The Best Truck Accident Lawyers Near You For Your Sterling Heights Case Are At Michigan Auto Law
As the second largest suburb of Metro Detroit, Sterling Heights, MI is a manufacturing hub with a high number of big trucks driving through the city. Unfortunately, with high numbers of trucks come high numbers of serious truck crashes which is why injured victims looking for the best and most experienced truck accident lawyer for their Sterling Heights, MI crash case choose the experienced attorneys at Michigan Auto Law to represent them.
As a lawyer who has litigated nearly two dozen serious truck crashes in the Macomb County Circuit Court involving several semi and commercial truck crashes that have occurred in Sterling Heights, most boil down to a few common causes. The most common is simple driver error, but other common causes include: driver fatigue, impaired or distracted driving, and problems with the truck, such as when a truck is being driven with bad brakes when it should be considered out of service and off the roads.
If you’ve been hurt in a commercial semi crash in Sterling Heights, hiring an experienced Michigan truck accident lawyer is one of the most important things you can do. At Michigan Auto Law, we’ve litigated more truck crash cases than any other personal injury law firm in the state. We’ve recovered the largest truck settlement on record in Michigan. Our truck accident lawyers have also recovered the top reported truck crash jury verdict and settlement for our clients for more years than any other attorney or law firm in the state and, of course, we know Sterling Heights, MI. We even have a local law office in the city so we can conveniently meet and help our clients.
For a free, no-cost, no-obligation consultation, call us now at (800) 968-1001 and let us get to work now on helping you.
What should I do after a truck crash?
If you’re involved in a serious truck crash, the first thing you should do is get to a place of safety (if possible) and get the urgent medical attention you need. The next thing you should do is hire the best and most experienced truck accident lawyer for your Sterling Heights case you can find. This is because trucking cases are very different from ordinary car crash cases.
Your truck accident lawyer’s most urgent priority is preserving the evidence of your Sterling Heights crash that you will need to prove your negligence case against the truck driver and the trucking company. The sad reality is that if a trucking company is not immediately put on notice and letters of preservation are not sent out by your attorney, critical evidence can be lost. In fact, most trucking companies have safety directors or retained attorneys who direct them to intentionally destroy what may be critical evidence as soon as the holding periods for these documents have expired.
The evidence that your lawyer will be able to help you preserve from you Sterling Heights truck accident case includes:
- Event Data Recorder (an EDR is also commonly known as a “black box”) downloads – If liability is being contested or if the truck driver or the attorneys are trying to blame you in part for the crash, this evidence can often reveal critical information on the truck driver’s actions in the moments before the crash.
- The driver’s cell phone records
- Electronic recordings
- All video and audio of the onboard cameras (Video Event Data Recorders)
- The driver’s “electronic logging device” (ELD) records showing hours-of-service (i.e., driving hours and resting hours)
- All inspection records
- The driver’s qualification file
- Photos of the crash scene
- Video surveillance of the crash scene
- Witness names, contact information and statements
- All law enforcement reports
- All reports from EMS, fire and other first responders
While we normally don’t advise people that they need to hire legal help after a crash, but serious commercial truck crash cases are different. The legal professional you choose to hire to take on your case needs to act quickly, if at all possible.
How can an experienced lawyer help after a serious truck accident in Sterling Heights, MI?
You need an experienced truck accident lawyer for your Sterling Heights, MI case because serious truck crash cases are far more complicated than most car crash cases. These cases often involve multiple parties, sometimes hidden motor carriers, multiple layers of insurance coverage – including sometimes layers of coverage that are not disclosed or revealed but that can make a critical difference in the event of a catastrophic personal injury or wrongful death. In addition, because trucking is a regulated industry, there are state and federal trucking regulations and laws that apply to these cases that do not apply to ordinary passenger car type crashes.
To get the full compensation you are entitled to for your injuries after a truck accident in Sterling Heights, MI you need an experienced lawyer from Michigan Auto Law who will help you:
- Get bigger settlements, faster
- Stop the trucking company from destroying evidence that’s is essential to proving your case once the mandatory retention periods have passed
- Identify the key safety violations that contributed to your crash
- Finding the top experts to help prove the various aspects of your case
- Identify and hold all responsible parties fully accountable
- Stop the trucking company and its attorneys from sweeping acts of negligence under the rug by admitting negligence
The experienced Sterling Heights truck accident lawyers at Michigan Auto Law will take over for you as soon as you hire us. We will investigate your case, help you get the medical care you desperately need and document your injuries, identify all at-fault parties, uncover all available insurance policies, communicate with adjusters and other attorneys, file your case on time, and get you the maximum possible settlement in the shortest possible time. And we never charge a dime unless we win.
Our philosophy is to let you focus on healing while we focus on helping you get the best possible truck crash settlement.
What are the most common causes of truck crashes?
Most crashes are caused by one or more of the following:
- The driver had been driving for too many hours and was fatigued
- The driver was operating his truck in an unsafe way (speeding, following too closely, etc.)
- The driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol
- The driver was distracted
- The truck was carrying an unsafe load
- The truck failed inspection standards and was unsafe to drive
- The truck had an equipment failure
What types of evidence can be used in a lawsuit?
There are several types of evidence that an experienced truck accident lawyer can use to prove your Sterling Heights, MI truck crash case, including:
- Photos and videos of the crash scene
- Witness statements
- Police reports
- Expert opinions
- Medical records
- The truck driver’s employee file
- The truck driver’s and trucking company’s safety record
- The truck driver’s cell phone records
- The results of the truck driver’s post-crash toxicology test
- The truck’s vehicle maintenance and inspection records
- The truck driver’s electronic logging device (ELD) data (the ELD tracks the driver’s “hours-of-service”)
- The “black box” or “electronic control modules” (ECMs) data (these devices record data about the truck’s operation, such as speed and braking)
Nobody Does Sterling Heights Truck Accident Cases Better Than The Lawyers At Michigan Auto Law
Nobody does Sterling Heights truck accident cases better than the experienced lawyers at Michigan Auto Law. Our attorneys have recovered the largest settlement in Michigan history for a truck crash and the largest reported yearly truck crash settlement and jury verdict more times than any other legal professional or law firm in the state. We are the only law firm in Michigan that has a board certification in truck crash law. No other attorney or law firm in Michigan is board certified.
Michigan Auto Law attorney Steven M. Gursten is one of only three attorneys in the entire U.S. to be inducted into the “Hall of Fame” for truck crash litigation.
We’re the most awarded personal injury law firm in Michigan. We are at the top of the list in publications such as “Best Lawyers” and “Best Law Firms” in America, and we have more attorneys listed as “Super Lawyers” than anyone else.
If you or a loved one was hurt in a serious truck accident in Sterling Heights, MI, you need the best lawyer possible working for you on your case. We have been handling these commercial motor carrier cases for half a century, and our proven results allow our attorneys to settle cases faster and for more money than any other attorney or law firm in Michigan.
And that’s what you’ll get at Michigan Auto Law.
At Michigan Auto Law, we check all of these boxes.
Experience – It is crucial that you find a lawyer for your Sterling Heights serious truck accident crash case with real – and extensive – experience handling these types of cases. Sadly, a lot of general practice personal injury attorneys run ads claiming they are “truck attorneys” when the reality is they have little to no experience with this type of litigation and they are just saying what they think you want to hear in order to get your business. Our attorneys have been helping crash victims like you for more than 50 years.
Specialization – On top of experience, you want a truck accident lawyer for your Sterling Heights case who specializes exclusively in handling serious semi truck crash cases. Experience is crucial but specialization is what makes the difference between winning full compensation for your injuries or just accepting the low-ball settlement offer from the insurance company. For example, people would never go see a doctor who claims to handle 10 or 12 completely different areas of medicine. Why would they ever do the same with an attorney who advertises for 10 or 12 completely different areas of personal injury law?
Finding and choosing an attorney who specializes in trucking litigation can provide you several distinct advantages. They have a deeper, fuller understanding of the complex and unique issues that arise in semi trailer and commercial truck crash cases. They are also familiar with the tactics often used by insurance companies and defense attorneys to minimize settlement amounts.
The attorneys at Michigan Auto Law specialize in trucking litigation. We are the only law firm in the state that has achieved Board Certification in Truck Crash Law. No other attorney or law firm in Michigan has achieved this level of special knowledge, skills, and demonstrated proficiency. And the head of Michigan Auto Law, attorney Steven M. Gursten, is in the Hall of Fame for his truck crash litigation (one of only 3 of the 110,000 trucking attorneys in the country to have received this honor). The fact that Michigan Auto Law specializes in trucking cases is a very good reason why our law firm can usually settle cases faster and for significantly more money than, say, a general practitioner attorney who only sees the occasional automobile crash case.
Track record of success – You need a lawyer for your Sterling Heights, MI truck accident case with a track of success in recovering winning settlements and trial verdicts for his or her clients. This is important for you because it shows what your attorney can do. It is equally important for the insurance companies because when they are deciding whether and for how much to settle a case they evaluate both the strength of the case and the strength of the attorney representing the victim. Insurance companies know who the attorneys are who do not try cases and who “settle short” for less than full compensation – and these are the lawyers whom the insurance companies play games with and ultimately force into accepting settlements well below what the cases are actually worth.
Finding and choosing the right attorney for your case is a critical element to getting you full value for all of the compensation and money damages you’re entitled to as a result of your auto accident. This is one of the few things that you have control over when it comes to winning full compensation in your case. The track record of success for our Sterling Heights truck accident lawyers at Michigan Auto Law allows us to settle cases for more money and faster. The insurance companies know that our attorneys try cases and win. The insurance companies know that we have more million-dollar motor vehicle crash results than any other law firm in the state and that we have won the largest truck crash settlement of any attorney in Michigan. They also know that our attorneys have 9 separate trial verdicts of between $1 million and $14.3 million on insurance company and defense offers between $0 and $30,000, which may be better than any law firm in America today.
5-Star reviews – To get a sense of what a lawyer is like to work with for your Sterling Heights serious truck accident case, check out the attorney’s 5-star reviews on Google and read the reviews to get the feel of how he or she treats his or her clients, and how effective the attorney is at achieving winning outcomes. We are confident that you will be impressed and comforted by what you see with Michigan Auto Law’s more than 2,500 real 5-star reviews from Google. The attorneys at Michigan Auto Law always provide personalized, caring attention to our clients. We are willing to work harder to keep our clients informed throughout the case process, answering every question promptly and doing everything we can to make the challenging time surrounding an injury after an automobile crash easier for the victim and their loved ones. Our reviews confirm the truth of our motto: We care more, so you win more.
Return phone calls and treat with dignity and respect – The dignity and respect we show to each and every client is reflected in the way we pride ourselves on always returning our clients’ phone calls and emails. We believe in open communication. We are patient. We are willing to listen to our clients’ concerns. And we make ourselves available when our clients need us.