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Liability for a trash truck accident often depends on multiple factors that are unique to each case. To determine liability, we need to examine the evidence and the people close to the accident. More than one person or entity may be liable, and we must include them all in your case.
Evidence from the scene of the crash, witness testimony, security camera footage, truck driver logs, and company records about the trash truck and driver may all help us determine liability. In addition to evidence, we should consider multiple possible defendants. While the driver of the trash truck may be directly responsible, their employer may also be held liable. In some cases, the truck driver’s employer is directly liable for an accident for negligently hiring incompetent drivers or failing to maintain the truck.
Get a free, private legal review by calling our Indiana truck accident lawyers at Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166.
We need evidence from the accident to determine liability. While evidence varies from case to case, certain kinds of evidence tend to come up in many cases.
Nearby security cameras may have recorded the accident with the trash truck. We must move quickly to locate these cameras and identify the people or businesses that own them. Otherwise, footage could be erased or deleted before we can see it.
Our Indianapolis, IN truck accident lawyers might also obtain footage from dashcams that were inside vehicles involved in the accident. The trash truck itself may have had cameras equipped that recorded outside and inside the vehicle.
Witnesses may be a huge part of your case, especially if the trash truck accident involved multiple drivers or happened at a time when traffic was heavy.
Exchange names and contact information with as many people at the accident scene as you can. We need these details to find them and talk to them about what they saw.
Remember, you are also a witness to the accident, and your own testimony may be necessary to determine liability.
Trash truck drivers often must keep records about their work. They may maintain logs about when they start work, the routes they drive, and whether they notice anything wrong with the truck. These logs may show us that the trash truck driver in your case was inexperienced, poorly trained, or overworked, which may shed light on liability.
Many trash truck accidents occur because the truck has been poorly maintained or required serious repairs. To determine liability, we may review maintenance records from the trash truck company.
Records might reveal that the truck has never been properly inspected, and repair work has been shoddy and inadequate. In that case, the company that owns the truck may be directly liable for the accident.
In cases where we believe the truck driver was distracted while driving, we may demand to see copies of their cell phone records. These records may indicate whether the driver was making a call or sending text messages while driving.
The driver of the trash truck or other drivers involved in the crash may have been under the influence. The police are trained to identify potentially intoxicated drivers and may have arrested the driver and conducted chemical testing. Those chemical testing results may help us determine whether a driver was intoxicated and at fault for the crash.
When determining liability for a trash truck accident, we should consider who was involved in the accident, as well as entities not directly involved but connected to the accident somehow.
Trash truck drivers may be at fault if they were negligent behind the wheel. Speeding, failing to signal, driving while distracted, and other ordinary traffic code violations may all make the trash truck driver liable.
The private company that owns the trash truck may also be held liable for the accident. The trash truck company may be held vicariously liable for injuries caused by negligent employees. The key is that the employee’s negligence must have occurred in the normal course and scope of their job duties.
Many towns and cities have trash and waste removal services that the local government operates. In that case, governmental entities may be liable for the accident. A governmental entity’s liability may be proven in much the same way as a private entity, but we may need to file a formal notice of your claim with the government before we can move forward with the case.
The company that owns the trash truck may be held directly liable if they had greater involvement in the accident.
If the company hired someone despite knowing that this person is unfit for the job, the company may be held directly liable for negligent hiring.
Jobs that involve driving often require background checks of a candidate's driving history. If a candidate has a history of accidents or even intoxicated driving, they may be a serious risk on the road, and the company may be directly liable for accidents they cause.
In some cases, a driver is hired because they have a clean driving record and there is no reason for the truck company to believe they pose a risk on the road. However, accidents and mishaps can still happen. If a driver is unfit to continue working but is still put on the road, the company may be directly liable for an accident.
For example, if a truck driver begins showing up to work intoxicated, their employer, the trash truck company, should make sure that they do not get behind the wheel of a trash truck. If they let the driver work knowing that they are probably intoxicated, the truck company may be directly liable for negligent entrustment.
We might not know exactly who is liable for the accident until after the authorities investigate. Even so, it is a good idea to include the trash truck driver and their employer in the case, as these defendants are often found liable.
Often, more than one person or entity may be held liable, and if one defendant cannot pay, perhaps another one can. It is a good idea to include the company that owns the truck or governmental entities, as they are often capable of paying.
Yes. In Indiana, plaintiffs who are partly responsible may see their damages reduced according to their share of blame, but they may still recover. However, if the plaintiff is more than 50% responsible, they can recover nothing.
Get a free, private legal review by calling our Fort Wayne, IN truck accident lawyers at Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166.
Don is a founding partner and one of the nation’s top-ranked personal injury litigators. He is a member of the Multi-million Dollar Advocates Forum, which includes less than 1% of the nation’s trial lawyers, and awarded the highest ranking given by Martindale Hubbel and AVVO.
More importantly, Don understands representing personal injury victims is about more than recovering the best settlement: it’s about helping clients get back on their feet and supporting them in every aspect of their recovery.
In nearly all cases, our clients seek compensation from the wrongdoer’s insurance company. Before forming Wruck Paupore, Jason worked for a prominent law firm representing some of the world’s largest insurers. This experience gives Jason a deep understanding of the insurance industry and the strategies it uses to pay injury victims as little as possible.
Jason -- and our entire team -- put this inside knowledge to work to force insurance companies to pay what is actually owed. Often, we use the insurance company’s own tactics against them as we fight for the full compensation our client deserves.
For more than four decades, Keith has been fighting for injury victims. During that time, he’s watched the insurance industry change, with insurers now more interested in protecting their stock price than treating injury victims fairly.
Since the beginning, Keith has put people first. From his childhood in Gary, Indiana during the 1960’s and working his way through law school, Keith has risen to become one of the Midwest’s most respected trial lawyers. He has never forgotten that being a lawyer is about helping people -- and seeing injury victims through struggles in a way that could change their lives forever.
Over the decades, Keith, Don and Jason have fought relentlessly for clients, even when other lawyers have said the case was impossible to win.
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Wruck Paupore P.C.
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Dyer, IN 46311
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