How an Experienced Truck Accident Lawyer Builds a Case

This video features Grant Lawson, a Personal Injury attorney based in Wyoming.

Casper, WY Semi-Truck Crash Attorney Explains the Process

Video Transcript:

Grant Lawson: 

Knowing the right experts, knowing how to properly investigate and work up a trucking crash case. And really what it turns out to be is as a benefit to your client to maximize your client's recovery and what they can get.

Molly Hendrickson: 

On today's Ask The Lawyer, we're talking to Attorney Grant Lawson about building the right team for a truck crash case. Grant, thanks for joining us.

Grant Lawson: 

Yeah, thanks again for having me.

Molly Hendrickson: 

So first off, can you tell us a little bit about your experience as a trial attorney in trucking litigations. How are these cases different from general personal injury or car accidents?

Grant Lawson: 

Yeah. Trucking accidents and trucking cases are, they take on their own life, unlike a standard car crash or any kind of other standard negligence case. The trucking world is its own separate being that incorporates sophisticated rules and regulations that truck drivers and trucking companies are required to follow. And in that, there's also complex layers potentially of who owns the truck, who's leasing the truck, who's the actual motor carrier, where that load originated from. Who was doing the work behind the scenes? Who should have done what in terms of making sure a trucking company was safe and they had safe drivers? There's very sophisticated claims involved with trucking accident law that pertain only to trucking accidents. And the law out there it widely varies from state to state or from part of the country to other part of the country, but there's generally different types of claims that could be involved that go way outside the bounds of just a normal car crash case.

And so, what's important is understanding all of the different players that are involved in the trucking industry, who's involved and at what level, and who's responsible for a crash that occurs, not only in terms of the negligence that was part of the what led to the crash, backing up and figuring out this all begins at a much earlier sequence or stage in the game versus just the time of the crash. And of course the insurance that's involved, or potential players with assets that are gonna be involved for your clients who are severely injured in a trucking case. And so with trucking cases, you gotta really take a deep dive into understanding the different areas of the law that are important that could be applicable to your situation. Knowing the right experts, knowing how to properly investigate and work up a trucking crash case. And really what it turns out to be is as a benefit to your client to maximize your client's recovery and what they can get. And that's kind of the big difference between trucking cases and other standard cases.

Molly Hendrickson: 

Can you tell us a little bit about the top mistakes you've seen people make in truck accident cases?

Grant Lawson: 

Yeah. Probably the biggest one is a lawyer that may not do a lot of trucking cases or none at all, may and get involved with a trucking company and they say, boy, there's the minimum insurance policy that's required and that's $750,000 or maybe a million dollars. And boy, let's see if we can try to just hurry up and rush and make a demand to get that policy limit demand for our clients without diving deeper, without figuring out one, is there additional or excess insurance coverage for the trucking company on its face? And then more importantly, who else is involved? Are there actual parties that you don't know about that you won't see in the traffic accident report? That were involved in the negligent hiring or selection or any of these other claims that can potentially come up, which also provide another avenue of recovery.

And so the biggest thing I'm seeing out there is clients are going to lawyers who don't have the sophistication to run these trucking cases down the line of making sure there's not additional parties at play, additional insurance policies that can come into play and really maximizing the recovery for their client. And a lot of times when you have an injured client, a million dollars or $750,000, which is the minimum insurance limit requirement, boy, that may seem like a lot of money. And they may not know better. So they're really relying on their lawyer. And if their lawyer doesn't know any better, then that's, unfortunately it's the client who suffers in not having an attorney who's making sure that they're leaving no stone unturned for other potential claims, other avenues of recovery to maximize the outcome for the client.

Molly Hendrickson: 

When you're first contacted about a truck accident, say, what is the process that you take? Walk us through that.

Grant Lawson: 

Yeah. So I've spent quite a bit of time over the last few years really putting together a system for me and my team that starts with the intake and immediately going into areas that we can gain information about the trucking company that we are aware of from a traffic accident report. The driver doing a background search on all those, sending letters of preservation out to make sure that all vehicles involved are being preserved, sending a crash reconstructionist and an investigator, sometimes a mechanic immediately to go inspect and survey the vehicles to inspect all of the equipment because there may have been mechanical failures involved. And make sure we get a download of what's called the ECM. A lot of people call it the black box, but making sure we're understanding all the information that is available that we can try to get before it gets lost, especially in the course of time with vehicles being salvaged, sold by the insurance companies, destroyed, whatever it is.

So we put together a plan in place that every time we have a trucking case come in, an intake on a trucking case, we have the experts available. We have letters and requests for whether it be law enforcement, medical records, you name it, video camera footage from wherever it may be. We're getting those letters out, we're putting people on notice immediately to ensure that all the evidence is preserved and all the information is preserved. And then we're walking down the line of doing background searches on the company. We have some techniques and tools that we can gain information about who's involved, what their history is, whether they're potentially have the authority or they've got a limited authority to even be on the road as a motor carrier. And then of course talking with others, being connected with other trucking experts around the country trucking lawyers who do this work who also have had similar cases or instances where they've had the same parties involved in gaining information and collaborating and sharing.

And so there's a pretty wide ranging list of how we approach from the very beginning, our trucking cases through the end. And it starts with making sure you have a systematic... A plan and a procedure in place so that each of your trucking cases is being handled the same way that everything is being done that needs to be done so that you don't get few months down the line or even years sometimes and realize, oh shoot, I wish I would've thought of that. I wish I would've asked for that or those things. So that's the way we approach it and that's... And I've continued to improve every day. You learn something new every day and I add it to the list and have my team make sure it's part of our system.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And what about in a situation where a significant amount of time has passed since the accident and the injured person is just coming forward to you now? What do you do in that case?

Grant Lawson: 

Yeah, those are challenging situations and those happen quite often. And so you gotta do the best you can do with the circumstances. You still try to go after all the evidence and information that you can get. And sometimes it's gone, and sometimes you have to dig really, really deep in trying to find witnesses, trying to track down vehicles if they're still around. If they're at a salvage yard, who knows that they could have been sold somewhere. They may not exist at all. There's a number of things, but somebody who's involved in a serious accident, especially an accident involving a commercial motor vehicle, a truck, you will, you bet your bottom dollar that the insurance company for those trucking companies will have somebody out there investigating the scene, collecting the data, downloading the black box or the ECM, and doing other things. And so a lot of times you find yourself maybe behind the eight ball a little bit, but getting the case filed and fighting with the opposing party insurance companies to get that information that they have, that they're not gonna turn over to you unless you file a case and are ready to fight with them.

Molly Hendrickson: 

What about bringing in another law firm to help? Do you guys ever do that? Why would you do something like that and does that cost your client more?

Grant Lawson: 

Right. So I would say 80% of my cases are from lawyers around the country, including my home territory, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming who come to us with a trucking case and ask for us to help them, be involved. And because this is what we do, and this is all the, almost the majority, or excuse me. Almost exclusively, what I'm doing in my practice these days is trucking litigation. And so when these firms come to us, we will team up, we will approach the case just like we would if the client called us. And no, it does not cost the client an extra dime 'cause they're getting the same essential representation in terms of what we would... What the arrangement would be if the client came to us versus if they go to a another attorney who then comes to us to team up with, and they're getting the best of both worlds. They're getting the attorney they originally had, they're getting an attorney with the knowledge, experience and training to do these cases. And it's not gonna cost them more. In fact, it's going to benefit them more in the long run to have somebody who knows how to do these cases, who has experience in these cases, looking out for their best interest and fighting for them. So it's actually a great thing for the clients.

Molly Hendrickson: 

The more attorneys the better. [laughter] Alright.

Grant Lawson: 

Yeah. You know, most of the time that's true. I always take the approach, I mean, I always have something to learn from everybody. The day you stop learning is the day you die. And I would hope most other attorneys out there feel the same way because that's why they call it the practice of law. You're always trying to get better. You're always practicing to get better.

Molly Hendrickson: 

Grant, thanks for talking to us today.

Grant Lawson: 

Yeah. Hey, thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Stay safe, everyone out there on the roads, it's wintertime and you never know what might lie in front of you on the road. So please take care.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And that's gonna do it for this episode of Ask The Lawyer. My guest has been Grant Lawson. If you wanna ask Grant about your situation, call the number on the screen. Thanks for watching. I'm Molly Hendrickson for Ask The Lawyers.

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