Commercial Trucking
Accident Attorney
in South Dakota

Directly after a semi-truck accident is a frightening and confusing time. These moments can truly make a difference to both the health and safety of everyone involved, as well as the solidity of any potential case that you may have going forward. The most immediate priority you have after a wreck is to ensure your safety, the safety of others. And, while we do not usually encourage people to call us right away, with commercial trucking collisions, that is usually the best course of action. We will work with your or your family to collect all the necessary information. Here’s a checklist to follow after semi-truck accidents if you witness a crash:

1. Call 911 for emergency services.
2. If you think there is any chance someone needs medical attention, encourage them to take the ambulance.Often, due to adrenaline or delayed onset injuries, people think they are “fine” until they find out otherwise.  
3. Work with law enforcement or the police to give them the information that they seek – the more detailed accounts, the better.  
4. If you, or anyone else can, document the scene with photographs. One of the industry’s favorite tricks is moving the commercial vehicles to “get them out of the way” so that information is lost on the engine control module— making it harder to make a claim against the driver, the company, or the insurance company. The exact impact location can matter. Data contained on vehicles that are allowed to continue running or moving after a crash can delete or diminish the crash related information.  
5. While law enforcement will eventually document the scene, the first priority is usually dealing with injured people, then, making sure others are not injured as a result of the obstructed roadway. Then, and only then, do the police work on documenting the scene.  But, by then, towing companies or unscrupulous drivers or company people may have already moved vehicles or manipulated evidence.  Witnesses may be long gone.  
6. Get information from any eyewitnesses to the incident, including their name, address, telephone number and observations.
7. Posting  photos or statements on social media can be problematic. Additionally, it is usually not in your best interest to admit to any kind of blame “it was partially my fault.” Sometimes, victims have said things like “it was my fault, I should have been looking” in an effort to be polite or make the other driver not feel bad in the wake of a crash – without knowing the other driver was texting, overloaded, speeding, or following too closely. These types of statements can come back to haunt you down the road when their insurance company does not want to pay for harm to you, your property or your family.

Liability can be complex in an accident with a large truck, as there can be multiple parties potentially responsible for the wreck. Truck drivers and trucking companies have a more stringent set of rules they must abide by than normal drivers. Some parties that may have sole liability or shared liability include:

• The truck driver
• The trucking company
• The trucker’s employer
• The owner of the truck
• The manufacturer of the truck, trailer or parts
• The company leasing the truck or trailer
• The cargo shipper

As there can be multiple liable parties, there will likely be multiple insurance companies to communicate and negotiate with after the filing of your claim, some of whom intentionally avoid disclosing their existence or their limits of available coverage. This is where an experienced lawyer comes in handy.

Tractor-trailer accidents are different from regular vehicle accidents primarily because everything is bigger, from the accident itself to the insurance companies and medical bills and because there are all sorts of additional rules that truck drivers and commercial vehicle drivers are tasked with being aware of and following. Here are a few differences to note when it comes to truck accidents:

1. Insurance companies are larger and their behavior after a crash is more diligent – Both the insurance companies and policies are larger. This increases the chances that the insurance providers will do everything possible to try and avoid liability and put the blame and the expenses on you. For example, many trucking insurance companies have pre-negotiated contracts with unique law firms from around the country who MUST have an adjuster and an attorney on-site of an injury crash within 24, or even 12 hours after a crash is reported. The idea that an individual who is hurt by a commercial driver wants to handle a crash like this on their own against these odds is crazy. It’s advisable to have a commercial trucking accident attorney in South Dakota on your side when it comes to dealing with the insurance companies after a wreck. 
2. More Rules, Regulations, Standards, and Facts – Commercial trucking is both federally and state regulated. Things like hours of service, minimum limits of insurance coverage, routine inspections, safety markings, and appropriate driving conditions are mandatory to keep people safe. Meanwhile, States regulate “intrastate” trucking, like farmers who carry heavy loads but generally do not work “for hire” nor cross state lines. Appropriate weights, speeds, braking capacity, and load capacity is all regulated. These are not normal automobile crash cases.
3. Injuries and medical bills tend to be more serious – Because semi-truck accidents are bigger, so tend to be the injuries and medical bills they cause. From brain injuries to severely broken bones, the damages sustained in a truck accident can be life-altering ones. As such, medical bills (both current and future) can compound, drowning you in debt you’ve never had before. This makes it even more difficult to get your life back on track after an accident. 
4. More property damage – The size of truck accidents also contributes to greater property damage, which adds more bills to your pile.

Don’t let the large nature of trucking accidents weigh on your life more than they have to. If the insurance companies are giving you the runaround, offering you lowball settlements and ultimately hindering your recovery, call our commercial trucking accident attorneys in South Dakota today.

Having an experienced injury lawyer on your side can make your overwhelming situation navigable and help you get the recovery you need. After an accident, the truck company will immediately begin conducting investigations. Ensure that you and your attorney begin on the same foot. Some things a lawyer can help you do after a truck accident are:

• Reviewing traffic camera footage
• Collecting necessary evidence like police reports and sending out letters to prevent spoliation of evidence.
• Interviewing witnesses
• Reconstructing the accident scene and consulting experts and preserving as much evidence at the scene, about the crash as possible
• Obtaining alcohol or drug tests from the driver, preserving cell phone and other data.Acquiring data from the truck’s Electronic Control Module (ECM; i.e. “black box”) 

Having an attorney to help strategize your case, communicate and negotiate with the insurance companies and prove liability can be the difference in getting a settlement or judgment that helps you recover.

Following an accident, you can potentially recover both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages might include current and future medical bills, lost wages, lost earning potential, etc. Non-economic damages might include things like pain and suffering, emotional trauma, severe physical pain, PTSD, etc. An experienced commercial trucking accident attorney in South Dakota will help you evaluate your damages to better understand the potential compensation you can receive after your accident. To calculate the potential damages in your specific case, contact us today.