Articles Tagged with Florida truck accident

Published on:

Florida large truck accident cases

In the last decade, the number of deadly Florida large truck accident cases increased nearly 75 percent, with almost 300 reported in the most recent year, according to The Federal Motor Carrier Administration. On average, more than 3,000 people lose their lives in U.S. truck accidents annually. Federal data released last month indicated the number of people injured in large truck crashes – occupants and non-occupants – spiked 5.3 percent to 159,000 in 2019.

Trucks in Florida barrel daily down I-75 (including Alligator Alley through the Everglades), I-275, I-95, I-4 and I-10. They also rumble along U.S. 41 and on many rural routes in South Florida, posing a greater risk to other drivers.

Florida lawsuits involving large trucks such as 18-wheelers can be especially complex. As our Fort Myers truck accident lawyers can explain, you are not dealing with the just negligence of a single, private individual behind the wheel. Rather, like layers of an onion, there are likely to be numerous corporations, employees, vehicle owners, and insurers involved.

Further complicating matters is that Florida’s large truck accident cases tend to involve very serious injuries, much more so than the average car accident (perhaps unsurprising given that these vehicles can weigh up to 30 times as much as a car). Lives have been upended, shattered, or even lost. Meanwhile, companies know they have hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars on the line. Drivers may have their careers at stake. These defendants are usually well-funded inclined to invest heavily in protecting their own interests – no matter how tragic the circumstances. These are not the kind of cases that can be trusted to just any law firm.

Continue reading

Published on:

Florida truck accidentsA spate of serious and fatal Florida truck accidents has drawn attention to the fact that such collisions are on the rise – here and across the country, prompting safety officials and trucking carriers to weigh possible solutions.

State and federal crash data show that large semi-trucks are a substantial part of the reason Florida drivers face so much danger on thoroughfares like I-75.

In a single recent year, there were more than 4,300 large truck accidents just in Florida alone – more than 70 percent of those being the occupants of other vehicles, thanks to the size disparity between semis and passenger cars. In 2017, there were nearly 32,000 large truck crashes in the U.S.

As our Fort Myers truck accident lawyers can explain, part of making our roads safer in the face of increasing commercial truck presence is holding accountable the drivers, trucking carriers, shippers and other parties responsible when their negligence causes or contributes to the seriousness of a crash.

Sometimes, that accountability happens in criminal court. That’s the case in North Fort Myers, where a commercial truck driver ran a red light and killed another motorist, age 61, in June. Now, the 31-year-old trucker has been charged with reckless driving and vehicular homicide.

However, change can also come about from civil damage awards. Although civil cases, in general, are intended to be compensatory and not punitive, the damage awards in these cases are a proven incentive for trucking companies to adhere to federal regulations – in some cases, taking initiative to take additional safety precautions in the future. Continue reading

Justia Lawyer Rating for Jeffrey R. Garvin
Florida Legal Elite 2016
Super Lawyers
Million Dollar Advocates Forum
The Best Lawyers in America
Martindale-Hubbell
American Association for Justice
Florida Justice Association
Contact Information