Newport Beach Truck Accident Lawyer

How I Handle the Complex Field of Trucking Litigation

Video Transcript:

Michelle West: 

Resources and reputation equal better results for the client. And teaming up with a law firm that has the resources and reputation is worth it.

Molly Hendrickson: 

What should lawyers know about handling trucking cases? We're gonna talk to attorney Michelle West about that on today's Ask the Lawyer. Michelle, thanks for joining us.

Michelle West: 

It's a pleasure to be here.

Molly Hendrickson: 

So first off, what is your experience as a trial attorney in trucking litigation? How are these cases different from general personal injury or car accidents?

Michelle West: 

That's a great question. They're very different, and the reason is these are large, heavily regulated vehicles. These vehicles are covered under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act and there's a specific section of the act that deals with safety regulations, and those safety regulations require drivers and the companies that they drive for to act in a certain way. It requires them to drive only a certain number of hours, sometimes drive only in certain areas, and it requires them to comply with certain safety regulations, and that is for the safety of the traveling public. It is very different than just a general passenger crash vehicle.

Molly Hendrickson: 

Can you explain some of the mistakes you've seen attorneys make in these types of cases who might not have the experience litigating them?

Michelle West: 

Certainly. If you look at these or evaluate them simply as a passenger crash vehicle, you're gonna miss a lot of information. The first thing that we do is, we of course, contact our experts, we wanna get the download, there is an electronic data recording box in these vehicles that's required. You wanna get the download to see how fast the driver was driving at the time. When was the last hard break and hard stop, so that you can thoroughly analyze along with your expert how the driver was driving, what happened and put together a full accident reconstruction. So if you look at this as a regular passenger crash vehicle, you may not have the understanding of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act, the safety regulations, and you may not have the right experts who are gonna be there to help you evaluate how the collision occurred and what possible mistakes of the company and the driver may have made. Also, they may not fully understand that there are not only the driver and the company, but also the broker who brokered the load, where it was coming from, what are the contents of the load.

Sometimes these have special requirements because they're hazardous materials on board and further, they may even require certain designated routes and they may require permits for each location that they travel through. So they are a very unique case, it requires certainly special skill, knowledge of the right experts as well as getting all of the experts available right away to gather and preserve the evidence that you can prove the case.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And you kinda touched on this, but when you're contacted about one of these cases, walk us through the process that you take, and also, who inspects the truck?

Michelle West: 

Sure, so when we're first contacted, if it is by an injured person, of course, we want to first and foremost make sure the family's okay, check on the health and well-being of the injured individual and see if they're getting the appropriate medical care and treatment. Next, we want to get all the available information from the injured person's family or from the injured person, him or herself about the crash. And then we immediately try to obtain a police report. There's typically a police report in these cases, especially because when it involves a truck, unfortunately, there typically are catastrophic injuries because of the size and the weight of these vehicles. So we first want to try to get the police report, the police photographs, we want to get our investigators on board interviewing witnesses to the scene so that we can make sure that we find out who saw what, and we want... As time passes, people will forget certain things, so we wanna make sure that we get those witnesses interviewed, and then we wanna get our experts to the vehicle so we can conduct a download, if it hasn't already been done. We'll usually do that in conjunction with the defense at their yard, wherever the vehicle is being held, and sometimes along with their experts, and we'll share that information.

And then we want to have our accident reconstructionist available to do a scan of the truck so that we have a full inside and outside view of the truck, and we can use that to model and put together the accident reconstruction so that we know what happened. We're also gonna wanna get biomechanics on board so that we know how the body moved of our injured client when the impact occurred. What were the forces that the injured person experienced and how did they get their injuries? So there's a lot that goes into it right away, and of course, conducting our own investigation regarding the company profile. Online, there's available at safer.fmcsa.gov, a website where you can find out what the company snapshot is, their safety profile, how many crashes have they been involved in or what's their maintenance record. A lot of this information is available and you can use that with your experts to try to put together the case.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And you mentioned how important time can be in these types of cases. What about in cases where the person, a significant amount of time has passed and they're just reaching out to an attorney. In that case, can something be done?

Michelle West: 

Yes. And unfortunately it happens, especially in the situation where someone has passed and the loved ones are... Their lives have been turned upside down and they're grieving and they're dealing with the new life that they found themselves in. Sometimes you'll get a call maybe months or even a year after a crash, and all hope is not lost, we can still put something together and try to conduct the research that is needed to pursue the case. All we have to do is make sure that it's not beyond the statute of limitations. And the statute of limitations period is that period within which a person can bring a lawsuit. So as long as it's within that time period, we can still have our experts utilize the information available and any trucking company and truck driver who has been in a catastrophic crash should have maintained not only the download of the vehicle, but photographs and safety information from the crash. The employer records of the driver should still be available, police photos and police records. And all of that can still be used as long as the statute of limitations period has not expired.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And if an attorney has a client who's been injured in a truck accident, should they consider bringing in another law firm and could this cost the person more money?

Michelle West: 

That's a great question. So I believe that resources and reputation equal results. And so if a newer law firm or a younger lawyer finds themself with a trucking case and they haven't handled one before and they may not want to invest the $150,000 to $200,000 that it might take to get all of the experts ready for trial. I certainly believe that teaming up with a law firm that handles these type of cases, especially one with the resources and the reputation that can get results is definitely the way to go. It will not cost the client extra money, and in fact, it's only going to assist that client in getting additional results. So the percentage that the law firm signed a contract with the client in the first place will be what will be used at the end of the case, whether there's two attorneys on the firm or a team of 10. So again, resources and reputation equal better results for the client and teaming up with a law firm that has the resources and reputation is worth it.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And Michelle, in your practice, how do you evaluate whether you'll bring value to a case?

Michelle West: 

Again, I think it really does go to the resources and the reputation, and the value is gonna be in the results. So a track record of a lawyer who's handled trucking cases, a track record for someone who's had great results for injured victims, that is gonna be where you know where the value is. So if a client calls me and says I have a case against a trucking company, should I handle it on my own? That's a no-brainer. I would say, absolutely, you need an attorney. The process is complicated, it's expensive, and us lawyers are trained to handle it, and especially if you're trained in trucking cases, you definitely need to have a trucking attorney. If you are a law firm and you're not sure, maybe I can do it on my own, do I really need to bring in another firm, that's a good question. And so at the very least, I would think, what's best for the client? Is it best for the client that I try it on my own, or is it best for the client that at the same cost to the client I bring in another firm and really strengthen my team to get the optimal result for the client? I think in general, it's better to team up and really use all the resources available to get the best result for the client.

Molly Hendrickson: 

Michelle, thanks for talking to us today.

Michelle West: 

Thanks so much.

Molly Hendrickson: 

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

Disclaimer: This video is for informational purposes only. In some states, this video may be deemed Attorney Advertising. The choice of lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.