Settling a truck accident case in Texas can be one of the longest litigation processes in the court system. Both shipping companies and their insurance providers might put off a settlement as long as possible in hopes of a smaller payout. Truck accidents are also often complicated and involve multiple responsible parties. Each party must be apportioned a fault percentage, which typically means they will be attempting to deflect blame to the other respondents. Other motorists can also be liable to some degree, which can then reduce potential financial settlements. All of these factors can slow the process down significantly, but there are some basic steps that may expedite the process.
Discovery hearing
The first benchmark in a truck accident personal injury case is presenting all pertinent evidence in court. Individual attorneys will investigate the accident beforehand as well as the DOT and local law enforcement and provide their individual conclusions. The amount of liability per driver is then based on their comparative negligence percentage.
Time until trial
The next litigation steps in a truck accident injury case will be the pretrial hearing and then the actual trial after being placed on the docket. These time lapses offer the legal representatives an opportunity to further discuss extent of liability and arrive at final settlement figures. However, some cases will still go to trial when a plaintiff attorney thinks they can win a punitive damage award from any particular party.
There are several reasons that shipping companies delay accident settlements; they typically want to wait at least one year for a variety of reasons. Material case factors always play a large role in the amount of time needed to settle. Determining what actually happened in a truck accident can be an arduous process, and even the investigation can take a significant amount of time.
