Effingham Fatal Truck Accidents

Experienced Effingham Lawyers for Fatal Truck Accidents

Located in South Central Illinois, Effingham is a small city that is home to 34,325, and is part of the Effingham, Illinois Micropolitan Statistical Area. Several highways, two of them Interstates, serve the city: Interstate 57, Interstate 70, Illinois Route 33, U.S. Route 45. Commercial trucks take these highways to make deliveries and conduct other business in the city. Due to their tremendous weight and size, commercial trucks have the power to wreak havoc on the occupants of vehicles with which they share the roads in Effingham. Often these accidents are fatal, and multiple family members are forced to mourn their loved ones too early. If your loved one was killed in a fatal truck accident that you suspect was the fault of another, you should call the seasoned Effingham fatal truck accident lawyers of Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca. We have more than 6 decades of experience that we can put to work to obtain a damages award or settlement in your case.

Fatal Truck Accidents

As a surviving member of the decedent’s family, you may be contending not only with grief after a fatal truck accident, but also practical concerns like how you’ll pay your mortgage, your bills, and the costs of a funeral and burial. Losing the companionship you experienced with your spouse or parent can be extremely hard to go through. A wrongful death lawsuit may protect your interests.

With this type of lawsuit, family members are compensated for losses incurred due to a loved one’s death, when the death was the fault of another. The Illinois Wrongful Death Act allows surviving spouses and children to file wrongful death lawsuits to recover damages. When there is no spouse or children, surviving parents and siblings may be able to file a wrongful death lawsuit.

Liability

Parties that may bear responsibility for the death of your loved one in a truck accident include the truck driver, trucking company, third party loading company, other drivers, property owners, the truck manufacturer, and any mechanics that worked on the truck or did repairs. It is crucial to investigate the accident soon after it happens to figure out culpability.

Once we figure out which parties might be responsible, our Effingham attorneys will need to gather evidence to pinpoint causation and other elements of the suit we’ll bring on your behalf. One of the first things that our attorneys must prove when bringing a lawsuit for damages after a fatal truck accident is liability. We must show by a preponderance of the evidence: (1) the defendant owed the deceased a duty of care, (2) the defendant breached that duty, (3) because of that breach, the deceased died, and (4) actual damages.

Damages will be reduced if it turns out that you were partly to blame for your own injuries. For instance, if you were hit by a truck driver who was fatigued at the wheel, but you ran a stop sign and got hit by the truck, you may bear some responsibility for your accident, and it will be up to the jury to determine by how much.

Damages

Damages our lawyers may be able to recover on your behalf include these pecuniary injuries or any benefits of pecuniary value:

• Lost wages
• Replacement services
• Medical bills including hospital bills and prescription costs,
• Out of pocket costs.

If the truck accident victim has surviving children, we can also pursue damages for the loss of instruction, moral training, and loss of society. If there is a surviving spouse, we can seek loss of consortium.

Seek Representation from an Effingham Fatal Truck Accident Lawyer

If your loved one died in a truck accident and you believe it was the fault of another, call the seasoned lawyers of Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca. With more than 60 years of experience advocating for accident victims in court, we are well positioned to advocate for the full scope of damages to which you’re entitled. We also handle SSDI and disability claims.