What a Truck Inspection Can Reveal After a Serious Accident
Most of my friends and family members think I spend all of my time as a lawyer in an office or in Court. There’s some truth to that- most days I can be found comfortably seated in front of my two monitors in my office in Peachtree Corners, typing away. However, a critical part of an effective lawyer’s practice is conducting in-person inspections. The scene of the incident can reveal many clues about what happened and why. The scene can often debunk the defense theories. More than once I have visited the scene of an incident and realized that the defendant who injured my client didn’t even have the ability to see my client, contrary to their contentions. If you can’t even observe an injured person, you can’t claim they weren’t really hurt or it was actually their fault or make other common defense arguments that attempt to shift blame.
Inspections go beyond the scene of the incident and often require experts. When a client is seriously injured by an 18-wheeler, that vehicle contains massive amounts of data that must be captured quickly. Just like exterior security cameras that are overwritten every twenty four hours, tractor trailer data can be lost through routine data wipes, so it’s important to act quickly to preserve all available evidence.
In addition to location details, real-time speed, braking/sudden deceleration, throttle position, and even evasive maneuvers can be captured from vehicle computers. Many personal vehicles are equipped with cameras that can shed light on who is really at-fault in the wreck. With tractor trailers, however, cameras may also capture the actions within the cabin of the vehicle, which may reveal a distracted, sleeping, or otherwise inattentive driver. Fault codes can show where mechanical failures were ignored or dismissed. Conversely, fault codes can reflect that the vehicle was in good working order, and the fault lies solely with the negligent driver.
Special equipment and expertise are required to download and to preserve all applicable data from a tractor trailer. At Brooks Law Partners, we maintain a network of experts who can act quickly, obtain the required data, and even provide detailed reports and testimony if the case moves to litigation. Oftentimes, I attend the truck inspection with the opposing party’s expert and their attorney. It’s usually a long day standing around in various hot parking lots (maybe one day I will remember to bring a camping chair!), with no wifi access. But it’s worth the long, hot day to be present to answer questions the expert has, to learn first-hand what the expert finds, and even to talk with opposing counsel about the case and the client.
Early in my career, I represented the family of a mother of three who was killed when a dump truck driver ran a red light and t-boned her tiny compact car. While the dump truck driver’s insurance company was stalling, deflecting, and claiming he wasn’t responsible, we knew we had to preserve our client’s vehicle for the future necessary inspections on both our client’s vehicle as well as the dump truck. I drove out to meet the family and make sure the compact car made it into a storage unit for safe keeping. I stopped at the storage unit to take some pictures of the car. Her dried blood was splattered on the driver’s seat, and across the window and steering wheel. Strands of her hair still remained in the cupholders, nestled between her discarded hair ties and half used lip gloss tubes. Kid school work and papers were crumpled on the floor of the back seat, along with a few broken crayons. It was a typical car a mom used to get to her nursing job and to get her kids to and from school and activities. I still carry the images of her car in my mind, even though that was over fifteen years ago.
Truck and other vehicle inspections are valuable for proving cases and defeating baseless defenses. Quickly hiring a qualified lawyer will help you ensure there is a shot to obtain these inspections and data.
For me, an inspection day can be one I think of over and over again throughout the litigation, through every tedious deposition, through every motions hearing. For me, the inspection day images may stay with me long after the case is over, reminding me of course of the importance of inspections, but also, of the humanness of what we do as advocates for real people with real lives, and real families. The days I spend outside of my office may be the most important of all.