Do I Need a Truck Accident Lawyer After a Michigan Crash?
Yes, if you were injured in a truck accident, don’t sign a release or give a recorded statement without speaking to an attorney. Not every crash requires a lawyer, but trucking companies and their insurers may begin investigating quickly and gathering information to protect their own interests.
What is happening on the other side while you recover?
While you are receiving medical care and recovering, the trucking company may notify its insurer, interview the driver, collect company records, move the truck and trailer and plan repairs.
The trucking company's insurer may contact you or ask for a statement before you know how serious your injuries are or what evidence may be relevant.
A Michigan Legal Center attorney can help preserve relevant evidence and investigate the crash, including information that may not be reflected in the trucking company's early account.
What truck accident evidence can a lawyer preserve?
Preserving and collecting evidence is important to any claim but can be more complicated when trucking companies or other businesses own the records you need. Depending on the type of vehicle and the facts of the case, that may include electronic data, onboard video, dispatch communications, driver records or the truck and trailer themselves.
Federal motor carrier rules do not apply to every truck or every trip. For covered motor carriers, 49 C.F.R. § 396.3 requires records for vehicles they control for 30 consecutive days. Required records identify each vehicle, show the nature and due date of scheduled inspection and maintenance work and document the date and nature of inspections, repairs and maintenance.
Truck data and video can help show how the crash happened, while maintenance records may reveal an equipment problem.
A lawyer can send preservation notices before repairs or routine data practices may alter, overwrite or delete relevant evidence. Michigan Legal Center’s guide to truck accident evidence preservation explains these records in more detail.
Why is the police report not the whole case?
A police report contains a lot of useful information such as a record of the scene, initial statements and an officer's observations. It usually does not contain every company record, ownership or control fact, maintenance decision, insurance policy or detail showing how the injury changed your life.
Even if a police report identifies the truck driver as at fault, that does not settle whether another person or business may also be legally responsible. A lawyer may need to investigate what each company did or controlled, not simply whose name appears on the truck.
What should you do next?
Your first priority is personal safety. Get emergency help and whatever medical care you need. Once you are safe, save any photos, videos, documents, messages, witness names and insurance papers already available to you.
A preservation notice asks a company to retain relevant evidence, but it does not give a lawyer immediate access to the records. Its purpose is to help prevent relevant evidence from being lost through repairs, deletion or routine overwriting.
Read the Michigan Legal Center's guide to what to do after a Michigan semi-truck accident. Then contact Michigan Legal Center or call (248) 886-8650 before giving another recorded statement, signing a release or discussing a settlement. Free consultations are available 24/7, and Michigan Legal Center reviews truck accident cases statewide.
Michigan Legal Center’s Michigan truck accident lawyers have achieved substantial results for people injured in serious truck crashes. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.