Have you been injured in a truck accident in Durham, North Carolina? Contact Riddle & Riddle Injury Lawyers. You may be entitled to compensation, and our Durham truck accident lawyers want to help you demand the life-changing monetary award you need to move on with your life.
Riddle & Riddle Injury Lawyers has been a tenacious legal advocate for North Carolina injury victims for four decades. Backed by 190+ years of combined legal experience, we’ve taken on powerful trucking services, government agencies, manufacturers, and insurance companies and helped our clients win hundreds of millions of dollars.
We offer a free consultation. Call our Durham, NC, law office at PHONE NUMBER to discover how we can help you after a truck accident, too.
How Riddle & Riddle Injury Lawyers Can Help After a Truck Accident in Durham, NC
Count on our Durham personal injury attorneys to:
- Coordinate an independent investigation into your truck accident
- Evaluate important pieces of evidence, including medical records, accident reports, truck black box data, dash cam footage, property damage, forensics reports, truck maintenance logs, trucking service training policies and procedures, cell phone data, and more
- Help you understand your rights, answer your questions, and offer advice to help you make informed decisions about your future
- Work with trusted expert witnesses throughout the claims process
- File your truck accident claim with the insurance company and/or the Durham County court clerk
- Force the trucking service to make a fair settlement offer or risk going up against our top-rated litigators at trial
As leaders in civil litigation, our Durham personal injury lawyers have been recognized by Super Lawyers, The National Trial Lawyers, Martindale-Hubbell, and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates.Asking for our help not only puts award-winning trial attorneys in your corner, it also gives you time to focus on recovering from your truck accident injuries.
Contact us to schedule your free consultation today. Members of our Durham, NC, law office are always standing by to take your call.
Injured in Durham? Contact Us Today!
What Is My Truck Accident Case Worth?
The value of a truck accident will likely depend on the following:
- The severity of your injuries
- Whether you are being blamed for the accident
- Insurance policy limits
- Time missed from work
- Property repair estimates
- How your life is impacted
We can assess the extent of your damages and help you pursue the full compensation you deserve.
Who Could Be Liable for My Truck Accident?
Several parties can share responsibility for a large truck accident in Durham, North Carolina, including:
- Truck drivers. A driver might be liable if their negligence – texting and driving, failing to conduct regular vehicle inspections, and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol – contributed to an accident.
- Trucking companies. A trucking company can be vicariously liable for its driver’s mistakes or liable for its own negligence – like hiring unqualified drivers, failing to conduct regular vehicle inspections, or coercing drivers to violate safety laws.
- Freight brokers. Freight brokers help to connect companies with transportation companies. They can be liable if they negligently choose a poorly-rated trucking service and that decision leads to an accident.
- Vehicle manufacturers. Vehicle defects – often involving tires, wheels, brakes, and steering systems – can cause truck accidents. In these situations, the company that made or sold the defective auto part can be liable.
- Third-party motorists. Drivers of passenger vehicles, motorcyclists, bus drivers, and other drivers on the road can be liable if their negligent or wrongful actions cause a truck accident.
- Government agency. While government agencies in North Carolina are typically immune from civil litigation, they can be sued when their negligence causes a traffic accident. Most often, this occurs when a government agency has active or constructive knowledge of a road defect (e.g., pothole, obscured sign, uneven pavement, unsafe design) and doesn’t take steps to fix it.
Most often, you can pursue compensation from anyone whose negligent or otherwise harmful actions contributed to your Durham trucking accident.
Common Truck Accident Injuries
Common truck accident injuries include:
- Broken bones
- Crushing injuries
- Chest injuries
- Nerve damage
- Soft tissue injuries
- Amputation injuries
- Degloving injuries
- Eye injuries
- Concussions
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Quadriplegia injuries
- Back injuries
- Herniated disc injuries
- Whiplash injuries
- Burn injuries
- Catastrophic injuries
- Wrongful death
Trucks are a lot bigger and heavier than other vehicles on the road, so they can exert considerable force when they’re involved in an accident. Many times, it’s the occupants of these smaller cars that suffer the most catastrophic consequences.
After a truck accident, make sure that the Durham Police Department is notified, then seek immediate medical attention at the closest emergency room. These simple steps can help to document your injuries, preserve valuable evidence, and show proof of a causal link between the truck accident and your trauma.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Truck Accident Attorney?
We represent North Carolina truck accident victims on a contingency fee basis. Pay nothing for our help until we win compensation for your truck accident case.
From talking to insurance companies to making medical appointments, things can become tricky.
What Types of Compensation Can Be Awarded to Durham Truck Accident Victims?
Under North Carolina’s fault-based laws, you can file a legal claim to recover compensatory damages from a liable party.
Compensatory damages include two types of awards: economic and non-economic.
Economic damages can help to alleviate some of the financial consequences of your truck accident, such as:
- Current medical bills
- Future medical expenses
- Rehabilitation
- Nursing care
- Property damage
- Out-of-pocket costs
- Lost wages
- Temporary and/or permanent disability
- Diminished earning capacity
- Funeral expenses
Non-economic damages are intended to help you deal with more difficult to value trauma you experience as a truck accident victim, including:
- Disfigurement
- Chronic physical pain
- Loss of consortium
- Emotional distress
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Pain and suffering
The trucking service will work hard to limit your financial recovery by downplaying your injuries and how the truck accident has affected your life. Our North Carolina truck accident lawyers in Durham won’t let these attempts go unanswered. We’ll work closely with experts to investigate your case, gather helpful evidence, and build a claim that forces the defense to make you a fair settlement offer.
Can Shared Fault Affect My North Carolina Truck Accident Settlement?
Yes. North Carolina follows a system of contributory fault, so sharing blame for your Durham truck accident will keep you from recovering compensation from a third party.
It’ll be critical to anticipate claims of contributory fault and to have a plan in place to fight them. Even sharing 1 percent of the blame will mean losing out on valuable compensation.
At Riddle & Riddle Injury Lawyers, our comprehensive approach to litigation means we’re always looking ahead and planning for every possible contingency. We’ll determine the best way to battle claims of shared fault so that you can successfully recover the money you need to aid your recovery.
Types of Truck Accident Cases We Handle
Our truck accident lawyers in Durham, NC, represent clients who’ve been injured because of:
- Jackknife accidents
- Override accidents
- Underride accidents
- Truck rollovers
- Tire blowouts
- Lost cargo accidents
- Rear-end collisions
- Head-on collisions
- Squeeze play accidents
- Fatal truck accidents
Put our considerable experience and winning reputation to work for you after your truck accident in Durham. Give our personal injury law firm a call to schedule a time for a free initial case review today.
What Causes Commercial Truck Accidents?
Some of the most common causes of truck accidents include:
- Violations of FMCSA safety regulations, including exceeding hours of service limitations
- Negligent hiring, training, and/or supervision
- Violations of traffic safety laws, including speeding, distracted driving, illegal turns, and tailgating
- Failing to check a vehicle’s blind spots before changing lanes
- Wide right-hand turns
- Braking errors
- Unsecured cargo
- Auto defects
Truck accidents tend to happen when someone is negligent or intentionally ignores important state or federal trucking regulations. In North Carolina, anyone who contributes to your truck accident can be liable for your damages, so it’s important to know exactly why and how your big rig accident happened.
How Common Are Truck Accidents?
In 2024, 5,173 North Carolina truck accidents were reported to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Unfortunately, most of these accidents involving large trucks could probably have been avoided.
How Long Do I Have to Pursue Compensation After a Truck Accident in North Carolina?
North Carolina typically applies a three-year statute of limitations to truck accident lawsuits. If someone you love has died in a fatal Durham truck accident, you’ll have two years from their passing to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
You have to file your personal injury claim before time runs out. Once the statute of limitations expires, you lose the ability to hold the truck driver and the trucking company accountable for the harm you’ve experienced.
Contact Our Durham Truck Accident Lawyers for a Free Consultation
You don’t have to struggle with the costs and consequences of a Durham semi-truck accident on your own. Call Riddle & Riddle Injury Lawyers, and trust us to stand up to the trucking service and fight to get you the financial justice you deserve.
We’re award-winning Durham truck accident lawyers with 190 years of combined experience handling tough cases like yours. Our case results – which include over $850 million in damages – are a testament to the results we can achieve.
We offer a free consultation, so call us to discuss your truck accident case today.