Cedar Falls may be a relatively small city. But with a daily stream of commercial traffic passing through the city via Iowa Highway 58 and U.S. Highway 20, there is still the risk of a serious truck accident affecting Cedar Falls residents and their families. If you are the victim of such an accident, you may not be sure of what the steps are for seeking compensation to pay for your medical bills, lost wages, and other losses. And unlike a motor vehicle accident that only involves passenger cars and trucks, the factual, legal, and insurance issues arising from a semi-truck collision are often far more complex.
Below is a brief guide to the process of seeking compensation following a truck accident in Iowa. This is provided for information purposes only and is not a substitute for seeking qualified legal advice related to your specific accident. If you do need to speak with a Cedar Falls truck accident lawyer, contact Ball, Kirk & Holm, P.C. today to schedule a consultation. We are available to our clients 24 hours a day, 7 days per week to answer their questions and concerns.
What Damages Can You Seek?
In Iowa personal injury cases, such as those arising from commercial truck accidents, the law uses the term damages to reference the losses incurred by the victim. Damages are typically divided into economic and non-economic damages. Keep in mind, you actually need to prove your damages in a personal injury case.
Proving economic damages is often fairly straightforward. Economic damages are basically any loss you can readily measure in dollar terms. The two most common forms of economic damages in Cedar Rapids truck accident cases are medical expenses and lost income. Basically, any medical bills you incur from your truck accident are part of your economic damages. So is any income you lost because you were unable to return to your job following the accident.
Non-economic damages are somewhat more abstract, as they reflect losses you cannot precisely quantify. We often use terms like “pain and suffering” and “loss of enjoyment of life” to describe a truck accident victim’s non-economic losses. While there is no one-size-fits-all formula to calculate such damages, in many cases the parties (if the case settles) or a jury (if the case goes to trial) apply a multiplier to the amount of economic damages to determine non-economic damages.
Determining Who Is Actually Responsible for a Truck Accident
A person is legally responsible for a truck accident if their negligence caused or contributed to the crash. Negligence does not require proof of any crime, traffic violation, or even intentional wrongdoing. Rather, in the context of a personal injury case, negligence means there is proof that the defendant violated a duty of care they owed to the plaintiff under the law, and the plaintiff suffered injuries as a result.
In a truck accident case, a number of parties may actually be liable. When investigating an accident on behalf of a client, obviously the person we look at is the truck driver. Were they driving in an unsafe or reckless manner, and did that cause the crash? Maybe the driver was over-tired because they failed to take periodic rest breaks–which are actually required by federal trucking regulations.
But we do not stop with the truck driver. Most truckers are employees of larger trucking companies. Under Iowa law, employers are vicariously liable for accidents caused by their employees. Additionally, a trucking company may also be liable if they failed to properly screen, hire, and train qualified drivers with good records.
We also look at the truck itself. Maybe the truck driver could not avoid a crash because there was a malfunctioning part on their vehicle, such as a bad tire or worn brakes. There may be a number of companies responsible for such mechanical failures, including the trucking company, anyone they hired to perform repairs on the vehicle, and even the businesses that manufactured the semi-truck or the defective part.
How Does a Truck Accident Lawsuit Work in Iowa?
Your first step in seeking compensation following any truck accident should be to immediately contact a qualified Cedar Falls personal injury lawyer to assist and represent you. Do not attempt to negotiate directly with the truck driver, truck owner, or their insurance companies on your own. Insurance companies are particularly adept at “negotiating” quick settlements that often pay truck accident victims a small fraction of their total damages. That is why it is always in your best interest to have an experienced truck accident attorney on your side.
As described above, the first thing that we do after accepting a new truck accident case is to conduct a thorough investigation to determine all of the parties who may be liable under Iowa law. Once we know who is responsible, we will draft and serve a formal complaint to initiate a personal injury lawsuit. This is then followed by a discovery phase, where both sides exchange information and evidence that may be useful in building their case for trial.
Before and during the litigation process, it is common for the parties in a truck accident case to conduct ongoing settlement negotiations. Indeed, most truck accident claims are ultimately settled without the need for a trial. But truck accident victims are far more likely to obtain a favorable settlement after their attorney has had a chance to build the strongest possible case for compensation. In some cases, both sides may even agree to third-party mediation to help reach an agreement before trial.
That said, there are truck accident cases that do end up going to trial. Unlike a criminal trial, however, the civil plaintiff in a truck accident lawsuit need only prove a defendant’s negligence by a “preponderance of the evidence.” And even if the jury determines the plaintiff’s own actions contributed to the accident, they can still receive some compensation under Iowa’s comparative fault law, so long as they were not more than 51 percent at-fault.
Contact a Cedar Falls Truck Accident Lawyer Today
A truck accident is often a life-changing event for the victims and their families. The Cedar Falls truck accident lawyers at Ball, Kirk & Holm, P.C., are dedicated to helping these people achieve justice through seeking full and just financial compensation for their losses. Contact us today at 319-419-4279 to schedule a free consultation. We have offices in Waterloo and Iowa City.