Truck Accident Lawyer in Plainfield, IN

Plainfield, IN, is a small community that’s seen rapid growth and infrastructure improvement in the last 20 years. As a result, the roads in Plainfield, Indiana, like U.S. 40, and I-70 see many large commercial trucks. And when a heavily-weighted truck collides with a car, it’s often very serious. If you, or a family member, have been a victim of such a crash, our truck accident lawyers in Plainfield, IN, stand ready to provide you with legal representation, including assistance with medical expenses.

The trucking industry has many rules. If a truck driver or their company breaks these rules, or if someone else’s negligence causes a Plainfield truck accident, innocent people get hurt. Our Plainfield truck accident lawyers at Crossen Law Firm understand this. We are a law firm with experienced truck accident attorneys ready to help you understand your legal options and fight for fair compensation to cover your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering after a truck accident.

In many truck accident cases, fault doesn’t end with the driver. The trucking company may have neglected maintenance or hired an unqualified operator. Sometimes, a defective truck component is to blame. We identify all liable parties and construct a case that reflects the full scope of negligence, incorporating crucial evidence.

While our legal team builds your truck accident case, we also manage all communication with the insurance company. Their goal is to settle fast and cheap. Ours is to ensure you’re compensated for medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering—both now and in the future. And if insurers won’t negotiate fairly, we’re ready to litigate. Contact one of our truck accident lawyers in Plainfield, IN, today for an initial free legal consultation at 317-401-8626.

Semi-Truck Equipment Failures That Can Cause Accidents

Sometimes, accidents happen not just because of a driver mistake, but because something on the tractor trailer broke or wasn’t working right. Big commercial trucks need to be kept in very good shape. If they’re not, dangerous commercial truck accidents can occur, often leading to severe injuries.

Common equipment problems that lead to large truck accidents include:

• Bad Brakes: Trucks need good brakes to stop.
• Tire Blowouts: An old or poorly maintained tire can blow out, making the driver lose control. This can cause a terrible truck accident.
• Steering Fails: Driver can’t control the truck.
• Broken Lights: If other vehicles can’t see a big rig (especially at night because its lights are out), they can crash into it, a serious factor in some truck accidents.
• Bad Trailer Hitches: Trailers can detach if not secured properly.

Trucking companies must keep their trucks safe. This means regular checks and repairs. We’ll look at maintenance logs. If they didn’t do their job in accordance with federal regulations, that’s negligence, and they can be responsible for your Plainfield truck accident.

What is a T-Bone Semi-Truck Accident?

A “T-bone” truck accident (or side-impact crash) is when the front of one vehicle hits the side of another, like creating a T shape. If a big rig T-bones a smaller car, people in the car can sustain catastrophic injuries. These are very dangerous commercial accidents.

Common Causes

Common causes of T-bone accidents include failure to yield at intersections, often due to driver distraction or misjudgment. Running red lights or stop signs is another frequent cause, especially in high-traffic areas. Poor visibility or weather conditions can impair a truck driver’s ability to see cross traffic. Mechanical failures, such as brake issues, may also contribute to a truck’s inability to stop in time.

Our truck accident lawyers carefully look into these kinds of truck accident cases, which can include commercial truck accidents.

How T-Bone Accidents Can Be Prevented

Many T-bone accidents could be avoided if potentially liable parties, including the following, are more careful:

• Truck Drivers: Must obey all traffic laws, look carefully before entering intersections, and never drive when distracted or very tired. Their companies should give them adequate safety training.
• Other Drivers: Be extra careful around any commercial truck. Don’t assume a truck driver can see you.
• Trucking Companies: Must have strong safety rules and make sure their drivers follow them to prevent an accident

Being safer on the road helps prevent these awful truck accidents.

Neck and Back Injuries After Semi-Truck Accident

The powerful force of a semi-truck can severely injure your neck and back. These personal injury problems can cause pain for a long time and change your life, sometimes resulting in further injuries and medical expenses.

Common neck and back injuries from a truck accident include:

• Whiplash (when your head snaps back and forth)
• Herniated Discs (the soft cushions between your backbones get damaged)
• Broken Backbones (spinal fractures)
• Spinal Cord Damage: This is one of the worst catastrophic injuries. It can cause paralysis. This kind of personal injury often needs care for life.
• Long-lasting pain that doesn’t go away after a truck accident.

It’s very important to see a doctor right after an accident. This helps your health and gives you a record for your personal injury claim that can be vital in proving someone else’s negligence and recovering damages such as lost wages.

Types of Negligent Hiring Practices That Demonstrate a Trucking Company’s Liability

A trucking company has to be careful when it hires people to drive its big rigs. If they hire a bad truck driver, and that driver causes a Plainfield truck accident, the company, as well as the truck manufacturer, can be held responsible. Examples include:

• Not checking a driver’s past (like previous accidents or tickets)
• Hiring drivers who don’t have the right license or enough experience
• Ignoring a driver’s history of breaking safety rules
• Not testing for drugs or alcohol as required

If a trucking company’s bad hiring practices led to your Plainfield truck accident, our truck accident lawyers will work to find out if legal action is necessary.

What is a Truck’s Black Box?

Most modern commercial trucks have a device called an Event Data Recorder (EDR) or “black box.” The concept is similar to flight data recorders in commercial airplanes that record flight data in real-time.

Once these started appearing in commercial truck cabs, accident reconstruction experts had an easier, objective path to what actually happened. They record important information about what the big rig was doing just before and during a crash, or when an accident occurred. Their data greatly influences the legal advice given to injured parties and the legal options available to guilty or innocent drivers.

Data it Records:

• How fast the truck was going
• If and when the brakes were used
• If the driver was accelerating
• GPS location (sometimes)

How Lawyers Recover and Use Black Box Data

Getting the black box data is a key step when looking into a Plainfield truck accident. Good truck accident lawyers know they need to act fast. When you hire our law firm, your Plainfield truck accident lawyer will quickly send a legal notice to the trucking company that they must save the truck and its black box data and not change or destroy it.

Special experts help recover the data. This information can:

• Show if the truck driver was speeding or didn’t brake
• Help prove the truck driver or their company was at fault for the truck accident
• Give us strong facts when talking to insurance companies about your truck accident claim
• Provide raw data to underscore other evidence from the accident scene

This data is crucial for legal representation and often the key to winning truck accident claims.

Suing for Emotional Distress After an Accident

An accident doesn’t just hurt your body; it can cause serious emotional trauma too. This is a real personal injury. In Indiana, emotional distress damages from an accident may include compensation for anxiety, depression, PTSD, and loss of enjoyment of life. Victims can also recover damages for sleep disturbances, fear, and emotional pain stemming from the trauma of the accident.

If a loved one was severely injured or killed, claims for loss of companionship or consortium may be available. These damages typically fall under “non-economic damages” and must be supported by medical records, expert testimony, or personal accounts.

Your truck accident attorney can explain how this works for your personal injury case after a truck accident and the appropriate legal action to take.

FAQs

Who could be responsible for my semi-truck accident?

It could be multiple parties: the truck driver, the trucking company, the truck manufacturer, or others. A comprehensive investigation by your Plainfield truck accident lawyer will help find all responsible parties, an important aspect of an accident insurance settlement and your final financial compensation.

If the truck driver was an independent contractor, who is liable?

Even then, the trucking company might still be responsible for the truck accident. Your truck accident attorney will look into the details and adjust your truck accident claim.

Are there caps on damages you can recover after a semi-truck accident?

In Indiana, there are specific caps on certain types of damages in personal injury cases. While there are no caps on economic and non-economic damages, punitive damages are limited to the greater of $50,000 or three times the amount of the compensatory damages awarded.

However, only 25% of the punitive damages go to the plaintiff; the remaining 75% is directed to the Violent Crime Victim Compensation Fund. Additionally, if a government entity is involved, the total damages recoverable are capped at $700,000 per individual and $5 million per incident.

Contact Crossen Law Firm Today

If you or a loved one were hurt in a collision with a semi or other large commercial vehicle, you’ll need the caring and experienced Plainfield truck accident lawyers at the Crossen Law Firm.

After a serious truck accident, you may find yourself overwhelmed—managing injuries, mounting bills, and relentless contact from insurance adjusters, making it hard to recover compensation. Trying to resolve a truck accident claim on your own is not just exhausting—it can cost you the compensation you deserve. That’s where a Plainfield truck accident lawyer at Crossen Law Firm steps in.

Our semi-truck accident attorneys begin your truck accident case by launching a thorough investigation. This includes reviewing the police report, gathering witness statements, analyzing accident scene photos, and securing any available digital data. Our goal is to understand exactly what caused the accident—and who’s responsible.

At Crossen Law Firm, our legal team uses their years of personal injury law and commercial truck accident experience to walk you through each step of considering and filing a lawsuit. We are passionate about helping our clients stay informed of their rights and putting them at ease with the legal process. We take pride in alleviating the burden of a complex legal situation and allowing you to focus on recovering and returning to your life.

If you were involved in a truck or other motor vehicle accident, contact our Plainfield truck accident attorneys today for a free consultation here or by calling 317-401-8626.