California Big Rig Truck Accident Lawyers for Semi, Tractor Trailer, 18 Wheeler and other Commercial Large Truck Accidents Resulting in Serious Injury or Death - Our Big Rig Accident Attorneys Serve Northern Central & Southern California, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Clara County San Jose Fresno Ventura and Orange County, from San Diego to Sacramento.

Our California big rig truck accident lawyers and large commercial truck accident attorneys represent clients seriously injured in truck accidents throughout the State of California, from San Diego to Sacramento, in San Bernardino and Orange County, Los Angeles, Ventura, Fresno, Santa Clara County and San Jose, and the San Francisco Bay Area. We are highly knowledgeable about the state and federal law governing everything from permissible load weight to securing loads, the laws specifying the numbers of hours big rig and large commercial truck drivers are permitted to drive between rest periods, and the requirements that the drivers keep logs, and provide all employers their logs, specifying time on and off work. Our California big rig truck accident lawyers are also highly educated in the strategies for establishing employer liability in big rig and large commercial truck accident cases where the truck driver is hired as an "independent contractor" and the truck driver is underinsured to compensate the full measure of the client's general and special damages, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, past and future medical expenses and past and future earnings losses. You may read on and learn specifically about our California big rig truck accident attorneys strategies for holding the shipping companies and other employers liable, including "negligent entrustment" and "negligent supervision."

There are half a million big rig truck accidents every year involving, semis, tractor trailers,18 wheelers and other large commercial trucks. Because of the much greater size of the truck, three to thirty times the weight of the ordinary passenger car, the accidents result in thousands of deaths, and 150 thousand serious injuries, one-third of those catastrophic injuries involving traumatic brain injury, paralysis, quadriplegia, paraplegia, debilitating internal injuries, catastrophic orthopedic injuries and limb amputations.

Our clients often have a lifetime of medical expense ahead of them, and often have lost their careers in the professions they trained in or practiced or worked in for many years. Our California big rig truck accident lawyers can't restore our clients' health, so our objective must be to obtain full compensation for their injuries, pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, past and future medical expense and past and future lost earnings, so that our clients can with dignity chose and pay for their medical facilities and care themselves, support themselves and their families, and live the best life possible given their serious injuries and the limitations imposed by their injuries.

Big rig truck accident cases are almost always complex, requiring experienced trial lawyers knowledgeable about the applicable federal and state laws governing everything from the hours that large commercial truck drivers are permitted to drive between 8 hour rest periods, to the weight of loads, and regulations pertaining to how the freight must be secured. Because large commercial truck accidents commonly result in serious injuries, they require big rig accident attorneys with substantial experience in serious and catastrophic injury litigation, attorneys who have developed successful strategies for the presentation of their clients general damages, not just "pain and suffering," but the often even more substantial "loss of enjoyment of life damages." In catastrophic injury cases our big rig accident lawyers will often juxtapose all that the client enjoyed in his life before the accident against the professionally produced "Day in the Life" documentary showing the dignity of the client as he courageously meets all of the difficulties and challenges of his post-accident daily life. The attorneys representing those seriously injured in big rig truck accidents must also be highly experienced in presenting at settlement conferences and at trial the client's substantial past and future medical expense and loss of earnings claims through the testimony of professional "life care planners" "vocational rehabilitation experts" and forensic economists. You may consider our credentials, experience and track record, as well as our approach to presenting general and special damages on our "Serious Injury Attorneys" page.

Specifically because big truck accidents commonly involve serious or catastrophic injuries, experienced big rig serious injury attorneys recognize their responsibility to investigate to determine the potential liability not just of the truck driver, but the companies which hired him. The appropriately qualified serious injury big rig truck accident lawyer will recognize the necessity of identifying all those liable or vicariously liable for his clients injuries, because the truck driver's liability insurance, usually limited to $750,000 or 1,000,000, will be woefully inadequate to compensate the client for his general and special economic damages. Experienced big rig truck accident lawyers will be aware of the good potential causes of action, discussed more fully below, that can be used to hold responsible the companies that hired the driver, and thus provide much larger insurance policies and the companies' assets against which full compensation for the seriously injured client's injuries and damages can be recovered.

If the driver is an employee of the company, then vicarious liability can be imposed upon the company under "respondeat superior" theory. All too often, however, companies shipping freight will hire drivers as "independent contractors" in an attempt to avoid liability for the accidents their drivers cause. Additional legal theories are available to the experienced California big rig truck accident lawyer to hold the shipping companies liable notwithstanding that the driver is an independent contractor, including "negligent entrustment" and "negligent supervision." Companies which fail to properly train their drivers or which hire drivers whom they know or should have known lack training or who have bad driving records or a history of accidents or a history of drug abuse or who lack drivers licenses for the class of vehicle may be joined as defendants in the truck accident litigation. The companies can also be held liable for negligence in the inspection, maintenance or repair of their trucks. The companies may be held liable if it is found that they overloaded the truck or failed to appropriately secure the load, which often result in big rig truck accidents and constitute violations of both federal and California State law. If the companies failed to require their drivers to conform to state and federal laws governing the hours the driver is permitted to drive between "time off periods," or if the company fails to require the drivers to submit daily logs accounting for their hours driving, or fails to maintain such logs, this also may provide a good "cause of action" under which the company may be held liable. In some cases also a big rig truck accident may occur as the result of a design or manufacturing defect in a critical part, such as in the brake or steering systems, which will permit the California big rig lawyer who is also experienced in complex product liability cases to bring into the litigation the manufacturer of the part. You may view our credentials, experience and track record in complex product defect litigation on our "California Product Liability Lawyers" page.

Big rig truck accidents, accidents involving semis, tractor trailers 18 wheelers and other large commercial trucks, require California lawyers who thoroughly investigate their cases. Our California big rig truck accident use private investigators to immediately photograph the scene and speak to all witnesses, after which they will have them sign written statements memorializing their eye witness testimony. We employ accident reconstruction experts to identify the cause or causes of the accident, be it driver error and potential contributing factors to driver error, the size of the load or failures to properly secure the load, or mechanical malfunction and the specific cause of the malfunction. Our experienced big rig truck accident attorneys also supoena the company records of the truck's inspections, maintenance and repair records, the driver's daily logs, the data contained in truck's recording device, and the driver's personnel record. We will obtain the driver's driving record and history of accidents and compare them to the records in the freight company's records. We know the records that the companies are required to keep, and if the records are not produced, we will depose the custodian of records either to obtain the missing records, establish that the company didn't obtain or maintain the records, or establish the case against the company for "spoliation of evidence."

Below we discuss the most common causes of accidents involving big rigs, semis, tractor trailers, 18 wheelers and other commercial large trucks. Our big rig truck accident lawyers also discuss more fully our approach to preparing and presenting our seriously injured client's general and special damages. We discuss our strategies for holding the freight companies liable to assure our seriously and catastrophically clients their best opportunity to recover their full measure of general and special damages. And our California big rig truck accident lawyers discuss our credentials, trial lawyer reputation, honors and national acclaim in the right hand column of this page and below.

If you were seriously injured in an accident involving a big rig, semi, tractor trailer, 18 wheeler or other commercial large truck, you are welcome to submit the "California Big Rig Truck Accident Lawyer Case Evaluation Request" and our highly experienced trial lawyers will contact you to discuss the facts of your accident, your injuries, medical expense, and the impact your injuries have had on your life; we will provide you our case evaluation and recommendations. Our big rig truck accident lawyers represent those who have been seriously injured in big rig, semi, tractor trailer and 18 wheeler accidents in Northern, Central and Southern California, from San Diego to Sacramento, in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, Oakland, Santa Clara County, San Jose, Fresno and Orange County. We are available to represent our clients in every county in the State of California. Our case consultations are entirely free of charge.

Our California Big Rig Truck Accident Lawyers Discuss the Causes of Big Rig, Semi, Tractor Trailer, 18 Wheeler and other Commercial Large Truck Accidents, and our Attorneys Discuss the Implications of the Greater Incidence of Serious and often Catastrophic Injuries Which Result From Truck Accidents.

In order to competently demonstrate the liability of the commercial large truck driver and the company which hired him, the California big rig truck accident lawyers, their investigators and commercial large truck accident reconstruction experts must be aware of the panoply of potential causes and contributory causes of accidents. Just to take one example, if a tractor trailer or 18 wheeler jackknifes, flips and rolls, that might be because the driver locked up the breaks or it might be because an improperly secured load shifted during a turn or lane change. Only the driver may be negligent if the accident was due to his locking up his brakes; but the company which loaded truck may also be liable if it improperly secured the load. The California big rig truck accident lawyer must take into consideration all potential causes and assure that the appropriate investigation is conducted to difinitively demonstrate the operative cause.

The common causes of commercial large truck accidents include but are not limited to driver error or negligence. Driver fatigue is a common cause of commercial large truck accidents, often resulting from driver's having exceeded the number of hours he is permitted to drive without the prescribed number of hours of rest specified by federal and state law. A significant number of commercial large truck accidents result from drug use, including drugs used to keep the driver awake during long hauls, or the mixture of drugs and alcohol. Many big rig rear end truck accidents result of from the truck driver following too close behind other vehicles considering the greater distance required for a big rig or semi, tractor trailer or 18 wheeler to stop. Big rig truck accidents can occur where the truck is overloaded. Furthermore, where the load is not properly secured, this may cause the driver to lose control, particularly when entering or exiting turns or changing lanes. Jackknifing may result when a big rig or semi tractor trailer or 18 wheeler comes to a sudden stop, particularly where the driver locks up the brakes. Jackknifing most commonly occurs when the sudden deceleration causes the load to shift, resulting in the trailer moving sideways, and can also cause the tractor trailer to flip and roll. Commercial big rig and other large truck accidents can occur as the result of improper lane changes, either due to driver inattention or sometimes as the result of inappropriate rear view mirrors with "blind spots." Tractor trailer accidents can also occur when the driver is making a wide right turn, as the length of the truck and trailer may require him to use more than one lane to avoid hitting a sidewalk or parked vehicle. Big rig truck accidents can occur as the result of many other negligent acts and unsafe driving, distractions associated with the use of cell phones or CB radios, speeding or failures to yield rights of way, and other violations of applicable general vehicle codes as well as specific state and federal laws applicable to the operation of commercial large trucks.

Big rig, semi, tractor trailer, 18 wheeler and other large commercial truck accidents also commonly result from overloaded freight, often in violation of state or federal regulations, or oversized trucks, or equipment malfunction, such as defective tires, improper or poorly maintained or inadequately inspected or repaired brake systems. Contributing to commercial large truck accidents, it is often found that the driver is improperly trained to drive a big rig or simi or tractor trailer or 18 wheeler. In some cases he may be found to lack to the appropriate license to operate the class of vehicle. In many cases it will be discovered that the driver has a history of traffic violations and accidents, which should have led the prudent freight company to refuse to hire the driver or to refuse to entrust the driver with the responsibility to operate its big rig trucks. Where the California big rig truck accident lawyer can establish negligent entrustment or negligent supervision, this will provide the factual foundation to name the trucking or freight company as a defendant in the truck accident litigation.

Our California Commercial Large Truck Accident Attorneys Discuss The Strategies for Demonstrating the Liability of the Truck Driver for the Accident, And Equally Important, our Big Rig, Simi, Tractor Trailer and 18 Wheeler Truck Accident Lawyers Discuss the Importance of Extablishing The Liability of Trucking Company and/or Company Hiring the Truck Driver in Serious and Catastrophic Injury Cases.

It is very important for California commercial truck accident lawyers to consider the conduct of all who may be potentially liable for every serious injury truck accident, including the companies which hired the driver, to assure that there will be sufficient insurance and assets to compensate the client for his serious or catastrophic injuries resulting from truck accident, the client's often enormous past and future medical expenses, and substantial future loss of earnings, commonly valued in many millions of dollars. You may consider the measure of damages recoverable in serious and catastrophic injury cases by consulting our "California Serious Injury Lawyers" page. The reason why it is important to consider all potentially liable defendants, including the trucking company or company which has hired the driver to transport the freight is that the value of the damages suffered by those who are rendered seriously or catastrophically injured will often exceed the insurance coverage carried by the truck driver.

"Commercial large truck drivers," meaning drivers of trucks weighing over 10,000 pounds, operating in interstate commerce are required to obtain $750,000 liability coverage, and most states have laws requiring the same for large truck drivers operating within state borders. Most companies transporting nonhazardous materials currently require truckers to carry $1,000,000 policies. But again, $750,000 or $1,000,000 coverage may be woefully inadequate to compensate for the pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, past and future medical expenses and past and future earnings losses of those seriously injured in truck accidents. If the truck driver is hauling hazardous materials he must maintain 1 million dollar liability coverage, and if they are carrying portable tanks with a capacity of over 3500 gallons, they are required to maintain 5 million dollars insurance coverage. But even 5 million dollars in insurance coverage may be inadequate to compensate for the pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, past and future medical expenses and past and future earnings losses of those seriously or catastrophically injured in commercial large truck accidents.

There are a variety of ways in which the knowledgeable California commercial large truck accident lawyer and big rig, simi, tractor trailer and 18 wheeler attorney can establish the liability of the trucking company or company which has hired the driver to move freight. Where our California commercial big rig truck accident lawyers can establish the liability of these additionally responsible parties, we can also name them as defendants in the litigation, which in turn will make available their often much larger insurance coverage and their assets available against which can recover full compensation for our clients' injuries and damages.

There are a variety of "legal theories" or "causes of action" under which our California big rig truck accident lawyers can establish the liability of a trucking company or company hiring a commercial big rig driver to transport freight. If the driver is "employed" by a company, rather than engaged as an independent contractor, then the company can be sued and held vicariously liable for the negligence of its employee driver under "respondeat superior" theory. Even where the company does not "employ" the driver, but contacts with an independent driver, our California big rig truck accident lawyers can often establish the company's liability under any one of a number of different "theories of action," including "negligent entrustment" and "negligent supervision." The companies can be held liable for failure to train, or failure screen out drivers who they knew or should have known were untrained, or who lacked appropriate drivers licenses for the class of vehicle, or who had unacceptable driving records or histories of multiple accidents or drug or alcohol abuse. The companies can also be held liable for negligent inspection or maintenance of the trucks. Both the driver and the companies may also be in violation of federal or state statutes governing the number of hours the drivers are permitted to drive between time off periods, which varies according to the type of load and other factors. The companies can be held liable for failure to insist that their drivers maintain accurate daily driving logs, or for failing to insist that the logs be turned in timely, or for failure to note and act on information contained in the logs or evidence from other sources that the driver was exceeding the number of hours he is permitted to drive between 8 hour off duty rest periods specified by California state and federal law. The company hiring the driver can also be held liable for overloading or failure adequately secure the loads, also the subject of California and federal regulations.

Our California big rig truck accident lawyers are fully knowledgeable about the bodies of federal and state laws governing commercial large truck operations, and the theories of liability available against the driver and the companies employing or contracting the driver. Our big rig truck accident attorneys are also knowledgeable about the types of records which must be kept by the drivers and companies, including daily records of hours of driving and time off every day, the requirements for turning in those records to the companies which have hired them, the inspection records, maintenance records and repair records which must be kept, the on board recording device records, in addition to training records, personnel records, driver accident records and other records by which the company should determine that the driver is fit to drive the commercial large trucks, big rig, semi, tractor trailer or 18 wheeler. Indeed, it is often through our California big rig truck accident lawyers' investigation and discovery of these records that we establish the liability of the companies which hire or contract for the services of the commercial large truck driver who caused the serious injury accident.

In Selecting a Big Rig Truck Accident Lawyer or Law Firm for Any Case Involving a Simi, Tractor Trailer or 18 Wheeler, You Should Consider The Attorney's Trial Lawyer Credentials In Complex Litigation, In Serious and Catastrophic Injury Litigation, And His Specific Knowledge And Experience as a Commercial Large Truck Accident Lawyer.

Our Highly Experienced California Big Rig Truck Accident Lawyers Are Fully Knowledgeable About the Advantages to be Obtained in Serious Injury Commercial Large Truck Litigation, And Our Approach to Serious Injury Cases Involving Big Rig, Semi, Tractor Trailer, 18 Wheeler and Other Commercial Truck Accidents Is to Aggressively Pursue These Advantages to Maximize the Opportunity to Obtain Full Compensation for our Clients.

In many respects commercial large truck litigation is similar to auto accident litigation, and unfortunately many lawyers less familiar with complex litigation and the unique opportunities presented by big rig truck accident litigation, will treat commercial large truck litigation as they would any other auto accident case. But commercial large truck accident litigation, as it is prosecuted by qualified California big rig truck accident lawyers is almost always substantially more complex, specifically because we are aware of the unique opportunities which may be availed in the litigation. The opportunities which experienced California big rig truck accident attorneys recognize are found, in part, in the California and federal statutory law, violations of which can be very useful in establishing both the liability of the driver and the company which hired him; indeed there are numerous theories of action available to the knowledgeable California big rig truck accident lawyer to expand the insurance and assets which will be available to pay the seriously or catastrophically injured client's damages. The litigation requires big rig truck accident lawyers with substantial experience prosecuting complex litigation, as well as extensive experience in the presentation of general and special damages in serious and catastrophic injury cases. If you have suffered a serious or catastrophic injury, then your monetary recovery will indeed be determined by the good or bad strategies adopted by your lawyer in the preparation and presentation of your general damages, including your "pain and suffering" and often even more importantly, your "loss of enjoyment of life" damages, as well as strategies for the preparation of past and future medical expense and earnings losses. You may consider our experience and strategies as "Serious Injury Lawyers" and consider also our strategies for identifying and establishing the liability of all those responsible for our clients injuries. Below we will also discuss our superior trial lawyer credentials, and indeed national acclaim specifically for our trial work in complex, serious injury litigation.

Given the seriousness of a client's injuries and the measure of his or her economic damages, the truck driver's liability insurance may be woefully inadequate to compensate the client for his or her full measure of general and special damages. Obtaining the full measure of the client's damages will often turn on whether the California big rig truck accident lawyer can identify additional liable defendants such as the trucking company or the company which hired the driver to haul the freight. The commercial large truck accident lawyer must be specifically knowledgeable about the theories of liability based on "respondeat superior," "negligent entrustment," "negligent supervision," negligent hiring, failure to train, failure to screen out drivers who they knew or should have suspected were unsuitable to drive the semi truck or tractor trailer or 18 wheeler, either because or lack of training or experience, or lack of a license to drive the class of commercial large truck, prior accident histories or histories of drug or alcohol abuse, failures to appropriately inspect and maintain and repair the vehicle, overloading the truck or failing adequately to secure its contents, as well as liability based on violations of federal or state laws governing hours of driver operation and size of loads. Indeed, establishing liability or vicarious liability on the part of the companies which hired or contracted with the driver is often the pivotal contribution of the California big rig truck accident lawyer essential to obtaining full and fair compensation for his seriously or catastrophically injured client.

The investigation of California commercial large truck accidents also requires the expertise of a highly qualified California big rig truck accident lawyer. Our lawyers investigating accidents involving a large commercial truck or semi, tractor trailer or 18 wheeler will immediately engage an investigator to go to the scene of the accident, photograph the scene and any debris at the scene, photograph the vehicles involved, measure skid marks, review the police reports, interview and take the statements of all witnesses to the accident. Our California big rig accident lawyers will engage appropriately qualified big rig truck accident reconstruction experts also to view the scene of the accident and inspect the vehicles, take photographs of the vehicles, their damage, and identify any part failures or defective parts or assemblies which may have contributed to the accident. The truck accident reconstruction experts will also review the police report, and the trucking company's inspection records, maintenance records and repair records for the big rig or semi or 18 wheeler involved in the accident, and additional information, witness statements, company policy manuals and other information which is supplied to him by our California big rig accident attorneys obtained by document requests, interrogatories, and our depositions of the custodians of records, maintenance crews, personnel officers and other company officers or owners. Our California commercial large truck lawyers are adept at obtaining these records in part because we are well aware of all the records which the driver and companies employing or contracting the trucker must create and maintain under state and federal law and in the ordinary course of their business. As a matter of course our California big rig truck accident lawyers will immediately upon being retained send correspondence to the companies which employed or hired the trucker, demanding that they maintain the records, including all policy manuals, the trucker's personnel file, records with regard to his training, the nature of his training and experience in driving semis, tractor trailers, 18 wheelers and/or other commercial large trucks, any records maintained in the company's files with regard to the driver's driving history, accident history, complaints, or notice of drug or alcohol abuse, company documents pertaining to his history of driving infractions, daily driving logs and off time logs, truck recording devices, truck inspection, maintenance and repair records, and records with regard to the characteristics and weight and manner by which the particular load the truck was carrying at the time of the accident was secured..

Our California big rig truck accident lawyers will then serve subpoenas or notices to produce all of those records to us, and if we note or suspect any discrepancy we will notice the deposition of the company's custodian of records and interrogate him or her to determine whether there are additional documents or determine why documents which we would expect to be maintained were not produced in response to our demand for production of documents. If critical documents are missing or have been distroyed subsequent to our notice to preserve the documents, then we will establish the case for spoilation of evidence.

Indeed, it will be the product of our experienced California big rig truck accident lawyers' discovery of the pertinent documents, the information developed by our investigator, and the investigation and analyses of our experienced truck accident reconstruction expert which will establish the fault of the truck driver, and determine the liability also of the companies which employed or contracted the driver.

Commercial large truck accidents provide enormous opportunities for the qualified, knowledgeable and aggressive California big rig truck accident lawyer to serve his client in obtaining full compensation for his serious or catastrophic injuries.

California Big Rig Truck Accident Lawyer, Ray Henke's Trial Lawyer Credentials and National Acclaim for His Trial Work in Serious Injury Complex Litigation.

You may review our trial lawyer credentials and indeed our national acclaim in the right column of this page, and consider our credentials in catastrophic injury cases on our "Serious Injury Attorneys" page. If you suffered a brain injury or spinal cord injury, you may also consider our "Traumatic Brain Injury" page or our "Spinal Cord - Paralysis Lawyers" page. Very briefly California commercial large truck accident lawyer, Mr. Henke, is "AV" rated by Martindale & Hubbell, the highest "legal ability" and "ethical standards" ratings awarded by this most respected national attorney rating directory. Martindale & Hubbell rates lawyers based on interviews with judges before whom they have tried cases and interviews with other prominent lawyers who are knowledgeable about the attorney's legal ability and ethical standards. The "A" in "AV" is defined as "very high to preeminent" in "legal ability." The "V" is defined as "very high" in "general ethical standards." According to Martindale & Hubbell: "AV Peer Review Rating shows that a lawyer has reached the height of professional excellence. He or she has usually practiced law for many years, and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity."

California big rig truck accident lawyer, Ray Henke, has received substantial recognition of his trial lawyer peers. He was elected and reelected Governor of the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association and the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles by the several thousand strong trial lawyer membership of this fifth largest trial lawyer association in the United States. He was also nominated by the same Association for the "Trial Lawyer of the Year" Award, specifically for his trial work in a highly complex case in which his 20 experts were unquestionably the most highly qualified experts in the world. California commercial large truck lawyer, Mr. Henke, has obtained numerous million and multimillion dollar jury verdicts and settlements in the most complex litigation presented in our courts, Henke is listed as one of the "Top Lawyers in America," and a member of the "Million Dollar Advocates Forum, commonly referred to as the "most prestigious lawyer group in the United States."

California big rig truck accident lawyer, Ray Henke, has been recognized in respected California and national legal journals for his trial work and successes in complex litigation, from "California Lawyer" to the "National Law Journal." His cases and trial work have been chronicled in scores of legitimate newspaper articles, from the front page of the New York Times to the front page of the Los Angeles Times, from the Washington Post to the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner. Attorney Henke and his cases have formed the subject of national and international television news segments, from Tom Brokaw's NBC Nightly News to CNN, as well as three books. Attorney Henke has testified before Congress at the invitation of the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, inter alia, on the importance of punitive damages where it can be established that those liable for injuries have acted with malice and conscious disregard for the lives of others.

Our California big rig truck accident lawyers provide free consultations to anyone seriously injured in a truck accident involving a commercial large truck, semi, tractor trailer or 18 wheeler. You are welcome to submit the "California Big Rig Truck Accident Lawyers Case Evaluation Request" and Mr. Henke will personally call you to discuss the facts of your accident, the nature and extent of your injuries, and will provide you with his case evaluation and recommendations. Our California big rig accident lawyers represent those who have suffered serious injuries in Southern, Central and Northern California, from San Diego to Sacramento, in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Clara County San Jose Fresno Ventura and Orange County, from San Diego to Sacramento. We are here to serve you in every county in the State of California.

General and Special Damages In Serious Injury Litigation. Our California Big Rig Accident Lawyers Strategies for Maximizing Damages In Catastrophic Injury Cases. Our California Commercial Large Truck Accident Attorneys Are Highly Qualified Trial Lawyers With Extensive Experience Representing Clients with Serious and Catastrophic Injuries.

Obtaining the very best results for our clients in big rig truck accidents requires not only the knowledge of the strategies for establishing the liability of the truck driver and the companies which hire or contract for the services of the truck driver, it first requires that the trial lawyer be competent and highly experienced in preparing and prosecuting serious and catastrophic injury litigation. Our California big rig accident lawyers recognize that by virtue of the size of commercial large trucks, unloaded and loaded, are 3 to 30 times the weight of the average passenger vehicle, and our experience is that very serious and often catastrophic injuries will commonly occur. The serious injuries may be traumatic brain injuries or serious spinal cord injuries resulting in paralysis, paraplegia or quadriplegia, debilitating internal injuries, catastrophic orthopedic injuries, and limb amputations. You may review our separate pages on this site entitled "Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyers" and "Spinal Cord Injury - Paralysis Attorneys" if you suffered a brain injury, paraplegia or quadriplegia as the result of your big rig truck accident. If you suffered any serious injury your are also invited to review our "Serious and Catastrophic Injury Lawyers" page at which it is discussed in detail our approach and strategies for maximizing recoveries in serious injury litigation.

The damages recoverable in serious injury big rig truck accidents, include what California law describes as "general" and "special damages." General damages are often referred to by auto accident lawyers as "pain and suffering" damages. In serious injury big rig accidents in addition to damages for the pain and suffering of our clients, our California big rig accident lawyers emphasize the preparation and presentation of "loss of enjoyment of life" damages. Also recoverable in serious injury truck accidents are the client's "special damages" which also may be valued in the many millions of dollars if properly presented, including the clients past and future medical expenses and past and future earnings losses.

Again, we provide a much fuller discussion of our strategies for presenting fully our client's general and special damages on our "California Serious & Catastrophic Injury Lawyers" page. But very briefly, general damages will be presented first by the testimony of the client's treating physicians and/or highly qualified medical experts engaged by our California big rig truck accident lawyers to accurately and fully describe the nature and extent of the client's injuries, his or her limitations, and prognosis. In some cases additional experts may be called including pain specialists and psychologists. But often times the most compelling evidence we present is the testimony of the client and his or her family, spouse, children, parents, and friends who describe the activities the client enjoyed most in his or her life before the accident. Often these are the most simple activities, holding the grandchildren in their arms or taking walks with his or her spouse, or serving as an assistant coach on their child's baseball or soccer team, or taking the family on skiing vacations in the winter. One strategy we employ to demonstrate powerfully to the settlement conference judge or jury the client's "loss of enjoyment of life" damages, is then to juxtapose against this evidence of all the client enjoyed in his life, a professionally produced "Day in the Life" documentary in which the client is portrayed courageously meeting all of the difficulties and challenges posed by his or her post-accident daily life. Our California big rig lawyers recognize that every serious injury case is unique, some clients suffering limitations resulting from brain damage, others paralyzed, others, including clients with paraplegia or limb amputations, able to use wheel chairs, but who must transfer from their bed to their wheel chair and use other strategies to meet all of the challenges of their daily life. But it is our judgment as trial lawyers, extensively experienced in serious and catastrophic injury litigation, that it is usually most effective for the "Day in the Life" documentary to show the client's courage and often heroism as he meets the difficulties presented by the enormous life difficulties and the limitations imposed upon him by his injuries. It is our California big rig truck accident attorneys' experience that this is how most of our seriously injured clients would prefer to portray themselves. And it is our experienced trial lawyer judgment that settlement judges and jurors most closely identify and sympathize with our catastrophically injured clients who meet their life challenges as they would hope to have the courage to do themselves if similarly injured. In some cases, such as where the client is severely brain damaged, this may not be a viable strategy, and in every case we adapt our strategy to the client, his injuries, and his or her post accident life.

Our California big rig accident lawyers are well aware of the financial burdens faced by our seriously injured clients. They are faced with huge medical bills and often unending medical costs for the remainder of their lives. They are not able to pay the bills because they can no longer work in the profession or trade they trained for and practiced or worked in for years. Our California big rig accident lawyers are very highly experienced in the presentation of our clients "special" ecomonic damages, and have developed strategies we believe are most effective in assuring that our clients will be fully compensated for their economic losses.

"Special damages" include past and future medical expenses and past and future earnings losses. Past medical expenses are generally very easy to calculate, requiring nothing more than a full accounting of all medical bills and related expenses from the time of the accident through the date of the settlement conference or trial. Future medical expenses in serious and catastrophic injury cases are considerably more difficult to competently present. Our California big rig truck accident lawyers will use a number of experts in the presentation of client's future medical expenses, but perhaps most importantly we employ experienced professional "life care planners" and forensic economists. Our professional "life care planners" will consult with the plaintiff's treating physicians and expert medical specialists employed by our big rig truck accident attorneys. It is first essential to determine the client's "life expectancy" which will be established as a function of the nature and extent of the client's injuries, his age and application of government statistics. The life care planner will elicit from the client's treating physicians and/or the expert medical specialists employed by our big rig truck accident lawyers, the month to month and year to year medical expenses, big and small, which it is judged that the client will likely require. These medical expenses will include every aspect of medical care, physician visits, surgeries, convalescent facility expenses, home nursing care costs, attendant care expenses, costs of replacement prosthetics, or wheel chairs, medical supplies, medications and all other medical expenses the client can be reasonably expected to require over the length of his or her expected remaining years of life. The life care planner will do all the research to establish the costs of all of the medical and related expenses, and will create a "life care plan." Our California commercial truck accident lawyers will then provide the life care plan to our forensic economist. The economist will then use government statistics on inflation of medical costs for the categories of medical expenses expected to be incurred over the life expectancy of our client to arrive at the total of the medical costs increased by medical cost inflation, and then will "discount" that amount to present value, again by use of government statistics with regard to general rates of inflation. The economist will thus be able to state and substantiate a specific dollar amount in present dollars that will be required to pay for all the future medical expenses the client is likely to require over the remaining years of his or her life.

Our California big rig truck accident lawyers, as the product of our extensive experience, have also developed strategies for the presentation of our seriously injured clients' past and future earnings losses. Just for purposes of example, we will here discuss only the very simplest case of the hourly wage earner, keeping in mind that every case is unique, and that different and even more complex strategies would be required for the presentation of more complex earnings scenarios, such as those for minors who have never worked or homemakers who haven't worked in many years, or businessmen or women, owners of companies who will lose the streem of income from their companies or their ability to grow their business or who must sell their business, employed clients who would have advancement opportunities and a host of other unique loss of earnings factors presented in the cases of our individual clients.

In this simplest case of the hourly wage earner, the calculation of past lost earnings may indeed be as simple as multiplying the daily wage times the number of days the client has been unable to work from the date of the accident through the date of the settlement conference or trial. "Future earnings losses" are much more complex to competently prepare and present, even in the most simple case of the hourly wage earner. Our California commercial truck accident lawyers again employ a number of experts, most importantly a "vocational rehabilitation expert" and a forensic economist. The first task, requiring the application of medical expert input and government statistics is to determine what the client's "work life expectancy" would have been if the client had not suffered the injuries he or she sustained in the truck accident. A separate calculation, also requiring the foundation of medical expert input and government statistics, is to determine what the client's work life expectancy is now, taking into consideration his serious injuries. Another calculation must be made of the total amount the client would have earned over his work life expectancy if he had not been injured. Next, a calculation must be made as to what the client will earn in the post accident profession his has chosen for himself following the accident or which he is capable of earning considering the professions or employment opportunities still available to him. The measure of future loss of earnings is the "net losses." The "vocational rehabilitation expert" hired by the California big rig accident attorney will obtain the client's educational records and past employment records, he will meet with the client, he will in many cases conduct various vocational tests, and from this information will arrive at conclusions with regard to the types of employment which are now foreclosed to the client, and the types of employment which the client is still able to perform given the evidence of his education, training, experience, and his limitations resulting from his serious injuries. The vocational rehabilitation expert will prepare a detailed report, and our California big rig truck accident lawyers will then provide the report to our forensic economist. The economist will then again apply government statistics to arrive at the total future earnings that the client would have been expected to earn over the remainder of his estimated work life expectancy if he had not been injured, increased by the rate his earnings would be expected to grow according to government statistics on wage growth in the particular industry, profession or trade. The economist will subtract that from that figure the earnings that the client is likely to earn in the profession he has chosen following the accident or in the professions or jobs in which his physical limitations would still permit him to be employed. Then using government inflation statistics the economist will "discount" the result to present value, in order to provide a specific dollar amount for the client's future lost earnings in "present dollars."

In some cases, because of the seriousness of the injury, our California big rig accident lawyers realize that there will be no practical ability of the client to return to the workforce, but it is our judgment as experienced serious injury trial lawyers that where the client is not totally disabled, we must present a properly founded case for "net" earnings losses, taking into consideration the client's remaining, although limited ability still to continue to be economically productive. Our California big rig truck accident lawyers, extensively experienced in the presentation of serious injury cases, recognize that the "net" loss is the accurate measure of loss of earnings damages under California law, and that practically speaking we recognize that the defense attorneys will have the opportunity to cross examine our experts and present their own experts to testify with regard to our clients' earnings losses. We also recognize that the settlement judge and jurors will accept the calculations of the experts whom they find most credible, and we must assure that it is our experts who are found most credible. Furthermore, to the extent that our clients who are able to work make efforts to return to the work force, even if it is just looking at opportunities for training that might be available to permit them to continue to contribute to society in some way, we encourage it. Again it is our highly qualified serious injury lawyers' experience that by doing so our clients will gain the admiration and greater sympathy of the settlement judge and jurors which will in turn translate into our higher recovery across the board, including in the jury's assessment of our clients' general damages.

Our Big Rig Truck Accident Lawyers Offer Free Consultations to Those Who Have Been Injured in an Accident with a Simi, Tractor Trailer, 18 Wheeler or other Commercial Large Truck. Our Serious Injury Attorneys Represent Those Injured in Big Rig Accidents in Southern, Central and Northern California in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area Berkeley and Oakland, Santa Clara County San Jose Fresno Ventura Orange County, in Every California County from San Diego to Sacramento.

Our California big rig truck accident lawyers are highly qualified serious injury attorneys who recognize the opportunities provided in commercial large truck accident litigation to maximize our clients recoveries of the full measure of their damages. Please consider our credentials and approach to serious injury big rig truck accident cases, and then submit the e-mail form "California Big Rig Truck Accident Attorneys Case Evaluation Request" and we will be pleased to provide you our free consultation and recommendations. We serve all of California from San Diego to Sacramento, in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, in Orange County Ventura Fresno Santa Clara County and San Jose. Our initial consultations are free of charge. We welcome the opportunity to serve you.