The Villages Truck Accidents Lawyer

After a truck accident caused by negligence, your life may be clouded by pain and frustration. Whether you are struggling to cope with injuries or dealing with the loss of a loved one, you may be facing an uncertain future filled with crash-related costs, lost income, and the end of life as you once knew it.

When you have so much on your shoulders, having the legal support of a truck accident attorney in The Villages can feel life-changing. The team at Meldon Law can provide you with the guidance you need to get compensation for your damages. Call us today to talk to us about your rights in Florida.

Why it’s Important to File a Claim After a Truck Accident Caused By Negligence

Filing a claim after a truck accident caused by negligence allows you to seek compensation for the damages you’ve suffered, which can be substantial in truck accidents due to the size and weight of commercial vehicles. Without filing a claim, you may be left bearing the financial burden of an accident that wasn’t your fault, which can have long-lasting impacts on your financial stability and quality of life.

Filing a claim also holds negligent parties accountable for their actions. This accountability serves not only your case but also contributes to broader road safety. When trucking companies and drivers face consequences for negligent behavior, it incentivizes them to adhere more closely to safety regulations and best practices. This can lead to improved training programs, better maintenance schedules, and stricter adherence to hours-of-service rules, potentially preventing future accidents and making roads safer for everyone.

The process of filing a claim ensures that the accident is thoroughly investigated and documented. This documentation can be crucial for your records, for insurance purposes, and for identifying any systemic issues that may have contributed to the accident. In some cases, your claim might even bring to light broader safety issues within a trucking company or industry practices, potentially leading to important changes that could save lives in the future.

How Much a Truck Accident Claim in The Villages Is Worth

Settlement values for truck accident injury claims in Florida retirement communities like The Villages vary substantially based on the circumstances of each case. However, trucking incident claims do often yield higher than average personal injury settlement amounts in general.

The reasons these cases frequently top auto collision recovery values stem from these distinguishing truck crash factors:

Catastrophic Injuries

The sheer force and scale of semi trucks and other commercial vehicles produce more frequent and devastating injuries like paralysis, disfigurement, brain damage, amputations, and severe burns covering large surface areas—often resulting in lifetime care needs that warrant more significant financial resources.

Loss of Future Earning Capacity

Accidents in a retirement community don’t always warrant compensation for lost wages or lost earning capacity. However, younger or middle-aged victims (such as those visiting retired parents in The Villages) unable to return to the same job due to their injuries can recover these damages.

Our The Villages personal injury lawyers take all of these factors into consideration when we are determining appropriate compensation for your injuries. We calculate all of your future losses and the value of your pain and suffering to come to a fair offer.

Why You Don’t Want to Handle a Truck Accident Case On Your Own

Truck accident claims in The Villages, FL are often much more complex than standard car accidents for several reasons.

Multiple Liable Parties

There are several potentially liable parties who may owe truck accident victims injury compensation. Depending on the specifics of your accident and injuries, these could include:

• Truck drivers – Truckers violating safety laws like speeding, distracted or drunk driving, ignoring weight limits, or falsifying hours of service logs may be personally liable along with their employer for negligence.
• Trucking companies – A trucking company can be either directly or vicariously liable. If the truck driver’s negligence caused the accident, the trucking company will be vicariously liable. This is because employers are liable for actions their employees take within the scope of their employment. However, a trucking company can also be directly liable if it required drivers to violate hours of service regulations, failed to maintain its fleet, or otherwise contributed to the accident.
• Cargo loaders – Third-party companies that improperly secure cargo can cause it to shift dangerously during transport. If this contributed to the accident, they could share some blame for unsafe load conditions.
• Parts manufacturers – When catastrophic collisions result after defective truck parts like tires or brakes malfunction, we can file product liability claims against designers and manufacturers.
• Government or property owners – If hazardous infrastructure factors like construction debris or uneven guide rails contributed to crashes, state or local agencies, and landowners may be legally liable.

Identifying ALL contributing factors that caused the truck crash helps truck accident attorneys in The Villages strategically examine various forms of fault to make sure you get compensation from everyone who was negligent in the accident.

Evidence in the Trucking Company’s Hands

Much of the evidence we need to prove fault in a truck accident claim in The Villages is controlled by the trucking company. This includes:

• Black box data
• Employee records
• Hours-of-service logs
• Maintenance records
• Results of drug and alcohol testing

While the law requires the companies to keep this information for a certain period of time, it could be “lost” or destroyed. Our The Villages personal injury attorneys will send the trucking company a spoliation letter requesting that they preserve and hand over evidence.

Trucking Companies Often Have Large, Scary Insurance Companies and Legal Teams

Trucking companies want to intimidate injured parties. Their insurer and legal team may make claimants feel as though they can’t negotiate for a higher settlement or discourage them from hiring a The Villages truck accident lawyer. You don’t want to handle negotiations with a trucking company insurer on your own.

How Negligence Causes Truck Accidents in The Villages, FL

The Villages is a collection of retirement neighborhoods in Florida that is known for its charm and the many amenities it offers. The area offers a variety of shopping and dining options. Because of this, commercial trucks frequent the area, where many retirees travel via golf cart. This is often a recipe for disaster.

Negligence in truck accidents can manifest in various ways:

• Distracted driving: Truck drivers using mobile phones or other devices while driving.
• Fatigue: Drivers exceeding hours-of-service regulations or failing to take required rest breaks.
• Speeding: Driving too fast for conditions, especially in areas with golf cart traffic.
• Improper vehicle maintenance: Neglecting to maintain brakes, tires, or other critical components.
• Inadequate training: Trucking companies failing to properly train drivers on safety procedures and local traffic conditions.
• Overloading: Exceeding weight limits which can affect a truck’s handling and stopping distance.
• Impaired driving: Operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

In addition to collisions involving golf carts and trucks, The Villages has also seen its share of multi-car accidents involving trucks. If you were the victim of a truck accident that was caused by someone’s carelessness in The Villages, a Florida personal injury attorney can help.

Who Do You Sue After a Truck Accident in The Villages, FL: The Truck Driver or the Trucking Company?

When determining who to sue after a truck accident in The Villages, FL, the answer isn’t always straightforward. In many cases, you may be able to sue both the truck driver and the trucking company, as well as other potentially liable parties. Here’s a breakdown of the situation:

The Truck Driver

You can typically sue the truck driver if their negligence caused the accident. This might include:

• Distracted driving
• Speeding
• Driving under the influence
• Violating hours-of-service regulations
• Failing to follow traffic laws

The Trucking Company

In many cases, the trucking company can also be held liable under the doctrine of “respondeat superior,” which holds employers responsible for their employees’ actions while on the job. You might sue the company for:

• Negligent hiring or training practices
• Failure to maintain vehicles properly
• Encouraging drivers to violate safety regulations
• Imposing unrealistic schedules that lead to driver fatigue

Other Potential Defendants

Depending on the circumstances, other parties might be liable:

• The truck’s manufacturer, if a defective part contributed to the accident
• The cargo loading company, if improper loading caused the accident
• Government entities, if poor road conditions played a role

Multiple Parties

Often, it’s advisable to name multiple parties in a lawsuit to ensure all potentially liable entities are included. This can increase your chances of full compensation, especially if one party has insufficient insurance or assets.

The decision of whom to sue should be made after a thorough investigation of the accident and in consultation with an experienced truck accident attorney. A The Villages truck accident lawyer can help identify all potentially liable parties and develop a strategy to maximize your compensation.

You Can Likely Recover Compensation If You Contributed to the Crash

Until recently, Florida followed pure comparative negligence laws, which meant that victims could claim compensation in an accident, even if a defendant held only minor blame. However, in March 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 837, which made major changes to the state’s comparative negligence laws. Now, Florida follows modified comparative negligence laws.

How does this affect your truck accident claim in The Villages? Under the new modified comparative negligence laws, only victims who are 50% responsible or less can file a claim for compensation. If you are found to be more than 50% at fault, you will be barred from seeking compensation in Florida.

Insurance companies may try to assign you a higher percentage of fault so they can reduce your compensation – or deny it altogether. This is why it’s important to have a The Villages truck accident lawyer looking out for your interests. Call Meldon Law at (352) 373-8000 to learn how we can protect your rights.

There Is a Time Limit to File a Lawsuit for a Truck Accident in the Villages

Per Florida Statutes § 95.11, truck accident victims in The Villages generally have two years from the date of the wreck to file a lawsuit. The time limit is also two years in cases of wrongful death lawsuits. There are some exceptions to this time limit involving claims where the victim is a minor and other limited circumstances.

If the injured victim or the survivors do not file their truck accident injury lawsuit within two years, they may forfeit their right to recover compensation for their damages. It’s critical to begin the process of documenting evidence and building a strong legal claim as soon as possible after a truck crash. Don’t lose your right to compensation by waiting too long to talk to us.

How Truck Accidents Happen in The Villages

The Villages is a collection of retirement neighborhoods in Florida that is known for its charm and the many amenities it offers. The area offers a variety of shopping and dining options. Because of this, commercial trucks frequent the area, where many retirees travel via golf cart. This is often a recipe for disaster.

In addition to collisions involving golf carts and trucks, The Villages has also seen its share of multi-car accidents involving trucks. If you were the victim of a truck accident that was caused by someone’s carelessness in The Villages, a Florida personal injury attorney can help.

Injuries You Can Get Compensation for in a Truck Accident Claim in The Villages

If you sustained any of the following types of injuries in a truck accident in The Villages, you may be eligible for compensation for your current and future medical costs:

• Spinal cord injuries – Fractured vertebrae or severe spinal cord trauma leading to permanent paralysis and loss of sensation in limbs
• Traumatic brain injuries – Violent blows to the head that cause bleeding, swelling, or torn brain tissue, often inflicting long-term cognitive damage
• Orthopedic damage – Broken bones, torn ligaments, broken cartilage
• Internal organ injuries – Punctured lungs, livers, kidneys, ruptured spleen causing severe internal bleeding risks requiring urgent surgery
• Amputations – Severing of hands, feet, legs, or arms when crash victims get pinned under or impacted by truck parts and cargo loads
• Burns – Heat from explosions/fires or chemical leaks/spills creating painful, disfiguring burn wounds needing grafting and infection safeguards during healing
• Psychological trauma – PTSD, depression, anxiety, sleep disruption, and emotional distress plaguing crash survivors coping with chronic disabilities and losses

The bulk and weight disparities of trucks compared to your average vehicle leave truck crash victims with pain and permanent impairments, changing the entire trajectory of their lives. This is why it is critical that you get the full value of your claim and don’t agree to less in a quick settlement.

Get a Free Consultation With a Truck Accident Lawyer in The Villages

Whether you are a resident of The Villages or an injured visitor, if you are suffering from injuries that were caused by another party’s negligence, you have the right to file a civil claim in Florida. Don’t take on the big trucking companies or their powerful insurance companies on your own. Let Meldon Law help. We Won’t Back Down.

Our truck accident lawyers in The Villages level the playing field in complex insurance company battles so you can focus on healing and putting this traumatic experience behind you.

Call today for a free consultation. You can reach us by phone or by filling out our online contact form. A member of our team will be available to answer your call 24/7.