If we're lucky, the closest any of us will ever get to a Sarasota-area truck accident will be seeing it on the news. That's close enough to know the kind of chaos a crash involving a heavy truck or tractor trailer can cause on Florida roads. Motorists can get badly hurt or killed. Cargo can spill causing all kinds of damage to the road and neighboring properties, especially if the cargo consists of toxic or flammable chemicals. Traffic can back up for miles and miles, sometimes causing secondary collisions. The costs inflicted by these accidents can easily soar into the tens of millions of dollars, especially when someone suffers a severe or fatal injury.
Those unlucky enough to be victims of these truck accidents need skilled, experienced legal representation to help them recover money damages to pay for their medical care, lost wages, pain, and loss. Throughout Florida, Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA have earned a reputation as premier advocates for truck accident victims and their families. We fight for our clients' rights to recover the maximum compensation they deserve. Contact our Sarasota Truck Accident Lawyers today to learn how we can help after a truck accident in the Sarasota area upends your life.
About Us
From the Atlantic coast to the Gulf Coast, injured Floridians turn to Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA for legal representation, and for good reason. Few, if any, law firms in the South can match our track record of success recovering damages on behalf of people injured in truck accidents and other tragic incidents. Our results include a $3.2 million settlement for a client who suffered a brain injury in a semi-truck accident, and $1.75 million for a client injured after being struck by a semi-truck on I-275 in St. Petersburg. While these are only past examples and can't guarantee a case's outcome, our track record is nonetheless one of strong advocacy on behalf of injured Floridians.
Our lawyers only represent victims of personal injury and the families of those killed in tragic accidents. By making this commitment to injured Floridians and Sunshine State visitors, we show our clients we are on their side, always. We provide a personal level of service to every client, the way you might imagine a small law firm would. But, we have the resources and experience of a much larger firm, and are willing, able, and always ready to go up against even the richest defendants and largest insurance companies to recover the compensation our clients deserve.
Our Legal Services for Sarasota-area Truck Accident Victims
In one sense, the job we do at Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA is simple: we advocate in our clients best interests to get them the most money available after an injury or tragic loss. But, that straightforward mission involves a significant amount of complexity. No two cases are alike, and truck accidents in particular present challenges far beyond those of an ordinary motor vehicle collision. Here are the legal services we often provide for our clients injured in Sarasota-area truck accidents:
Listening and Learning
It might not sound much like “lawyering,” but we consider it our first job as personal injury attorneys to look our clients in the eye and hear their stories. We take pride in spending the time to meet with clients one-on-one to hear about how an accident has affected them, and about the support and financial resources they need to make the best possible recovery. It's no coincidence clients praise us for, among other things, treating them a member of our family.
Investigating and Evaluating
Truck accidents cause outsized damage. Trucks are large, heavy vehicles. When they crash, jackknife, or roll over, they injure other motorists unlucky enough to be sharing the road with them, and they often spill their cargo and cause widespread property damage and public health hazards. And, that's just the physical impact of a truck accident. They also cause a tangle of legal problems, from intersecting insurance claims to fights over which party with a legal interest in a truck should have responsibility for victims' injuries.
At Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA, we often have to dig deep into the facts and the law to make sense of the mess caused by a Sarasota-area truck accident. Among the tasks we typically perform for our clients are:
- Finding out who was involved in or connected to the accident. Most trucks carry cargo related to some kind of business. As a result, the typical truck has multiple parties and “legal interests” connected to it: the driver, the driver's employer, the owner of the truck, trailer, and cargo, the mechanic who services that equipment, the company that makes the equipment, and the party who loaded the cargo—to name just a few. Any of those parties could have legal liability for an accident victim's damages. But, that's not all. Others not connected to the truck could also have legal liability for an accident. Other drivers, for instance, or the government agency responsible for keeping roads safe for travel. Even doctors and drug companies could play a role in the cause of a Sarasota-area truck accident. At Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA, we try to uncover every party involved in a truck accident to have a complete list of who might have legal liability to our client.
- Exploring how an accident happened. Of course, identifying parties connected to an accident is just one part of any truck accident investigation. Another involves acquiring a second-by-second understanding of how the accident unfolded. Our lawyers and investigators will scour accident reports, video footage, and witness statements to get an accurate picture of the crash. We may also work with accident reconstruction experts who can perform detailed forensic analyses to pinpoint the causes of crashes.
- Targeting parties with legal liability and the ability to pay. All of the investigation we do is ultimately aimed at figuring out what bad decisions or careless actions led to the accident. Or, to put it another way, we try to find out who could have prevented the accident by acting differently, and who is “legally” responsible for those actions. Generally speaking, those are the parties who have the most likelihood of having legal liability to our clients. Of course, within that smaller group of parties, we also have to make sure we choose to pursue parties who have the ability to pay damages to our clients.
- Evaluate injuries and needs. Clients who have suffered severe injuries or tragic losses in Sarasota-area truck accidents that weren't their fault typically have financial needs that exceed the limits of their own personal injury protection auto insurance policies. Another job for our lawyers is to figure out the amount of those financial needs, which we do by getting to know our clients, and then (often) working with medical and financial experts to come up with a calculation of damages that ensures our clients' needs are taken care of.
Negotiating From a Position of Strength
Once we know how an accident happened, who owes our clients damages and can pay them, and how much our clients should demand as compensation for their severe injuries and tragic losses, we typically get to work negotiating a settlement of their claims. We know from experience that most personal injury matters get resolved through a negotiated settlement. But, we also know that our clients can't hope to recover the most money reasonably available unless our team can take their cases all the way to trial if that's necessary to get results.
In other words, at Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA, our attorneys always negotiate our clients' cases from a position of strength. We never enter negotiations unprepared and we always know what we and our clients think is a fair outcome that will serve our clients' needs. By preparing more and better than defense attorneys and insurance adjusters, we give our clients an edge that helps to ensure they're treated fairly. No Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA lawyer will get steamrolled by an insurance company or expensive defense lawyer. And, we will always serve our clients' best interests and negotiate for a resolution that best fits their, individualized needs.
Litigating Better Than Our Opponents
When settlement negotiations don't yield the results we believe our clients deserve, the attorneys at Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA are prepared to make our cases to judges, juries, and arbitrators throughout Florida and beyond. We are a team of dedicated, experienced trial lawyers. We prepare, plan, and execute detailed, sophisticated, winning trial strategies...and our opposing attorneys know it.
In fact, one reason our firms have recovered so much money for our clients in the past is that we have earned a reputation as feared and respected trial lawyers. Opposing attorneys and insurance companies often don't want to go up against us in a courtroom because they know we'll out-prepare and out-argue them. In other words, our reputation as personal injury litigators helps our clients recover maximum settlements, and our skills often win them maximum jury verdicts.
What to Do After a Sarasota Truck Accident
Victims of Sarasota-area truck accidents and their families often have difficulty deciding what to do or where to turn for help. Every case is different, of course, so we can't provide generic legal advice here. But, there are some straightforward steps anyone affected by a Sarasota truck accident can take to protect their personal, legal, and financial interests.
Seeking Appropriate Medical Care
There's nothing more important than your health. Protect your wellbeing after a Sarasota-area truck accident turns your life inside-out by getting all the medical treatment you need. We offer this advice to everyone affected by a truck accident, whether they suffered injuries in it directly or are suffering because a loved one has been hurt. Seeking appropriate medical care and treatment ensures you will be in the right frame of mind to make important decisions and will give yourself the best chance of making the best-possible recovery. Secondarily, medical treatment will also generate important records of about your injuries and costs that your lawyer will need later on when calculating your damages.
Steering Clear of Aggressive Insurance Companies
Depending on the circumstances of your truck accident, you may have no choice but to report your injuries and losses to your own insurance carrier, particularly if you sustained injuries covered by your personal injury protection policy. But, that doesn't mean you also have to interact with someone else's insurance company. BE CAREFUL of any insurer or legal representative of another party involved in the truck accident who reaches out to you. They are most likely hoping to minimize their own financial exposure to the accident by getting you to say something damaging to your own claim or asking you to accept an insufficient settlement offer. Speak with an attorney before agreeing to anything insurance-related after your Sarasota-truck accident. You have important rights at stake.
Consulting Experienced Personal Injury Attorneys
No one wants to be told to get a lawyer. Even people who have suffered injuries sometimes avoid seeking legal advice for as long as they can. They think lawyers will cost money or cause stress.
We understand those concerns, but we can tell you with 100 percent confidence that the sooner you get an experienced truck accident attorney involved with your case, the better off you will be. First of all, the initial case consultation with our team (and most other lawyers) is free, confidential, and comes with no obligation to retain us. Second, we take most of our cases on a “contingent fee” basis in which our client pays us nothing up front and we only collect fees if we recover money for our client. Third, the sooner a lawyer can get started investigating, negotiating, and litigating, the higher the probability the lawyer will be able to build the strongest possible case for you. Fourth, if you wait too long, you could lose your rights to compensation altogether.
Contact Our Sarasota, Florida, Truck Accident Attorneys Today
The right personal injury lawyers for your Sarasota-area truck accident injury claims work at Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA. With offices across both Florida coasts, you can easily reach them at 833-552-7274 (833-55-CRASH), or contact them online to schedule a free, no-obligation case consultation.
Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA - Sarasota Office
6703 14th Street West; Suite 207
Bradenton, FL 34207
(941) 220-0343