Spartanburg Truck Accident Lawyers

Helping Clients Seek Compensation After Truck Accidents

The average vehicle weighs 4,300 pounds as of 2023. Getting in a car accident with one has the potential to significantly alter the trajectory of your life due to injuries, financial issues, and even death. 

The average fully loaded commercial semi-truck weighs around 80,000 pounds, almost twenty times more than regular passenger vehicles. That is why accident victims involved in commercial trucking accidents face devastating consequences and severe injuries that may require years of treatment before they can get back to some semblance of “normal.”

After the dust has settled, one of the first things you should do is speak with a commercial truck accident attorney who can help you understand your legal options and guide you through the legal process of holding truck drivers and their companies accountable.

After a truck accident, it’s not just the physical injuries that weigh heavily—it’s the emotional and financial toll that follows. You might be unable to work, facing a long road of medical treatments, and feeling overwhelmed by calls from insurance companies that seem more interested in closing your claim than helping you recover. 

At Hammack Law Firm, we understand how deeply a crash like this can affect every part of your life. That’s why we approach every case with empathy and determination—because you deserve a legal team that truly sees what you’re going through and fights to make sure you’re not left to handle it alone.

If you don’t know where to start or you are tired of dealing with pushy insurance companies, call 864-766-7108 to schedule your free consultation, where you can speak with a commercial truck accident lawyer who can get you on the right track.

What Are Common Truck Accident Injuries?

Commercial truck accidents result in a broad range of injuries and even death. You will be able to recover from some of these injuries in a fairly short time, but oftentimes, your severe physical injuries can have a negative impact on the rest of your life. This is why speaking with a personal injury lawyer is so important; we have the experience to understand what your life will potentially look like in a few years.

Serious injuries you may sustain as a result of a commercial truck accident include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Traumatic brain injuries
• Spinal cord injuries
• Back and neck injuries
• Broken Bones
• Fractured Bones
• Soft tissue injuries
• Internal injuries
• Lacerations
• Burns
• Amputations
• Facial and dental trauma
• Psychological trauma

Hammack Law Firm has seen many of these injuries with prior clients. We know what strategy to take when building your personal injury claim. We understand the potential long-term effects you will live with as a result of your injuries. Our goal is to help you seek maximum compensation from the parties responsible.

67% of those killed in large commercial truck accidents are occupants of cars and other passenger vehicles. If you lost someone you love due to another driver’s negligence, you deserve to have your day in court and hold them accountable for their actions.

What Safety Measures Do Trucking Companies Take?

Trucking companies are required to follow certain rules and regulations in order to ensure safety for their drivers and the other drivers around them. Sometimes, these measures are accidentally overlooked. Other times, companies cut corners and “forget” them. Either way, when these safety measures aren’t followed, people get hurt or die.

Some of the safety measures trucking companies are supposed to follow include:

• Regular vehicle inspections and repairs
• Electronic logging devices to track hours and prevent truck driver fatigue
• Drug and alcohol testing
• Speed limiters
• Onboard monitoring systems to prevent distracted driving
• Load securement protocols
• Routine safety audits

When your truck accident attorney investigates your case, you can rest assured they will be picking apart the truck driver’s logs and that all safety protocols were being followed at the time of your accident.

What Is Your Spartanburg Truck Accident Claim Worth?

It is hard to assign a specific “value” to your truck accident case. Accidents involving tractor-trailers have a broad range of injuries, ongoing treatments, and property damages. There is not a “one-size-fits-all” price tag we can assign to truck accident cases because each case and its circumstance are unique.

When you are involved in a commercial truck accident, you have the right to be made whole. That means you may pursue compensation to pay for bills that were a direct result of the accident and for future medical expenses, lost wages, and other issues that stem from your accident.

Damages are categorized under two main types; the object economic damages and the non-objective non-economic damages.

Economic Damages

Economic damages are fairly easy to prove in court. Part of the claim process is keeping track of all of your expenses that are a direct result of your accident. These things often have a bill, receipt, or invoice that can be used to prove their validity. Forms of economic damages include the following:

• Medical expenses- Save all of your bills and receipts for your ER visits, physical therapy, and other ongoing treatments.
• Lost wages- Your lost wages are easy to prove based on your prior pay stubs. You accrue lost income when you are unable to work while recovering from your injuries.
• Reduced earning potential- This is more long-term. If your injuries limit the kind of work you can do, it often results in less pay. You shouldn’t be responsible for that.
• Property damage- Costs to repair or replace your vehicle and your property within it that was damaged. Keep track of repair bills and create an inventory of items inside the vehicle that are damaged and need to be repaired or replaced. Save receipts if you replace them before your settlement.
• Rehabilitation costs- The ongoing therapy required to get you back to, or as close as possible to, full health.
• Out-of-pocket expenses- During your recovery, you will likely need to pay for things out-of-pocket that you wouldn’t have needed to cover otherwise, such as car rentals, travel, medical equipment, or modifications to your home to accommodate your injuries.
• Funeral and burial costs- Unfortunately, many commercial truck accident cases result in a wrongful death claim. You should not be liable for putting your loved one to rest.

Non-Economic Damages

This category of damages is far harder to prove. You will usually need expert testimonials, like a therapist or other medical professional, to prove these damages. For the most part, these are damages that you can’t see, which makes them harder to pursue. They often include:

• Pain and suffering- The physical discomfort and ongoing complications as a result of your accident should be addressed and compensated.
• Mental anguish- Many truck accident victims suffer ongoing, and sometimes permanent, psychological side effects as a result of their crashes and resulting injuries. Things like anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
• Loss of enjoyment of life- If your injuries steal your ability to enjoy your hobbies or other daily activities, it can result in serious mental complications.
• Loss of consortium- Truck accidents and the injuries suffered from them can result in damage to your relationship with your spouse or family members.
• Disfigurement or scarring- While these injuries are visible, their impact on mental and physical health is not.
• Permanent disability and loss of bodily function- this straddles the line of being both economic and non-economic damages.

Punitive Damages

You may also be awarded punitive damages. The courts will often award punitive damages when they find the actions of the defendant to be grossly negligent or abhorrent. While punitive damages are not awarded frequently, if the judge awards punitive damages in your case, it could increase the amount of your injury settlement.

However, it is important to remember that punitive damages are not an entitlement. They are only awarded when the court system wants to punish the defendant beyond your compensatory losses.

Speaking with a skilled truck accident attorney can help you get a grasp on what your settlement should be. Insurance companies often try to close the case immediately with settlement offers that may address your immediate costs but not your long-term ones. They will try to get you to an unfair settlement because once you do, for the most part, you lose your ability to sue for additional damages later.

What is Comparative Negligence?

South Carolina courts use modified comparative negligence when settling truck accident cases. That means that even if you are partially responsible for the accident happening, you can still obtain compensation. You must be less than 51% responsible for the accident in order to still receive a settlement in court. It is important to remember that if you are partially responsible for your accident, you will receive less compensation. If you are 15% responsible, you will receive 15% less compensation.

How Does Hammack Law Firm Prove Fault?

An important legal hurdle that must be cleared when pursuing a truck accident claim is proving which driver was at fault for the accident. Every driver who commutes on South Carolina roads owes a duty to other drivers and pedestrians to operate their vehicles in a safe manner. When an accident occurs, it is important to figure out who breached that duty and how.

Proving liability involves four key elements:

1. Duty- The driver or trucking company had a legal obligation to operate safely.
2. Breach- They violated that duty, whether by speeding, driver fatigue, or some other violation.
3. Causation- Their actions directly caused the accident.
4. Damages- You suffered real loss as a result of the accident.

Finding the liable parties in your truck accident case involves proving these elements. That can be done using police reports, witness statements, event data recorders, and thorough investigations. You should speak with a truck accident attorney as soon as possible so they can immediately start investigating your case.

How Long Do You Have to Pursue Compensation?

Plaintiffs must file their personal injury lawsuits within three years of the accident, per the S.C. Code §15-3-530. If you do not file your case on time, you may lose your opportunity to pursue compensation for damages.

It is easy to misunderstand the exact date when the statute of limitations will expire in your case. You can ensure the statute of limitations does not harm your ability to recover compensation for your damages by getting started on your truck accident claim as soon as possible. If you are not sure what your legal options are or where you should start, contact our team. We will get started on your truck accident claim immediately and inform you of all your options.

Can We Help With Your Truck Accident Case?

Truck accidents can be significant in the pain they cause an individual, both physically and otherwise, and the idea of managing a personal injury case alone can be intimidating. Even worse, they can be confusing. Insurance companies and trucking companies may make a settlement offer that seems great at first, only for you to realize years later that it was only the tip of your financial iceberg.

Let our team at Hammack Law Firm come to your aid. We treat all of our clients with compassion and respect because we understand how vulnerable and confused they may feel. Many clients ask us about what they are entitled to receive as compensation and whether their case stands a chance. Our team can answer those questions and more during your free consultation. We offer a variety of services to help you build your case, such as:

• Investigating what caused the truck accident and who might be liable for the damages
• Collecting evidence to support your claims about how the accident occurred and the kind of damages you experienced
• Taking calls with insurance companies and the opposing party’s attorney(s) on your behalf
• Filing paperwork and keeping track of deadlines for you
• Helping you negotiate a settlement to avoid going to court
• Representing you in court if your case does go to trial
• Answering any questions you have throughout the litigation process

Insurance adjusters and trucking companies don’t care about your injuries or how they will impact you for the rest of your life. They are worried about their bottom line and their shareholders. Spartanburg truck accident lawyers investigate all legal aspects and help you determine what your settlement is worth.

Would You Like to Schedule a Free Consultation Today?

With our team, you get a small firm feel with the big firm experience. When you hire a Spartanburg truck accident lawyer from Hammack Law Firm, you get more than an attorney who will fight for you—you get a friend. Our truck accident lawyers operate on a contingency fee basis, meaning that if you don’t get paid, we don’t get paid. Call us today at 864-766-7108 for a free consultation.

We put the personal back in “personal injury.”