Jackson, MS Underride Accidents

The injuries you may sustain from an underride collision can turn out to be costly. Broken bones and punctured organs, for example, may result in extensive physical therapy, surgery, and multiple trips to facilities like St. Dominic Hospital at 969 Lakeland Drive, Jackson, Mississippi 39216. You may not be able to go back to work for a considerable amount of time either. For your injuries and losses, you may be entitled to compensatory damages – both economic and non-economic. Economic damages can cover your physical therapy, surgery, hospital visits, other medical bills, and lost wages. If you have experienced pain and suffering or loss of enjoyment of life due to the accident, non-economic damages may be awarded to you as well.

In order to successfully recover damages, the victim injured in the underride accident will have to prove the truck driver’s negligence. Often, these collisions are due to drunk driving, distracted driving, or fatigued driving , so if, for example, a commercial truck driver crashed into you on I-55 due to him merging into your lane but not seeing you because he was changing the radio station, he may be held liable for the resulting crash. In that example, you could claim that the trucker had a duty to drive carefully, breached that duty, and caused the accident that resulted in your injuries.

You may also be able to hold the truck driver’s employer liable. Retaining an experienced truck accident attorney in the Jackson area could significantly increase your chances of successfully proving the employer’s liability. A lawyer may invoke the doctrine of vicarious liability, which can hold trucking companies responsible for their drivers’ actions that occur within the course and scope of the trucker’s employment. If the trucking company hired the driver despite knowing that the trucker was incompetent and had a history of substance abuse, the employer may be held liable for negligent hiring.