grief, and shock.

Fighting to secure payment for these losses can be extremely difficult because trucking companies and insurance providers often work hard to push the blame off their shoulders. They can employ teams of lawyers who only wish to protect their clients without worrying about the debilitating injuries you or your loved one are suffering.

Their job is to pay you as little as possible to get you to sign an agreement that you will drop any claims that you have brought against the trucking company and/or its driver or that you will agree to not bring any claims against the trucking company and/or its driver.

Fortunately, Riley & Jackson truck accident lawyers in Birmingham are tenacious and tireless when it comes to fiercely handling and litigating your case. We provide robust evidence to show how the liable party owes you due to their negligence. We will not back down. We strive to be better prepared than any other law firm to obtain the compensation you deserve.

Important Laws That Can Impact Your Truck Accident Case

There are some vital laws in Alabama that you should consider after your Birmingham truck accident. They can affect your ability to successfully hold negligent parties accountable. Your Riley & Jackson truck accident attorney will explain these statutes to you in more detail.

Statute of Limitations

Many of our clients wait until they are feeling better to ask for our help, potentially limiting their window of opportunity under Alabama Code § 6-2-38. This statute of limitations gives you just two short years from the date of your truck crash to file your personal injury lawsuit. The sooner that we are able to begin working on your case the better chance we have to identify all responsible parties, and to identify and preserve evidence that will be important to your being able to present your best case.

Alabama Insurer Regulations

The Alabama Department of Insurance (ADOI) requires all insurance companies to acknowledge claims within 15 days of receiving them. They must send you the appropriate forms and requests for supporting documentation within another 15 days and render a decision on your claim (to pay it or deny it) within 30 days of getting the information they need. Trying to manage this process on your own can be frustrating if you are severely injured, but your Riley & Jackson truck accident lawyer can take care of these matters for you.

Wrongful Death Actions

Because truck accidents are so dangerous, many victims will not survive. Whether your loved one passes away immediately or in the days following the crash, Riley & Jackson can help you and your family by filing wrongful death action. Money does not replace your family member, but it can ease your grief and suffering as you deal with the loss and help pay for the bills that are associated with the deal of a loved one. It also is a means to hold the negligent or reckless party responsible for the the death of your loved one.

In a recent truck accident case, Eloise Cooper’s husband, Michael Cooper, was hospitalized and then succumbed to his injuries. We were able to win a $3.5 million verdict for his widow. Ms. Cooper stated, “I could trust that they cared deeply about the loss I had suffered, and they explained to me everything that was happening and would happen in the case. No recovery could have made my loss feel any better, but Rob and Keith did a lot more than help me financially.”

Our expertise spans a wide range of personal injury cases, including:

Trust Riley & Jackson, P.C., to Be a Lifelong Partner

At Riley & Jackson, P.C., our attorneys not only help you with your case, but we ensure you have the continuing resources you need to move on after your truck accident. From accessing support programs to helping you manage your settlement funds after your case is over, we live the small-town values that we were taught. The testimonials from our past clients speak to the commitment we provide every day.

Remember, you pay nothing unless we win for you, so contact us online or call us at 205-879-5000 to meet with a qualified and compassionate Birmingham truck accident lawyer today.