Miami Truck Accident Lawyer

Every year thousands of trucking fatalities occur -- people are killed and hundreds of thousands more are injured as the result of truck accidents. If you need legal advice for a truck accident case, contact our Miami truck accident lawyers immediately to evaluate your claim.

In a catastrophic truck accident case, the victim must act quickly to get an experienced trucking lawyer on the case. This is due to the speed with which trucking companies and their insurers spring into action after a catastrophic truck wreck. The objective is to deal directly with the victim, telling her that she does not need a truck accident lawyer. Remember that the trucking company and insurance company at that point have a defense lawyer and several claims professionals working on their side, seeking to isolate the victim from professional assistance as long as possible.

Meanwhile, there is a tremendous amount of evidence that may be lost forever if the victim doesn't have a knowledgeable, forceful attorney who can quickly act to preserve it. The larger trucking companies generally use on-board computers and satellite communication systems that generate an enormous amount of data that may be invaluable to the victim's case. The companies that provide those services to truck fleets have record retention policies providing that data on truck operations is transmitted to the trucking companies, then purged from the provider's computer system within days. The data transmitted to the trucking companies is subject to "modification" and it is extraordinarily difficult and expensive to prove that data was altered.

In addition, trucking companies typically have record retention policies to purge such records in no more than the six months that the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Regulations require for preservation of driver logs, or other retention periods for other records.

There is also "black box" data generated by engine control modules (ECM's) on all late model road tractor engines. Such data is extremely important in proving the performance of the truck and its drive. It must be downloaded according to manufacturers' protocols, and if not promptly downloaded may be lost forever.

Without immediately retaining a lawyer who is prepared to immediately demand that the companies preserve a long list of paper records and electronic data after a wreck, the company may well destroy that information according to internal records management policies that are permissible under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. If necessary, one may need to file a suit just to require preservation of evidence prior to filing a personal injury or wrongful death case.