Purvis Underride Truck Accident Lawyer

If you need a Purvis underride truck accident lawyer, the TV lawyer’s secretary opened your file last Tuesday and has not read it since. She could not tell you what an underride guard is, or what Section 393.86 asks of one. For decades the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has been recording rear guards on commercial trailers giving way at around 35 miles an hour, while the federal strength standard stayed where it was, and she does not know that either. Your name and the date are in her system. The rulebook that governs the crash is not. That is the full extent of her preparation for your case. The underride crash that happened to you on I-59 or US-98 near Purvis was survivable. The guard failed. There is a regulation about that. The secretary does not know what it says.

Read this before you sign anything. Return conditions define acceptable wear and charge for anything beyond it.

Full service arrangements place maintenance responsibility with the lessor rather than the operator. Utilization is measured and managed, and high utilization leaves no room for maintenance.

A vehicle stranded on a shoulder for hours is a performance failure with a record. Intermittent faults take longer to diagnose than anybody is prepared to pay for.

Workshops track repeat visits for the same complaint because they are unpaid.

The Defendant Chain A Purvis Underride Truck Accident Lawyer Traces That The TV Lawyer Never Does

Under Section 393.86, commercial trailers manufactured on or after January 26, 1998 must be equipped with a rear impact guard that meets specific strength and geometric requirements. The vehicle that hits from behind is the one that failed to stop. The regulation specifies the minimum vertical height of the guard above the road surface, the horizontal extent of the guard, and the strength requirements measured in terms of energy absorption. Those requirements exist because a passenger vehicle that slides under a commercial trailer at highway speed will encounter the trailer floor or undercarriage at windshield height. The injuries that result are catastrophic or fatal. The regulation is supposed to prevent that. When the guard fails, the regulation was either not met or the guard was damaged and not maintained. Both of those failures are documentable. The TV lawyer’s secretary has not asked for the maintenance records.

The IIHS has conducted extensive crash testing of rear underride guards and published findings showing that many guards that technically meet the federal standard still fail in real-world crash conditions. The federal standard tests the guard at a single impact point. Real-world crashes involve offset impacts, corner impacts, and angled approaches that the federal test does not replicate. An underride guard can pass the federal test and still fail catastrophically in a 35 miles per hour offset rear impact. That distinction is the core of an underride truck accident case in Lamar County Circuit Court. The TV lawyer’s secretary does not know the IIHS testing methodology. She certainly does not know how it compares to the federal standard.

Purvis Underride Truck Accident Lawyer: The Eggshell Plaintiff Rule And Your Purvis Underride Case

The trucking company’s defense team will argue that your injuries are worse than they should have been because of a pre-existing condition. They will pull your medical records going back years. They will hire their own doctor to say your prior back surgery, your prior neck injury, your prior joint condition made your injuries more severe than they would have been in a healthy person. A value was set on your claim before you knew it existed. That argument fails under Mississippi law. Under the eggshell plaintiff rule a defendant takes the victim as found. When an underride crash makes a pre-existing condition dramatically worse, the trucking company pays for the worsening. They cannot discount your damages because you were already injured. Nobody at that office could name the doctrine. The defense doctor’s report will sit in the file with nothing set against it, and the reduced offer will be taken, reduced by an amount they were never entitled to take.

The injuries from a Purvis underride crash are often catastrophic. Traumatic brain injury from intrusion above the window line. Facial reconstruction. Cervical spine injury. Vision loss. The medical trajectory in those cases runs for years. Life care planning experts, vocational rehabilitation consultants, economists projecting lost future earnings, treating physicians who can explain the causal connection between the crash and the worsening of any prior condition. All of that evidence is necessary to present the full value of the case to a Lamar County jury. The TV lawyer’s secretary has not retained any of it. She is waiting for the first offer.

The Maintenance Records And The Guard Condition

A rear underride guard that was bent, damaged, or corroded at the time of the Purvis crash may have failed not because of the federal standard’s inadequacy but because the motor carrier failed to maintain it in a condition that met even the minimum requirement. Under Section 393.86, the guard must be free of damage that would reduce its strength below the required standard. Inspection records, annual inspection reports, and the guard’s physical condition at the time of the crash are all relevant evidence. The trucking company knows the condition of that guard. People were on that wreck for the other side within hours. The maintenance records are in their files. The TV lawyer’s secretary has not asked for any of it.

Three years is what a Mississippi lawsuit gets under Section 15-1-49. Section 11-7-15 leaves the percentage to twelve people in a box. The trucking company will argue you were following too closely, that you were speeding, that you were distracted. They will use the eggshell argument even though it fails under Mississippi law. A lawyer who knows the doctrine, has retained the counter-expert, and has filed a spoliation demand for the guard maintenance records negotiates from a completely different position than the TV lawyer’s secretary waiting for the first offer.

The Secretary Problem In An Underride Case

The TV lawyer handles high volume. His business model requires it. High volume requires secretaries. Secretaries handle files. In a standard car wreck case, a secretary who knows the intake process and the settlement range can close files efficiently. An underride truck accident case is not a car wreck case. It requires someone who has read Section 393.86 and can explain to a defense team why the guard failure constitutes a federal regulatory violation. It requires someone who has read the IIHS crash testing data and can put a defense expert on the stand and walk through the testing methodology point by point. It requires someone who knows the eggshell plaintiff doctrine and has retained the medical experts to prove the worsening of prior conditions rather than letting the defense doctor’s report go unanswered. The TV lawyer’s secretary cannot do any of those things. She is not supposed to. That is not her job. Her job is to manage files. Your file is one of hundreds she manages.

Every underride truck claim I take on is bound by the Foster Fair Fee Guarantee. Ask what happens if the case costs more than anybody expected. In my contract the answer is that my fee shrinks. In his, the answer is that your check does. The TV lawyer whose secretary has never read Section 393.86 will not put that in writing. I will.

The Lamar County Courthouse And What The Trucking Company Knows About It

The trucking company’s defense lawyers know Lamar County Circuit Court. They know what a Lamar County jury awards in a catastrophic injury case involving a federal regulatory violation. They know what the eggshell plaintiff doctrine means in that courtroom. They know the TV lawyer has never tried an underride case there. The reserve file they opened the morning after the crash already reflects all of that knowledge. The offer on the table is below the reserve. The TV lawyer’s secretary will take it.

Other commercial vehicle claims here are listed under the Purvis Mississippi truck accident lawyer page. This underride truck crash out of Purvis sinks in my Mississippi truck accident lawyer page. For IIHS crash test data on rear underride guard performance, see the IIHS large truck fatality statistics.

If you want the federal underride guard standard explained to the defense team by someone who has never read it, the TV lawyer is perfect for you. Get the book first.

▼ He Will Say A Lawyer Is Unnecessary ▼
A Postal Line Will Do

The Fee Math In A Catastrophic Underride Injury Case

In a catastrophic underride case his fee and his itemized expert charges, taken together, swallow a startling share of the gross. The life care planning expert. The IIHS testing methodology expert. The accident reconstructionist. The treating physician who establishes the eggshell plaintiff causal link. The economist. Every one of those costs reduces what you walk away with. The Foster Fair Fee Guarantee means you know the math before any of it starts. You walk away with more than your lawyer. Every case. Written in the contract before the first dollar is spent.

P.S. The rear underride guard on the trailer that your vehicle went under is evidence right now. The motor carrier can repair or replace it the moment it leaves the scene. The maintenance records that document its condition before the crash are in the trucking company’s files. Nobody has written the trucking company to keep those records. She does not know those records exist. Get the book now before the guard gets repaired and the evidence disappears. Learn What The Trucking Company Is Counting On You Not Knowing!

▼ Consider Who Benefits From That ▼
One Request And It Goes