How to Sue an Insurance Company After a Truck Accident
Under Tennessee law, you cannot directly sue an insurance company after a truck accident. As such, the legal action will be brought against the against the truck driver and the trucking company. However, the reality is that you are actually suing an insurance company- one with deep pockets.
Our Nashville truck accident attorneys at Raybin & Weissman are here to provide an overview of the insurance claims process versus litigating your truck accident case in court.
Insurance Claims
After a truck accident in which the truck driver was at fault, you will make a bodily injury claim and/or property damage claim through the truck driver’s insurance company.
The following is important in having your claim approved:
Gathering Evidence
A key component of any successful truck accident claim is collecting evidence. In a truck accident, evidence may include video surveillance, photographs of the accident scene, and eyewitness testimony.
Commercial trucks have electronic logging devices, or ELDs, which record vital information about how many miles the truck driver has traveled and other information pertaining to the driver’s behavior.
Demand Package
A truck accident attorney will request documentation of damages to submit to the insurance company. This will include items such as pay stubs reflecting your lost wages and medical bills reflecting procedures and treatments you have undergone.
A truck accident lawyer will organize this documentation to submit to the insurance company in a demand package. Documentation of damages will be submitted in a demand letter along with the circumstances behind your accident, the amount you are requesting for relief, a deadline that the insurance company must respond by, and the consequences if they fail to comply.
Insurance Negotiations
An insurance adjuster’s first offer is only about 40% of what your case is actually worth. The figure does not consider your future medical needs or your diminished work capacity.
At Raybin & Weissman, we will not settle for less than your case is worth. We rarely accept the first offer but will counteroffer with an amount that takes into account your injuries and losses.
Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit
Most truck accident cases are settled through insurance. However, if insurance negotiations stall or if the insurance company is repeatedly offering you a low settlement, it may be time to consider taking your case to court.
In the first stage of a truck accident suit, your attorney and the opposing party’s attorney will file pleadings.
Complaint and Summons
To initiate litigation, the plaintiff (you) will file a complaint and summons with the court and serve those papers to the defendant (truck driver). The complaint will include the pertinent information in your case, your claims against the defendant, and what damages you are seeking.
The summons is the formal notice issued by the court notifying the defendant of the lawsuit. It will also include a date on which the defendant must appear in court.
Answer
In Tennessee, the defendant has 30 days to respond to the complaint and summons. This reply is known as the answer. In the answer, the defendant will respond to the allegations by admitting, denying, or stating that the driver does not know if the statement is true.
Discovery
Once the pleadings are filed, both parties will share information in what is known as the discovery process. This information may be exchanged through written questions (interrogatories), out-of-court testimony (depositions), submitting a set of questions to the opposing party (requests for admission), and a request for documents (requests for production). It does not matter what order these requests are made.
Final Pre-Trial Conference and Trial
Before your trial begins, both sides will meet one final time for a pre-trial conference. At the conference, each side will discuss the order for admission of evidence. The pre-trial conference is the final chance for both parties to settle before the case proceeds to trial.
At trial, each party will deliver opening statements, both the plaintiff and defendant will call their own witnesses to testify, the witnesses will then be cross-examined, and each side will deliver closing arguments once all the evidence has been presented. If you have a jury trial, the jurors will deliberate and reconvene to announce their verdict.
Speak with a Nashville Truck Accident Attorney Today
It is contingent upon the facts of your accident whether a truck accident insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit is the right path for you. If you have been injured in a truck accident, our Nashville truck accident attorneys are here to assist you. Contact us online today or call 615-256-6666 to schedule your free consultation.