Don’t hesitate to explore your legal options after a truck accident in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As a crash victim, you have rights. This can include the opportunity to seek insurance benefits and/or file a lawsuit against the negligent trucker, the trucking company, or another liable party. You can make the most of your fight for compensation by turning to the experienced Albuquerque truck accident lawyers at Singleton Schreiber for help.
Our fearless advocacy changes the lives of the injury victims and families we represent. For decades, our award-winning attorneys have dedicated their careers to taking on powerful corporations, insurance companies, and government agencies in pursuit of justice. As a result, we’ve successfully obtained more than $2.5 Billion in damages for our clients.
Discover what it means to have our top-rated law firm fighting for you after a truck accident. We offer a free consultation, so contact our Albuquerque law office today.
What to Expect When You Choose Singleton Schreiber After a Truck Accident in Albuquerque, NM
Even though you may have the right to seek damages from a trucking company or insurance provider after a big rig accident, it can be a challenge to get compensation in your hands. These are powerful corporations with considerable resources that will be well-represented by skilled adjusters and defense attorneys.
The good news is that you can level the playing field by hiring an experienced Albuquerque personal injury attorney to represent you. Even better, you can give yourself the upper hand by choosing the top-rated legal team at Singleton Schreiber.
We’re recognized as leaders in personal injury litigation by Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, the Daily Journal, and the National Law Journal. Fearless advocacy and client-focused legal strategies help us make a genuine impact on the lives of the people we represent. We’ve forced insurance companies, trucking services, and other powerful adversaries to pay our clients billions in monetary awards.
Today, we’re here to handle all aspects of your truck accident claim so that you can fully invest in your recovery.
Trust our personal injury law firm in Albuquerque to:
- Coordinate a timely and exhaustive investigation into your truck accident
- Determine liability for the crash and identify all insurance policies that might cover your damages
- Collaborate with experts in the trucking industry, forensics, accident reconstruction, accounting, medicine, psychology, and other specialties
- Review dashcam footage, photographs of the scene, black box data, cell phone records, driver logs and reports, vehicle maintenance and inspection records, and other key pieces of evidence
- Depose the truck driver, members of the trucking company, other motorists, eyewitnesses to the collision, and other parties who can offer critical insight into the wreck
- Build a persuasive legal claim that complies with procedures established by New Mexico state law
- Be available to answer your questions and explain aspects of your case throughout the process
- Offer legal support and advice when you have to make critical decisions about your claim
- Force meaningful conversations about what your truck accident case is worth as we pursue a maximum settlement during negotiations
- Have a well-respected New Mexico trial attorney bring your case to court, if necessary
You’re going through an incredibly difficult time. Singleton Schreiber provides the kind of support and legal advocacy you deserve right now. Trust our local lawyers and national resources to help you not only win your case but maximize your recovery.
Ready to get started? Reach out to our legal team in Albuquerque, NM, today to set up a time for your free case evaluation. Members of our team are standing by to take your call right now.
What Are the Most Common Causes of Tractor-Trailer Accidents?
Commercial trucks are instrumental in our economy, but they’re notoriously difficult to drive. It’s one of the many reasons why trucking services are required to comply with safety regulations established by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and New Mexico law.
However, regulations are only effective when they’re followed. At Singleton Schreiber, we find that most truck accidents are avoidable and, many times, often the result of driver or trucking company negligence - often involving a deviation from safety rules and protocols.
Specifically, some of the most commonly cited causes of truck accidents include:
- Driving in excess of established hours of service regulations, resulting in driver fatigue
- Failing to perform mandatory pre-and-post-trip inspections on a rig before operation
- Drug and alcohol use
- Texting and driving
- Other types of distracted driving
- Speeding
- Improper passing
- Illegal turns
- Wide turns
- Braking errors
- Following too closely
- Unsecured cargo or improperly loaded cargo
- Vehicle malfunctions
- Vehicle defects
- Road defects
- Driver inexperience
It’s critical to understand exactly why and how your truck accident happened. Our team will waste no time before diving into the details of your crash, gathering information, and ultimately working to determine the cause(s). When the cause is established, we can begin to craft a claim that helps you recover compensation from those at fault.
Advocating For Clients in All Types of Truck Accident Cases in Albuquerque
Hiring an attorney can help you win your truck accident case. Choosing Singleton Schreiber can quite literally be the difference between a moderate settlement and six, seven, or eight-figure financial recovery.
Why? Our team of top-rated attorneys has extensive experience representing clients in all types of truck accident cases, including:
- Jackknife accidents
- Underride accidents
- Squeeze play accidents
- Lost load accidents
- Truck rollovers
- Front-end collisions
- Rear-end collisions
- T-bone accidents
- Blind spot truck accidents
- Fatal truck accidents
Our well-respected local attorneys understand how New Mexico law will influence your truck accident case. Our resources span the nation and rival those available to the trucking companies and insurers you’ll go up against. Combined with our experience and track record of success, this sets you up for the significant financial recovery you deserve.
What is My Truck Accident Case Worth?
As a truck accident victim, your story is one-of-a-kind. Your experience and the ways in which the big rig collision affects your life are unique. It’s the details of your story that will influence the amount of money you might be able to recover through a related claim for damages.
Consider:
- What types of physical injuries did you suffer in the truck accident?
- Are your injuries permanent?
- How long will you need to undergo medical care or require nursing assistance?
- Has the truck accident impaired your ability to work or generate an income?
- How old are you?
- Are you getting blamed for the truck accident?
- What will it cost to repair or replace your vehicle?
- Has the crash adjusted your life expectancy?
- Have any pre-existing conditions been aggravated because of the crash?
- How has your quality of life changed since the wreck?
- What have you done to mitigate your damages?
Some factors - like the type and severity of your injuries and a substantial loss of income - can increase the value of your truck accident case.
Other factors - like shared fault or a failure to mitigate your injuries - can potentially reduce the amount of money you’ll be able to recover.
The insurance company, the trucking service, and other defendants will try to limit your financial recovery by casting blame, downplaying your injuries, and using other underhanded tactics. Protect yourself and prepare for a maximum financial award by hiring Singleton Schreiber to handle your truck accident lawsuit.
We have a demonstrated ability to help our clients win life-changing settlements and verdicts at trial. Our results exceed $2.5 Billion. Now, we’re prepared to help you make the most of your truck accident case, too. Call our Albuquerque, NM, law office to get started today.
Who is Liable For My Big Rig Accident?
Liability - or financial responsibility - for a truck accident extends to anyone who is partly or fully to blame.
Depending on the circumstances of your truck accident, this can include one or more of the following parties:
Truck Driver
Truck drivers must obtain a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL), pass extensive physicals and drug tests, and demonstrate an ability to operate a rig safely before they can haul cargo across the state of New Mexico. As licensed commercial motorists, they must adhere to FMCSA regulations and exercise reasonable care behind the wheel.
When a driver ignores protocols or makes risky decisions, it can cause single-vehicle truck accidents or collisions with other vehicles. A driver’s negligence can cause them and, in some cases, their employer to be liable for resulting damages.
Trucking Service
Trucking companies have an obligation to maintain a safe fleet of vehicles, hire and train qualified drivers, and engage in overall safe transportation practices. When there’s an accident involving one of its rigs, a trucking company can be liable for its own negligence or vicariously liable for the negligence of its driver.
Third-Party Motorist
Truck drivers don’t navigate Albuquerque’s roads in isolation. If other drivers on the road are negligent, they can also contribute to or cause an accident with a tractor-trailer.
Government Agencies
There are times when bad road conditions - potholes, broken pavement, obscured signage - can contribute to semi-truck accidents in Albuquerque. If you can demonstrate that the government knew or should have known about a road hazard and failed to do anything about it, the agency might be liable for a wreck.
Vehicle Manufacturers
Despite best efforts to maintain a truck in a safe condition, sometimes a vehicle malfunctions and contributes to an accident. If a defect causes an accident, the company responsible for designing or building the truck can be responsible for the resulting damages.
What Damages Can I Get If I’ve Been Hurt in an Albuquerque Semi-Truck Accident
Following a truck accident in New Mexico, you will have the opportunity to request compensatory damages from a negligent party and/or an insurance company.
Compensatory damages include two types of awards: economic and non-economic. Each is designed to help you cope with a different type of loss related to your truck accident.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are intended to make you financially whole again after an unexpected truck accident.
Potential awards include:
- Current medical bills, including hospitalization, surgery, medication, and other required treatment
- Future medical expenses related to medical devices, prosthetics, follow-up care, and rehabilitation
- Temporary and/or permanent disability
- Lost wages and benefits
- Reduced earning capacity
- Property damage
- Nursing assistance
- Funeral expenses
Economic awards are limited to the costs and projected losses you’ll have, as supported by medical bills, wage statements, and receipts.
Non-Economic Damages
Getting into a car accident with a large truck can turn your world upside-down. However, not every consequence will have a price. Just because something does not have a standard value does not mean it has any less of an impact on your life. That’s what non-economic damages try to help you cope with.
This can include:
- Pain and suffering
- PTSD
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Disfigurement
- Scarring
- Chronic physical pain
- Loss of consortium
- Inconvenience
Suffering, distress, and life changes are so very personal. What these types of damages are worth can vary significantly from one person to another. Our Albuquerque truck accident attorneys will bring in trusted experts to help us appreciate the ways in which life has changed. We’ll use their testimony to support your claim and force the trucking company to make a more generous settlement offer to you.
You Can Suffer Catastrophic Injuries As a Truck Accident Victim
A fully loaded tractor-trailer can weigh in at 80,000 pounds. In New Mexico, rigs can span nearly 58 feet in length. As a result, trucks can be nearly 20 times heavier and 4 times longer than the average passenger car on the road.
So, when your car accident involves a large truck, the consequences can be life-shattering. The Albuquerque motor vehicle accident attorneys at Singleton Schreiber want to help you work to obtain compensation for all of the injuries you’ve suffered.
Call us for help if you’ve suffered any of the following injuries in an Albuquerque truck accident:
- Burn injury
- Nerve damage
- Crush injury
- Soft tissue injury
- Spinal cord injury
- Paralysis
- Back injury
- Spinal fracture
- Neck injury
- Whiplash
- Concussion
- Brain injury
- Broken bones
- Chest injury
- Amputation
- Degloving injury
- Eye injury
- Catastrophic injury
- Wrongful death of a spouse, child, or parent
Report your truck accident to the Police Department right away. Then, get to the closest hospital for prompt medical care. You’ll want formal documentation of the crash and your injuries when you file a truck accident lawsuit or insurance claim in the future. These are the best steps to protect yourself and get the evidence you need to give to your injury lawyer or wrongful death attorney in Albuquerque.
Can I Still Get Compensation If I’m Blamed For a Trucking Accident in New Mexico?
Yes, but since New Mexico’s pure comparative fault law will apply to your case, your monetary award will be reduced by your percentage of fault for the collision.
For example, if you’re assigned 10 percent of the responsibility, your settlement or jury award will be reduced by that amount. If your case was valued at $2 million, you’d be able to recover up to $1.8 million when everything is resolved.
It’s common practice for insurance companies and defense attorneys to point fingers in hopes of limiting how much if anything, they’ll have to pay to a crash victim. Our personal injury attorneys in Albuquerque are all too familiar with these tactics - and we’ll be ready to deal with them head-on.
The less fault you’re assigned, the more compensation you can typically recover for your devastating truck accident injuries.
New Mexico Truck Accident Statistics
Crash data published by the FMCSA reveals that hundreds of truck accidents are reported across the state of New Mexico every year.
In 2023, 1,076 accidents involved big rigs, semis, and other large commercial vehicles.
This reflected an 8.4 increase over the year prior when 992 truck accidents happened statewide.
In total, 53 people were killed and at least 461 were injured in these New Mexico auto accidents.
How Long Do I Have to File a Truck Accident Lawsuit in New Mexico?
Once you’ve been injured or lost a family member in an Albuquerque truck accident, you’ll have three years to bring a personal injury claim or lawsuit for damages.
New Mexico’s statute of limitations begins to run on the date of your accident or the date your loved one dies from their fatal truck accident injuries.
You must file your claim within the applicable time limit if you want to be able to recover compensation from a negligent trucker or trucking company. When time expires, so does your opportunity to fight for the justice and accountability you deserve.
Call Our Trusted Albuquerque Truck Accident Lawyers For Help Today
It’s okay to be overwhelmed after a truck accident in Albuquerque, New Mexico. You don’t have to go through this difficult time on your own. Call Singleton Schreiber, and let our Albuquerque truck accident lawyers take the lead on your fight for compensation.
We’re fearless advocates who’ve helped clients win billions from insurance companies, trucking services, manufacturers, and government agencies. Today, we’re here to help you make the most of your truck accident case.
We offer a free consultation. Contact our law office in Albuquerque today to get started!
