Truck accidents are catastrophic events that cause devastating injuries. Multiple parties are often at fault for these accidents, and proving their fault is key to helping accident victims seek the maximum compensation available for their injuries.
Understanding how fault works in South Carolina injury cases is essential if you sustained severe injuries in a Summerville truck accident.
How Fault Is Determined in a Summerville Truck Accident
Gathering the right evidence after a Summerville truck accident is integral to determining who was at fault for the collision. As part of your lawyer’s investigation into the accident, they’ll identify the parties that played a role and collect various types of evidence that connect their actions to your injuries.
Some of the most common types of evidence they can use include:
- Accident scene photographs showing the damage done to the vehicles and skid marks on the road
- Traffic, surveillance, or dashboard camera footage showing how the accident occurred
- Eyewitness statements that corroborate your version of events or provide additional insight from a third-party perspective
- Expert witness testimony, such as that from accident reconstruction specialists, medical professionals, and trucking industry insiders
- Truck maintenance logs showing when maintenance was last performed
- Truck black box recordings showing the speed the vehicle was traveling and whether the driver hit the brakes before the impact
- Trucker logbook entries showing how long they had been on the road leading up to the accident
Trucking Regulations and Determining Fault
It’s always crucial to work with an experienced and knowledgeable truck accident lawyer due to the additional challenges found in truck accidents compared to other vehicle accidents. Proving truck accident fault in Summerville isn’t only about collecting the right evidence but also knowing how to use it. That often means using the collected evidence to show that one or more parties violated state and federal trucking regulations.
In South Carolina, a truck’s gross weight cannot exceed 80,000 pounds, with lower weight limits for smaller trucks. Additionally, a truck cannot be more than 13.5 feet tall or 8.5 feet wide. And there are several length limits depending on the number of combined trailers involved. Violations of these regulations could indicate fault on the trucking company’s or the cargo loader’s part.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) also has cargo securement regulations. Truckers, trucking companies, and cargo loaders must comply with the regulations. Improperly secured cargo can increase the risk of a collision. This could happen because of a truck’s shifting weight or by loose cargo falling from the back of a flatbed trailer.
The FMCSA also has strict hours of service regulations that prevent truck drivers from spending too much time behind the wheel without adequate breaks. Driving for long periods can increase fatigue, which slows driver reaction time and makes collisions more likely.
Who Can Be Held Liable?
Several parties could be liable depending on the circumstances of the truck accident that caused your injuries. The most common of these parties in Summerville cases are:
- Truck Drivers – Driver negligence is one of the leading causes of trucking accidents. When drivers skip taking breaks, eat or drink behind the wheel, or text while driving, they put everyone else on the road in danger. Additionally, they can cause severe underride accidents by failing to yield the right-of-way when turning left.
- Trucking Companies – In some cases, the trucking company could be liable if its business practices contributed to the accident. For example, if a company encouraged drivers to speed or skip breaks to make deliveries faster, evidence of that could help establish fault.
- Maintenance Providers – Poor vehicle maintenance can increase the risk of component failures, such as brake failures that lead to rear-end collisions. Maintenance providers may be liable for accidents caused by inadequate or skipped maintenance.
- Truck Manufacturers – If a defective vehicle component contributed to the accident that harmed you, the manufacturer could be liable under South Carolina’s product liability laws. In product liability, you generally only need to prove that the defect existed, not that the manufacturer was negligent.
- Cargo Loaders – Inadequately secured cargo can cause several types of accidents, including rollovers and dropped cargo. Cargo loaders are responsible for preventing these accidents.
- Other Motorists – Sometimes, other motorists contribute to a truck accident by cutting a truck off or failing to yield the right-of-way to it. These motorists may share liability for the accident.
- Government Entities – Finally, government entities responsible for maintaining public roads could be liable if poor road maintenance played a role in the crash. Large potholes, faded road lines, missing traffic signs, and poor drainage can all lead to government liability.
What If You’re Partially at Fault?
If you are partially at fault for the truck accident that caused your injuries in Summerville, South Carolina’s modified comparative negligence rule may apply. This rule reduces an injured person’s trial award by a percentage equal to their degree of fault. And if the injured party is assigned 51 percent or more fault, they cannot recover any compensation.
For example, if your case goes to trial and the jury finds that you were 15 percent at fault for the accident, you could only receive 85 percent of your awarded compensation.
Modified comparative negligence specifically applies to compensation recovered through a trial award. However, insurance companies also look to this law when determining settlement amounts. If the truck driver’s insurance company believes a jury would find you 30 percent at fault for the collision, it may reduce its settlement offer by that much.
One of the primary reasons why you should have a truck accident lawyer is that they can help minimize your assigned fault and maximize your compensation.
Contact Our Summerville Truck Accident Lawyers
If you were in a truck accident in Summerville, South Carolina, contact Murphy Crantford Meehan. You’ll get a free consultation about your case with a highly qualified truck accident lawyer. We’re committed to providing comprehensive legal support to truck accident victims and their families. Our lawyers will review the accident that caused your injuries, explain the compensation you could stand to receive, and walk you through your options for seeking that compensation.
