Cheyenne, Wyoming Truck Accident Lawyers

A common mistake we see in Wyoming when people are injured in a truck crash of some sort is they post information on Facebook— maybe a video of what occurred. I’ve actually seen that occur where there were multiple videos of an extensive crash involving many trucks, maybe 100 trucks on the highway in the wintertime in Wyoming, and they posted this information on their Facebook page. Not a good idea, because whatever you post on there is going to be used against you. The best thing you can do is not post things on Facebook. Another common mistake that people make is they talk to the insurance adjuster on the other side. They do a recorded statement to the insurance adjuster. That will always be used against you. If you had a beer four hours before the crash, they’re going to certainly use that against you later on. If you had the radio on, they’re going to use that against you later on.

It doesn’t matter what you’re doing. If they ask you what time it was, they’ll say you weren’t paying attention because you were looking at your watch. They’ll say how did you know what time it was? I looked at my watch. They’re going to say you looked away from the road. It doesn’t matter what you say to an insurance adjuster; it’s going to bad, so don’t do it. Those are the two common mistakes— posting on Facebook and making a statement to an insurance adjuster. Certainly, with the authorities, you have an obligation, and you should cooperate with the state trooper and provide them whatever information you have.

In Wyoming, we have a lot of truck cases, and so I’m often approached by people that have been injured in a truck wreck or truck crash of some kind, and by truck drivers themselves. In order to pick a really good attorney, you have to have someone that has had a lot of experience in trucking cases, especially on Interstate 80. I’ve had that experience. I’ve done a lot of trucking cases over the years and have had some pretty big successes in the area of the trucking cases. At our firm, we’ve done a lot of trucking cases. You also have to have someone that understands a trucking case is a system case. In other words, it’s about the training of the driver and the qualifications of the driver, if you’re up against the trucking company, as well as the supervision of the driver. I call it the “three-legged stool” of truck cases— training, qualifications, supervision. You have to have somebody who has experience in those cases, have somebody that has trained extensively in those cases, and someone who has contacts with a wide variety of other attorneys around the country. I’m that person. That would be something that you should take into account when you’re selecting the trucking case attorney. Call my office if you have more questions.

I’m often asked how are truck claims different than a car crash? Usually, truck cases involve much more serious injuries for one thing. Secondly, trucking cases are always system cases. In other words, if you have a wreck with another car, you’re not necessarily part of a large organization that is in charge of safety. In a trucking case, you always have to deal with the questions of supervision of the driver, training of the driver, and the qualifications of the driver before he ever took the job. Those are things that are important. These are the “three legs of the stool” in a trucking case, as I like to put it— the qualifications of the driver, training of the driver, and supervision of the driver. You don’t have those things in a car crash case, so system failure in every trucking case is an important part of a case that needs to be taken into consideration. If you have other questions like this, please give me a call at my office in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

I’m asked by folks about giving statements to insurance companies in trucking cases and other cases. My advice is never give a statement to the insurance company. You don’t have to. You don’t need to. You shouldn’t do it. Whatever you say to them is going to be used against you.

A common example is what time was it when the wreck happened? Then the next question is how did you know what time it was? I looked at my watch. Then you looked away from the road. That will be what comes up from the insurance defense lawyer. We have it here written down. You were looking at your watch at the time. I’m not going to follow up with that in the statement from the insurance adjuster, but you can bet your bottom dollar that the defense attorney will do that. They’re going to use that against you at some later date.

There’s nothing you can do to help your case by talking to an insurance adjuster in a trucking case or any other case for that matter. Please keep that in mind. Don’t talk to the insurance company on the other side. If you have other questions like this, please feel free to call my office here in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

In Wyoming, most trucking cases involve cases that you can take to federal court. In fact, if you file in a state court in a trucking case, you often will be removed to federal court. Defense attorneys tend to think that that’s an advantage because a lot plaintiff’s attorneys are not prepared. In my office, we prepare our cases. Eighty percent of preparation is done before we ever file the case. We’re ready to go. We file a lot of our trucking cases – in fact, I can’t remember not doing a trucking case for a long time except in federal court, so we do those cases in federal court on a routine basis. Federal courts are faster in Wyoming. Not always everywhere in the country but certainly in Wyoming. You’re looking at 9 to 12 months. Of course, speed in these kinds of cases is important because you have a lot of expenses. You have depositions to take around the country.

Federal court works better also because the process is more streamlined. In federal court, you’re dealing with a lot of information you need to get in in a trucking case, and so we like to do those in federal court, if we can. You need things like the credit card receipts. All of those are handled usually out of a company in Cheyenne. We can trace the location of that trucker, every place that he’s been in the United States, prior to the collision. That’s what we’re looking at. The system failure can determine the case. If you have other questions like this, please feel free to call.

In Wyoming, if somebody dies in a truck crash, the family has rights under our wrongful death statute to sue the company for the death. It’s limited in nature. You can’t recover for the suffering of a person that’s actually killed in the truck crash. We actually had that happen where a man burned to death in a truck crash. You can recover for the loss of care, comfort, and society of that person, whatever is brought to your life. Every case is different. It’s tried based on the bereavement for that family member for the loss of care, comfort, and society of the person they lost. The bereaved can be children. It can be the wife. It can be the husband. Whatever the case may be, we bring a lawsuit on their behalf in wrongful death cases.

We’ve had it come up where a drunk driver for a company runs into someone’s car, causes serious injury, and even drives off. Yes, you can sue the company for that. They’re working for that company. The company put them behind the wheel. The company trained them. The company supervised them. The company checked their qualifications and may have known that they had a drinking problem in the first place, and may have known about the driving habits of the driver. Oftentimes, in our trucking cases, we have pulled up dispatching devices where they have communication with the driver, and you can hear proof of erratic driving habits of the driver. Even in one case, I had a driver that had a heart attack, and the erratic driving of the driver while he was having the heart attack was picked up by the company.

There’s a lot of information out there about the driver, and yes, the company is responsible. Keep that mind. In fact, we usually go after the company in particular in these kinds of cases. If there are other questions, feel free to call us at my office here in Cheyenne.