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Fort Greene is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Flushing Avenue and the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the north, Flatbush Avenue Extension and Downtown Brooklyn to the west, Atlantic Avenue and Prospect Heights to the south, and Vanderbilt Avenue and Clinton Hill to the east. Its primary zip codes are 11201, 11205, 11217, and 11238.
A truck accident is everyone’s worst nightmare. If you have been the victim of a truck accident, we care about your justice. This accident has likely left you in a lot of pain. We care about winning your case and getting you justice. This accident has changed your life so deeply and negatively and we can turn that around for you. The person who did this to you should know they did something wrong.
How a Truck Accident Claim Works
There are generally speaking, four parties involved in a truck accident.
The first party is the plaintiff who was injured by someone else’s negligence and is now bringing a claim.
Next, we have the liable party. A truck accident is a bit more complicated than something like a car accident because the liable party could be the truck driver, the truck manufacturer, the employer of the driver, the party who loaded the truck and so on.
Then, you have the Brooklyn truck accident lawyer who is going to be able to investigate and determine who the liable party is. Let your lawyer take over your case so you can focus on getting healthy again.
Lastly, there is the insurance company. Their job is to try to save themselves money by not paying you for the injuries you sustained. They will also be held responsible for their insured’s actions that harmed you.
Your lawyer and the liable party’s insurance company are going to be trying to argue against each other. Make sure your lawyer knows how to properly represent a truck accident victim and is willing to take the case all the way to trial, if necessary.
Steps to Take for a Successful Truck Accident Case
There are 3 things you need to get done to ensure you are doing everything you can to get justice:
- Go to the doctor.
- Collect evidence.
- Hire a lawyer.
First, the doctor will help you to get rid of your pain. No one wants to be in pain. You should not wait to go to the doctor. Go right away.
You should do all you can to get proof of your accident as well. You might have someone else come to the scene of the crash to collect evidence, if you were taken away in an ambulance. Take photos of everything. Get the contact information from anyone who saw the accident. Have the police make an accident report.
Lastly, you should avoid doing this alone. Hire a Brooklyn truck accident lawyer to do what they do best. You get yourself to a doctor, bring us the evidence, then we will do the rest.
Huge Mistakes to Avoid After Your Truck Accident
You have more of a role in the outcome of your case than you may think you do. Your actions can make or break your case. You likely have never been involved in a truck accident before. You reasonably would not know what to do or what not to do, but one mistake you make could completely set you back in your case’s success.
There are some very big mistakes that are easy to make that we want you to avoid making:
- Speaking to the insurance company about the accident; and
- Waiting too long to do something.
- Posting about the accident on social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
The fastest way to ruin your case is to talk to the insurance company. They will try to get a statement from you. Do not give them one, if you want to be fully compensated. Insurance reps know how to get you to say something that will make you ruin your claim. A Brooklyn truck accident lawyer knows their tricks. Let them handle the insurance company. This way you know that your path to a fair result is protected and you don’t have to worry about communicating with the insurance company.
You should act as soon as possible because you don’t have unlimited time. You will not be able to even bring a claim if you wait too long to get started. Starting from the date of the accident, New York’s statute of limitations gives you three (3) years until your claim is no longer eligible for compensation. We would never want you to wait very long at all. Three years is so long that evidence can disappear or go missing, witnesses can forget important information, and you can end up very sorry you did not act faster.
If a claim is to be brought against a municipal defendant, then a Notice of Claim will need to be filed within ninety (90) days of the accident.
Frequently Asked Truck Accident Questions
What Common Mistakes Should I Avoid When Making a Truck Accident Claim?
A common mistake we see in Brooklyn when people are injured in a truck crash of some sort is they post information on Facebook— maybe a video of what occurred. Not a good idea, because whatever you post on there is going to be used against you. The best thing you can do is not post things on Facebook. Another common mistake that people make is that they talk to the insurance adjuster on the other side. They provide a recorded statement to the insurance adjuster. That will always be used against you. If you had a beer four hours before the crash, they’re going to certainly use that against you later on. If you had the radio on, they’re going to use that against you later on.
It doesn’t matter what you’re doing. If they ask you what time it was, they’ll say you weren’t paying attention because you were looking at your watch. They’ll say how did you know what time it was? I looked at my watch. They’re going to say you looked away from the road. It doesn’t matter what you say to an insurance adjuster; it’s going to be bad, so don’t do it. Those are the two common mistakes— posting on Facebook and making a statement to an insurance adjuster. Certainly, with the authorities, you have an obligation, and you should cooperate with the police officers and provide them whatever information you have.
How Do I Choose the Best Attorney Truck Accident Attorney?
In Brooklyn we have a lot of truck cases, and so I’m often approached by people that have been injured in a truck crash of some kind, and by truck drivers themselves. In order to pick a really good attorney, you have to have someone that has had a lot of experience in trucking cases. You have to have someone that understands a trucking case is a system case. In other words, it’s about the training of the driver and the qualifications of the driver, if you’re up against the trucking company, as well as the supervision of the driver. I call it the “three-legged stool” of truck cases— training, qualifications, supervision.
How Are Truck Accident Cases Different From Auto Accident Cases?
I’m often asked how are truck claims different than a car crash. Usually, truck cases involve much more serious injuries for one thing. Secondly, trucking cases are always system cases. In other words, if you have an accident with another car, you’re not necessarily part of a large organization that is in charge of safety. In a trucking case, you always have to deal with the questions of supervision of the driver, training of the driver, and the qualifications of the driver before he ever took the job. Those are important. These are the “three legs of the stool” in a trucking case, as I like to put it— the qualifications of the driver, training of the driver, and supervision of the driver. You don’t have those things in a car crash case, so system failure in every trucking case is an important part of a case that needs to be taken into consideration.
If you have other questions like this, please give me a call at my office at 212-240-9465 to schedule your free, no obligation, in-office consultation and get the Wheels of Justice Spinning for You!
What Should I Do if I am Injured in a Truck Accident?
One of the things that comes up all the time is what do you do if you have been in a truck accident? Some trucker has run into you or caused damage to you, or your family, or both. The first thing you need to do is get medical help. That is very important— you need to do everything that’s necessary to take care of yourself and your family first and foremost, and the rest of it will fall into place later. I will tell you the trucking companies have trained their drivers to go out and take photographs right away, and that’s okay. You may not be in a position to do that because of your injuries, but you have to do what’s necessary to take care of yourself.
Speak truthfully to the officer or state trooper that investigates the crash. You should talk to them truthfully regarding what happened, but you do not need to say any more than you have to say. Answer the questions. Listen to the questions as carefully as you can under the circumstances, and we will work with the case as it’s presented to us. Often, people under those circumstances are not able to really think about what they’re saying at the time.
Something else about the crashes that comes up in the modern world, and that’s Facebook. Certainly, what you should do right away about your Facebook account is make it not available to the general public. That is critical in these kinds of cases because whatever you say on Facebook is going to be used against you. It will not be good. You do not need to have that anymore, and certainly, you should not comment about the accident afterwards. Keep that in mind after the crash. If you have other questions, please let us know.
How Do I Determine the Value of My Truck Accident Claim?
I am often asked how you determine the value of a trucking accident case in Brooklyn. Let me tell you, every case is different. Certainly, the number of people involved in the crash has something to do with it. In other words, if you have a family involved in the crash or if you have a single person involved in the crash, all of that needs to be taken into account. You have to know how egregious the conduct of the driver was at the time.
Should I Give a Recorded Statement About My Truck Accident Injury?
I’m asked by clients about giving statements to insurance companies in trucking cases and other cases. My advice is to never give a statement to the insurance company. You don’t have to. You don’t need to. You should not do it. Whatever you say to them is going to be used against you.
A common example is what time was it when the wreck happened? Then the next question is how did you know what time it was? I looked at my watch. Then you looked away from the road. That will be what comes up from the insurance defense lawyer. We have it here written down. You were looking at your watch at the time. I’m not going to follow up with that in the statement from the insurance adjuster, but you can bet your bottom dollar that the defense attorney will do that. They’re going to use that against you at some later date.
There’s nothing you can do to help your case by talking to an insurance adjuster in a trucking case or any other case for that matter. Please keep that in mind. Don’t talk to the insurance company on the other side. If you have other questions like this, please feel free to call my office at 212-240-9465 and schedule your free, in-office consultation today.
Can I Sue the Trucking Company After a Truck Accident?
We’ve had it come up where a drunk driver for a company runs into someone’s car, causes serious injury, and even drives off. Yes, you can sue the company for that. They’re working for that company. The company put them behind the wheel. The company trained them. The company supervised them. The company checked their qualifications and even may have known that they had a drinking problem in the first place, and may have known about the driving habits of the driver. Oftentimes in our trucking cases, we have pulled up dispatching devices where they have communication with the driver, and you can hear proof of erratic driving habits of the driver.
There is a lot of information out there about the driver, and yes, the company is responsible. Keep that mind. In fact, we usually go after the company in these kinds of cases.
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Mr. Redenburg was very helpful in aiding us through our case. This was my first time ever going through something like this and he was able to help take off a lot of the stress I was feeling. I would definitely recommend him to anyone who needs legal advice.
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If you have been injured in a Fort Greene Brooklyn Truck Accident due to someone else’s negligence, contact the Brooklyn Truck Accident lawyers at Michael J. Redenburg, Esq. PC and get the wheels of justice spinning for you. Call 212-240-9465 now!