Let an experienced truck accident lawyer in Columbia from Rikard & Protopapas help you receive compensation for your truck accident. Understand your legal options, customize a legal strategy, and have our law firm take care of everything needed for your case. Contact us to see how we can help you secure a meaningful future.
Truck Accident Attorneys in Columbia, SC
The Rikard & Protopapas law firm can be your reliable truck accident lawyer. We focus on complex cases, and we understand the important factors in truck accident claims. With over 120 years of collective experience, we have helped 1,600 valued clients.
It doesn’t cost you anything to talk to our lawyers about your trucking accident case. Call or message us now to begin.
What to Know if You’re Hurt in a Truck Accident
Our Columbia truck accident lawyers want you to know:
- If you’re hurt in a truck accident in Columbia, SC, you may claim financial compensation.
- South Carolina laws apply to truck accidents in Columbia. In general, the party who is responsible for causing the accident is legally responsible to claim financial compensation.
- The trucking company, or even law enforcement, may point to a cause of the crash. However, there may be underlying causes, like management of the trucking company or a vehicle defect, that play a role in the crash.
- We can investigate and determine liability for damages. Our lawyers can handle the investigation as part of your representation.
- Because trucks are large vehicles, injuries and damages are often severe. It’s important to carefully value damages and pursue your case to ensure that you are fairly compensated.
If you’re a truck accident victim, you can receive compensation. This compensation can be crucial to your healing and your future. We’ve successfully recovered millions in payments to our clients. To see how we can assist you, contact us for a consultation about your case.
Compensation for a Truck Accident in Columbia
Ultimately, compensation for a truck accident is about your injuries and intangible damages. The types of compensation that you may receive fall into two categories – economic and non-economic.
Economic damages are direct financial losses. What expenses and lost income do you have because of the accident? These losses may be totaled up. Non-economic losses are the intangible ways that you suffer, and that your life has changed, because of the accident.
Compensation for a trucking accident may reflect these losses:
- Medical bills, including emergency care, surgery, and follow-up care
- Prescription medication, medical supplies, physical therapy
- Lost income, benefits of employment, future career loss
- Property damage
- Cost of replacement household services, including home maintenance and family care
- Pain and suffering, physical disfigurement
- Emotional anguish
- Mental injuries like PTSD, anxiety, depression, grief, and the cost of treatment
- Punitive damages, based on willful or wanton acts of the defendant
- Wrongful death damages including loss of consortium, aid, society, and companionship
Your case — and your losses — are personal to you. Our injury lawyers in Columbia look at all the possible types of damages and how to value them for your case. Then, we build the evidence and take legal steps to pursue your payment.
Grounds for compensation and proving your case
To prove your right to compensation for a truck accident, you must prove the following:
- Negligence, recklessness, or other grounds for compensation. Usually, this is a two-part test – duty and the breach of duty
- Causation between the actions of the defendant and the accident. Their actions must be the cause of the accident
- Damages — or, the losses and harms that the victim has suffered.
Most claims are based on negligence, or a party not acting with the care and caution of a reasonable person.
Trucks are heavy vehicles that pose a danger to others on the road. Truck drivers and trucking companies have a duty to conduct their operations with care. Traffic errors, operations mismanagement, and other types of negligence may cause accidents. When people are hurt as a result, they may bring a claim. In addition to negligence, a claim may be based on recklessness, violation of a traffic law (negligence per se), strict liability for a vehicle defect, or intentional acts of harm.
Causes of Truck Accidents in Columbia
Some causes of truck accidents are related to driving and driving behaviors, including:
- Speeding
- Following too closely, tailgating
- Improper lane use and lane changes
- Failing to stop when there is traffic ahead
- Improper turn, stop sign, stop light, and right of way violations
- Drunk driving, operating impaired
- Reckless driving
- Poor maneuvering of the truck, poor judgment in driving
Other factors that may cause or contribute to a trucking crash are:
- Poor hiring and employee retention policies
- Improperly distributed load that falls from the truck or makes it unsteady
- Requiring employees to drive with too little rest
- Failing to train employees adequately
- Failing to monitor drivers for drug and alcohol abuse
- Operating a truck that doesn’t have the equipment and lights required by law
- Lack of vehicle maintenance
- Vehicle defect or manufacturing problem
Our team looks at possible causes of the accident and how we can prove your right to compensation.
How Truck Accident Claims Are Different
Some unique issues that may be present in your truck accident claim include:
- Severe injury, catastrophic losses
- Long-term impact on the person’s career and the entire family
- Trucking regulations from state and federal authorities
- Complex determinations of fault and multiple parties sharing fault
- Carefully proving causation of damages and the right to compensation
The trucking company is likely to have large teams of lawyers working for them and their insurance companies. We are prepared for the challenge. We pursue your rights fully – investigating, advocating, litigating, and strategizing to make your case a success.
About our Columbia, SC team
Here are some reasons people choose the legal team at Rikard & Protopapas:
- Convenient location in Columbia, SC, accessible by car and public transit
- Experience in the Richland County and Lexington County courts, and other courts where truck accident claims may be heard in Columbia, SC
- Bar admissions in South Carolina courts and United States federal courts
- Ten attorneys, each licensed and experienced to serve the needs of truck accident victims
- Injury and wrongful death claims handled
- Memberships in the Richland County Bar Association and the South Carolina Association for Justice
- Top Rated by Super Lawyers and honored by Columbia Living Magazine as Top Attorney and Top-Rated Personal Injury Attorney in various areas
- Free consultations – the first contact is free for truck accident victims and families
- Contingency fees are used in truck accident claims
- Personalized representation, knowing that results are what matter
Our truck accident lawyers are experienced litigators. We can resolve cases by taking them to trial, and by negotiating settlements that are fair to our clients. Ultimately, we build a strong case, advocate for you, and present your case in court. To understand your legal options and the strategies that may maximize any potential recovery, we invite you to contact us for a consultation about your case.
Contact Us to Talk to a Lawyer
If you or a loved one has been hurt in a truck accident, contact the Columbia injury lawyers at Rikard & Protopapas. We are taking new cases, representing victims and families seeking a monetary payment following a semi-truck collision.
To see how we can help you, call or message us for your consultation. We can start working for you today.