If you’ve been hurt in a recent truck accident in San Diego, California, it’s time to call the top-rated legal team at Singleton Schreiber. You deserve compensation from the negligent truck driver, the trucking company, and anyone else who contributed to your big-rig accident. Our San Diego truck accident lawyers are here to help you or your loved one force a top-dollar recovery.
When you choose Singleton Schreiber to handle your truck accident case, you benefit from local San Diego trial attorneys and our law firm’s expansive national resources. As fearless advocates with decades of collective experience, we’ve successfully obtained more than $2.5 Billion in privately negotiated settlements and jury verdicts.
Don’t settle for less than your truck accident case is worth. Force more meaningful settlement negotiations by putting our award-winning California trial attorneys in your corner. Your first consultation is free, so reach out to our San Diego law office to get started today.
Why Truck Accident Victims in San Diego Choose Singleton Schreiber
Taking on a trucking company is no small feat. They’ll fight your claim for damages at every turn. If you want to win your case and maximize your recovery, it’ll be important to level the playing field.
Here’s why you shouldn’t hesitate to call Singleton Schreiber for help with your truck accident case:
- Our attorneys have been recognized as leaders in personal injury litigation by Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, the San Diego Business Journal, the Daily Journal, the Consumer Attorneys of San Diego, and other respected organizations
- Our case results - which exceed $2.5 Billion in damages - demonstrate just how much we care about the good people we represent
- There’s absolutely no cost to hire our truck accident attorneys in San Diego unless we win your case
- Countless client reviews and testimonials highlight our personalized, transparent, effective legal representation
We’re known and respected litigators with a proven ability to force insurance companies, trucking services, governments, and other powerful adversaries to pay our clients life-changing awards. Now, we’re here to fight to make an impact in your life, too.
Call our law office in San Diego, CA, today to get started. Our team is always standing by to set up a time for your free consultation.
San Diego Truck Accident Statistics
San Diego sees its fair share of 18-wheeler accidents. According to state crash statistics, there were 406 truck accidents across San Diego County in 2023. 42 percent of these tractor-trailer accidents occurred within San Diego’s city limits.
That year, the city of San Diego had a total of 172 accidents involving semi-trucks, tractor-trailers, and big rigs. At least 235 people were injured and 7 people were killed in these wrecks.
The vast majority of San Diego truck accidents occurred on the city’s interstate and highways - including I-8, I-5, and State Route 94.
Most San Diego truck accidents are classified as rear-end collisions, sideswipes, and broadside accidents. Together, these account for more than 85 percent of the city’s truck crashes.
What Are the Most Common Causes of San Diego Truck Accidents?
Unfortunately, most of San Diego’s semi-truck accidents are entirely avoidable. The trucking industry is heavily regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and California state law. These regulations affect everything from minimum driver qualifications to vehicle maintenance to cargo restrictions to hours of service limitations. The goal: to keep potentially dangerous trucking operations a safe as possible.
However, these regulations are only effective when they’re followed. Too often, trucking companies and truck drivers ignore or forget important safety rules. The result: serious accidents in which innocent motorists are injured or killed.
Some of the top causes include:
- Distracted driving
- Driver fatigue
- Speeding
- Braking errors
- Blind spot errors
- Wide turns
- Illegal turns
- Unsafe passing
- Unsecured cargo
- Improperly loaded cargo
- Following too closely
- Negligent vehicle maintenance
- Unqualified drivers
There are times when things beyond a driver’s control can cause an accident, such as road defects, vehicle defects, weather conditions, or other negligent motorists on the road.
Who’s Liable For My San DIego Truck Accident?
In California, liability extends to any party who contributes - directly or indirectly - to a truck accident.
Depending on the underlying cause(s) of your truck accident, potentially liable parties might include a:
- Truck driver
- Trucking company
- Freight broker
- Cargo owner
- Driver of a passenger vehicle
- Motorcyclist
- Pedestrian
- Bicyclist
- Government agency
- Property owner
- Vehicle manufacturer
- Negligent party’s employer
Since California has fault-based insurance rules that govern traffic accidents, you’ll typically seek compensation from the liable party’s insurance company.
All vehicles, including commercial trucks, must be covered by minimum amounts of insurance, as established by California state law. In fact, truck insurance requirements are much greater, considering the level of damage these large, heavy, difficult-to-drive vehicles can cause in an accident.
If you exhaust the benefits available to you under an at-fault party’s insurance policy, or if the insurance company refuses to pay, then you can set your sights on a more aggressive campaign through a truck accident lawsuit.
Don’t stress about what damages you can get, or from whom. Focus on your recovery and let our San Diego truck accident attorneys handle your personal injury claim.
What Compensation Can I Get After a Truck Accident in San Diego, CA
When your San Diego car accident involves a large truck, you’ll have the right to seek compensation from a liable party and/or their insurance company. Liability can extend to the negligent truck driver, the trucking service, a negligent third-party motorist, a vehicle manufacturer, or even a state, county, or city government agency.
Compensation is split into two distinct categories: economic and non-economic damages. Each type of award helps you cope with different consequences of your accident.
Economic damages help you handle the financial costs of your truck accident, including:
- Lost wages
- Disability
- Reduced earning capacity
- Medical bills
- Rehabilitation
- Nursing care
- Costs of a funeral if a truck accident is fatal
You should be made financially whole after receiving an award of economic damages. For all intents and purposes, it should be as if the truck accident never happened (at least as far as your wallet is concerned).
Non-economic damages help you cope with trauma that’s not as easy to value, such as:
- Chronic physical pain
- Emotional distress
- Loss of consortium
- Disfigurement
- Inconvenience
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Pain and suffering
These types of damages can be much more difficult to value. Expert testimony will be critical in helping you prove the extent and impact of the truck accident on your quality of life.
In a limited number of situations, punitive damages might also be available to truck accident victims. California gives jurors the discretion to award punitive damages when there is considerable evidence of malice, oppression, or fraud. Most often, a jury must believe that the defendant in a truck accident case tried to cause intentional harm or displayed a conscious disregard for another person’s safety.
Can I Get Compensation If I’m Blamed For a Southern California Truck Accident?
It’s possible, yes. However, under California’s pure comparative fault system, your shared fault will have a direct and adverse impact on your financial award from your truck accident claim.
In California, damages are reduced proportionately to fault. The more responsibility you share for causing a San Diego truck accident, the less compensation you’ll be able to recover from an insurance provider or liable third party.
Let’s say you’re seriously injured in a truck accident on SR-15 northbound approaching I-8. Given the severity of your injuries, your truck accident case is valued at $3 million. However, you’re assigned 10 percent of the blame for the wreck because you were speeding. As a direct result, your maximum financial award will be limited to $2.7 million.
The trucking company and its insurer will not hesitate to point fingers and blame you for the accident. If you’re unprepared to fight these allegations, they can seriously jeopardize your ability to recover compensation.
When you’ve trusted Singleton Schreiber with your truck accident case, you won’t have to worry about these victim-blaming tactics. Our San Diego personal injury attorneys will anticipate these strategies and have a plan in place to protect you. We’ll counter with evidence to disprove the allegations, work to undermine the legitimacy of witnesses who might testify against you, and fight to limit how much fault you’re ultimately assigned.
What is My San Diego Truck Accident Claim Worth?
You’ve been involved in a terribly traumatic accident. As a result, you’ll have quite a tale to tell. The details of your story will be important. In fact, they’re what will ultimately determine how much money you might be able to recover through a related insurance claim or truck accident lawsuit.
Several factors can influence how much your truck accident case is worth.
- What types of physical injuries did you suffer because of the truck accident?
- How old are you?
- Are you still able to work?
- Are you partially or totally disabled?
- Has your income changed?
- Did the truck accident aggravate a pre-existing condition?
- Do you share responsibility for the truck accident?
- What costs have you paid out of pocket for a rental car, repairing damaged property, and medical travel?
- How has the trucking accident changed your ability to enjoy your life?
The more of an impact a truck accident has on your life - financially, emotionally, and physically - the more you can typically expect to recover through insurance or a lawsuit. However, keep in mind that some factors like shared fault or a failure to mitigate damages can limit your ability to recover compensation.
It’s important to have an idea of what your truck accident case might be worth. When the trucking company or its insurer extends a settlement, you’ll want to know if it’s fair or a lowball offer.
You can learn about your case and rights by discussing the details of your truck accident case with an experienced personal injury lawyer near you in San Diego.
Singleton Schreiber has helped clients win billions from powerful corporations. When you put us in your corner, the trucking company will take note. This, in turn, can help you leverage a more meaningful settlement early on in the claims process. Call us to talk about your truck accident case and find out how we can help you make the most of it. Your first assessment is free.
Decades of Experience Handling All Types of San Diego Truck Accident Cases
No two truck accidents are the same. However, the truckign company and its insurer will have considerable experience handling claims involving a variety of different types of wrecks.
If you want to maximize your recovery, it’s important to enlist the help of a qualified and experienced truck accident lawyer near you in San Diego.
At Singleton Schreiber, our top-rated team of attorneys has decades of collective experience representing clients in cases involving:
- Jackknife accidents
- Underride accidents
- Truck rollovers
- Squeeze play accidents
- Lost load truck accidents
- Head-on collisions
- T-Bone truck accidents
- Blind spot truck accidents
- Overturned truck accidents
- Fatal truck accidents
We’ll lean on our extensive experience, in-depth working knowledge of state and federal trucking law, and national resources as we build your truck accident case. Our goal won’t just be to help you win, but to maximize your financial recovery.
Contact our San Diego law office to learn more. Your initial case assessment with our top-rated legal team is free.
Common Truck Accident Injuries in San Diego
What type of truck accident were you involved in? Where in the vehicle were you sitting? Did your airbags deploy? At what speed did the collision occur? Were you wearing your seatbelt?
All of these things can affect the types of injuries you might suffer in a tractor-trailer accident and how severe they might be.
No matter what types of injuries you’ve suffered, Singleton Schreiber wants to help you get the compensation you need to get better.
Call us if you’ve experienced any of the following after a recent truck accident in San Diego:
- Broken bones
- Crush injury
- Chest injury
- Traumatic brain injury
- Concussions
- Nerve damage
- Spinal cord injury
- Back injury
- Quadriplegia injury
- Neck injury
- Whiplash
- Amputation
- Burn injury
- Wrongful death
Sometimes, the rush of adrenaline we experience from a truck accident can mask signs of critical injuries and trauma. Protect yourself by seeking prompt medical treatment at the closest hospital. This way, you’ll know that your injuries are properly diagnosed and ensure that they’re documented. This documentation, along with your accident report, will be critical in helping you pursue and win a legal claim down the line.
Why Should I Hire a San Diego Truck Accident Lawyer?
It’s tough to take on a trucking company or insurance carrier on your own. These corporations have considerable resources and a lot of experience handling cases like yours. They’ll also be represented by skilled adjusters and defense attorneys whose primary goal will be to limit or prevent a payout.
Hiring an experienced San Diego truck accident lawyer at Singleton Schreiber puts your case in experienced hands and sets the stage for success.
It also gives you time to recover while our team handles the rest:
- Conduct a prompt and timely investigation into your trucking accident
- Gather dashcam footage, truck black box data, witness statements, photographs of the accident scene, forensics reports, cell phone records, truck maintenance records, driver logs, and other critical pieces of evidence
- Bring in expert witnesses to weigh in as we investigate your accident, craft a claim, and determine what your damages are likely worth
- Oversee that all procedural requirements are satisfied, including filing your claim within the appropriate statute of limitations
- Represent your best interests during settlement negotiations with the defense
When you choose Singleton Schreiber, you force the trucking company to make you a fair settlement offer or risk going up against our nationally acclaimed litigators at trial.
Our truck accident lawyers in San Diego, CA, work on contingency, so there’s no cost to hire our law firm unless we win your case. Get in touch with our team today to learn more.
What’s California’s Statute of Limitations for Truck Accident Cases?
You’ll only have a limited time to file a truck accident lawsuit in San Diego. In California, a two-year statute of limitations applies to most cases involving personal injury and wrongful death.
There are some exceptions:
- Child injury: the statute of limitations is tolled until the child’s 18th birthday
- Government tort claim: six months from the date of the truck accident
- Workers’ compensation: one year from the date of your work-related truck accident
You can’t miss the filing deadline that applies to your specific truck accident case. Once time expires, you give up the right to seek damages from an insurance company, trucking service, or another liable party.
Protect yourself by contacting our truck accident lawyers in San Diego right away. Members of our team are standing by to take your call right now. We can begin to strategize your case as soon as you ask for our help.
Call Our Award-Winning San Diego Truck Accident Attorneys For Help Today
At Singleton Schreiber, we’ve helped injury victims and families win billions in life-changing financial awards. After your truck accident in San Diego, there’s no one else you’ll want fighting for you.
Our San Diego personal injury lawyers know you have a single opportunity to recover compensation from a trucking company or insurer. We’re here to make sure you’re able to make the most of it.
Put our decades of experience in your corner by reaching out to our San Diego law office today. Your first case evaluation is free.
Practice Areas
- Personal Injury Overview
- Amazon Delivery Driver Accidents
- Bicycle Accidents
- Brain Injuries
- Car Accidents
- Construction Accidents
- Dog Bite Injuries
- E-Bike Accidents
- Lyft Accidents
- Motorcycle Accidents
- Pedestrian Accidents
- Premises Liability
- Slip and Fall Accidents
- Spinal Cord Injuries
- Truck Accidents
- Uber Accidents
- Wrongful Death