Yorba Linda Truck Accident Lawyer
If you have been injured in a Yorba Linda truck accident, you may have a challenging road ahead of you to pursue fair compensation for your losses. Truck companies typically fight any and all claims and victims are often left wondering how they will pay for their medical bills, time away from work and other significant losses. For this reason, retaining the help of an experienced Yorba Linda truck accident lawyer is essential to build a solid foundation for recovery. There are steps that you can take to protect your rights and one of those important steps is preserving the evidence at the crash site.
If you need immediate legal representation, please call 949-203-3814.
Spoliation Letter
Ideally, when you are seriously injured in a truck accident in Yorba Linda, the at-fault party and insurance companies will rush to your aid and ensure that you are fairly compensation for your losses. Unfortunately, this happens on very rare occasions, if at all it happens. In most cases, injured victims are left with staggering medical bills and other financial losses. The emotional and financial burdens faced by truck accident victims are tremendous.
In such cases where the victim is injured, it is important that a Yorba Linda injury lawyer is retained right away so he or she can get to work immediately to preserve key evidence in the case. In legal terms, "spoliaton" is the intentional alteration or destruction of a document. This happens very often in truck accidents. Important records such as driver logs or truck maintenance records can be intentionally or accidentally destroyed. If there is a surveillance camera that captured the accident, it is important that you obtain that piece of evidence, which could very well help bolster your case.
Evidence at Truck Accident Crash Sites
Following any truck accident, investigators will have to determine the circumstances of the collision and who was at fault. Victims who have the opportunity to collect valuable evidence from the crash site will have an easier time pursuing compensation for their losses. Here are some steps you can take:
- Obtain and secure a copy of the police report
- Take extensive photos of all vehicles involved, the position of the vehicles, the crash site, tire marks and even of your own injuries
- Request an immediate inspection of the truck and the trailer by a qualified professional
- Obtain evidence from the truck's data recorder to determine how fast the truck was going before the collision
- Demand from the trucking company a preservation of the trip inspection report and driver's log
- Collect maintenance records of the truck
- Seek immediate medical attention
- Collect contact information from not only the other drivers involved but also from anyone who may have witnessed the crash
- Determine who was driving the truck, who owns the truck, who was responsible for loading and maintaining the truck. This could help determine the potentially liable parties and there could be several in truck accident cases.