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​Experienced ILLINOIS Workers’ Compensation Lawyers
& CHICAGO Injury Lawyers

Rental Truck Accidents

Chicago Attorneys Assisting Victims Hurt by Negligent Truckers

Transporting large items during a move often requires the use of a rental truck. Throughout Illinois, people often move locally, and rental companies like U-Haul, Enterprise, Ryder, and Budget provide rental trucks to drivers who meet minimum qualifications. A truck company and a driver may be legally at fault for rental truck accidents caused by their negligent conduct. The Chicago truck accident lawyers at Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca can pursue compensation from rental companies under various legal theories, such as negligent entrustment, and we can help accident victims recover damages for injuries caused in a collision.

Assert Your Legal Right to Compensation After a Rental Truck Accident

The financial, emotional, and physical consequences of an accident involving a rental truck can leave accident victims overwhelmed. Rental truck accidents are unfortunately common, since inexperienced or unqualified drivers operating larger trucks may not be capable of properly controlling their vehicles. When careless conduct results in a crash, rental truck drivers may be held at fault and held responsible for the damages.

To bring a legal claim against a rental truck driver, the victim would need to show that the driver’s conduct caused their harm. In many cases, injured individuals allege negligence, which means that the driver failed to meet their duty of care, and this failure directly led to the resulting injuries. Negligence may be shown in a variety of ways, including distracted driving like texting behind the wheel or speeding beyond the posted limit. This type of conduct may subject a driver to liability for costs associated with injuries and damages if a plaintiff’s attorney can connect it to the crash.

Illinois law may provide a means to hold a rental company liable for providing a rental truck to an individual who was not competent to drive the truck. According to the legal theory of negligent entrustment, a rental truck company that knew or should have known that the driver was unable to operate the truck safely may be liable. Additionally, a rental company that was aware that a driver was intoxicated at the time of the truck rental may be responsible if its truck was involved in a collision.

In terms of vehicle maintenance, rental truck companies must ensure that their trucks are kept safe and in proper working condition. Checking the status of brakes and gear shifts, as well as tire tread, is necessary and expected conduct for a truck rental company. A failure to maintain a truck that contributes to an accident exposes a rental truck company to legal responsibility for the resulting harm. An accident victim pursuing a legal claim against the company would need to show that the failure to maintain the truck directly led to the accident and their damages.

As the next step in an injury claim, after demonstrating legal fault for a rental truck collision, accident victims will assess the amount of damages that they have incurred due to the crash. While emotional pain and suffering typically accompany a rental truck collision, these types of harm may be harder to quantify than physical damages. However, victims are entitled to recover all of their accident-related costs, including those related to their decreased quality of life. In some cases, family members may be able to bring a related claim for their own losses.

Consult an Experienced Chicago Lawyer to Understand Your Options

The truck accident attorneys at Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca have successfully represented people hurt by negligent truck drivers in the Chicago area for decades. By investigating all of the potential causes of an accident, such as poor braking ability or a failure to check a blind spot, and pursuing legal remedies against rental truck companies as well as careless drivers, we can recover maximum compensation for people hurt in a truck crash. To begin investigating the details of your case, call our office today for a free consultation. We can be reached at 312-724-5846 or online. We also help people in Aurora, Champaign, Springfield, Quincy, Rockford, and other areas of Kane, Cook, Winnebago, Adams, and Champaign Counties.