Parsippany Truck Accident Attorney

Reliable Legal Assistance After a Trucking Accident in New Jersey

If you’ve been seriously injured in a commercial truck accident, you’ve already suffered a great deal, but you still have much to lose. To put your accident behind you, you need to secure ample compensation. However, that’s not so easy when you have to confront a team of defense attorneys working full time to reduce insurance company payouts. Fortunately, Noel E. Schablik, P.A. is prepared to help. Drawing on more than 35 years of litigation experience, we work tirelessly to deliver honest analyses, reliable guidance and strong advocacy, focused on delivering the best possible result.

Common types of commercial truck accidents

There are many circumstances under which a commercial truck can cause a serious traffic accident. In our practice we are very familiar with various accident scenarios involving trucks, including:

  • Rollovers — Tight turns at too great a speed, especially in high crosswinds, can cause a tractor-trailer to collapse on its side.
  • Underride accidents — Because commercial trucks have higher ground clearance than passenger vehicles, cars can wind up below the undercarriage with often deadly results.
  • Jackknives — When an operator slams on the brakes of his rig, the tractor can decelerate at a greater rate than the trailer, causing the trailer to cut across adjacent lanes in a broad swath of destruction.
  • Blowouts — Big-rig tires are huge, so in a blowout, they release tremendous force that can destabilize the trailer and spray heavy tire fragments like shrapnel at nearby vehicles.

Commercial truck accidents, especially at high speeds, are far more destructive than car accidents, so there is a much greater chance of catastrophic personal injury or wrongful death.

Possible defendants in your trucking accident lawsuit

To prevail in your injury case, you must show that someone besides yourself was responsible for the truck accident and, consequently, your injuries. Possible defendants may include:

  • Truck drivers — A tractor-trailer may belong to an independent owner-operator or be part of a huge trucking company. Ninety percent of the U.S. trucking industry is comprised of small business companies with ten or fewer trucks. There are more than 350,000 independent owner-operators in the United States, who are required to follow all state and federal regulations and to maintain sufficient levels of liability insurance.
  • Trucking companies — If the driver is an employee, the company can be liable under a legal theory of respondeat superior, which requires an employer to answer for its worker’s negligence.
  • Maintenance companies — A subcontractor charged with regular maintenance of equipment can be liable for accidents caused by substandard maintenance.
  • Equipment manufacturers — A manufacturer can be held strictly liable for accidents due to defective parts and equipment, such as brakes and steering.
  • Loading companies — Accidents often occur because precariously loaded cargo creates an imbalance that makes the truck difficult to control or even results in a rollover.
  • Entities responsible for highway design and maintenance — If a road is poorly maintained, poorly lighted, or unreasonably dangerous in its design, a state or federal agency may have to answer for accidents.
  • Other motorists — Many passenger car drivers take unreasonable risks when driving near semi-trucks. A careless motorist who cuts off a tractor-trailer can easily cause a jackknife accident.

We engage qualified experts to investigate your truck accident thoroughly, and we use the discovery process aggressively to uncover hidden facts that might help us identify the responsible parties and hold them accountable. We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay no fees unless you recover damages.

Contact an experienced truck accident attorney in Parsippany, New Jersey

After a serious truck accident, you need healing and peace of mind. While you recover, you can trust Noel E. Schablik, P.A. to manage your case honestly and efficiently. Call us at 973-402-9596 or contact us online to schedule a free telephone or in-person consultation at our Parsippany office or at your home or hospital room.