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Truck drivers who transport oil and natural gas carry very dangerous cargo. While these tankers rarely suffer catastrophic accidents, there is still always a risk of injury from simple crashes, leaking tankers, and flammable cargo. If you were injured as a truck driver of an oil or natural gas tanker truck, contact The Queenan Law Firm today.
Our Pecos, Texas oil and natural gas trucking injury lawyers represent injured tanker truck drivers and other oil workers in injury cases. You may be entitled to file an injury lawsuit in your case against the driver who injured you as well as your employer. Talk to an attorney about what your claim might be worth and how to proceed with your case. For your free legal consultation, call our law offices today at (817) 476-1797.
Whom to Sue for Oil and Natural Gas Trucking Injuries
If you were injured while working as an oil and natural gas truck driver, you may be wondering whom you can seek compensation from. Various parties may share responsibility for your accident, and it comes down to determining which parties are at fault. Once you know which parties are at fault, you can file your lawsuit against all of them.
The most common culprits in causing a trucking accident for oil and natural gas tankers are the other drivers on the road or your employer. Other drivers may be responsible for physically causing the accident by violating the rules of the road or otherwise driving dangerously. In some cases, your employer may be directly responsible for providing you with unsafe equipment or a vehicle with defective parts.
In many cases, both of these parties contribute to the accident and you can sue both of them for their share of the accident’s cause. Even in cases where the accident started because of one party’s fault, the other parties can be held responsible for any harm they make worse because of their own negligent acts or omissions.
Other drivers frequently cause accidents when they fail to drive safely. To prove that another driver caused your accident and your injuries, you must prove that they violated some legal duty that they owed you. Drivers have a duty to follow traffic laws, thus negligent acts like running a red light, speeding, texting while driving, or driving under the influence may be obviously unsafe decisions that contributed to causing the accident.
Your employer can be held responsible for any contributions to an accident’s cause that they control. Most trucking companies and oil or natural gas companies who own their own vehicles will be responsible for the truck’s equipment and upkeep. This means that it is their responsibility to ensure that you have a safe truck free from defective tires, engine parts, tanker parts, valves, and other equipment. If your employer sends you out on the road behind the wheel of a dangerous vehicle that they should have repaired or maintained with more care or skill, they can be responsible for any harm these oversights cause.
Damages for Injured Oil and Natural Gas Truck Drivers
After an accident, you could face many financial burdens that you would never have had to deal with if the accident did not happen. The parties responsible for causing the accident should be made to cover all of these financial burdens, such as your medical bills and your lost wages. In addition, the physical pain and mental suffering that you face because of the accident should also be paid for. These are the three main areas of damages you can receive in a truck accident injury lawsuit, but there may be additional damages, too.
The damages for medical expenses should cover any medical bills you face because of the accident. If you required surgery, hospital visits, rehabilitation, or other medical care because of your injuries, these costs could become quite expensive. Since these damages are the at-fault driver’s or your employer’s fault, you should be able to claim the full value as part of your compensation.
If your injuries keep you from working, you may not be able to afford many of the costs in your life, such as rent or groceries. The parties responsible for your injuries should pay you back for the full value of any wages you lost because of the injury so that you can continue to support yourself. This includes the cost of reduced earning capacity going forward if the injury caused permanent effects.
These damages may be covered in part through workers’ compensation for injuries that take place on the job. However, Texas workers’ compensation typically pays reduced damages and does not cover workers’ compensation. The same is true of many auto insurance claims. Talk to a lawyer about filing a lawsuit instead to help maximize your damages.
The damages for pain and suffering are paid on top of these other expenses and compensate you directly for the intangible harms you suffered because of the crash. Proving these damages in court usually means testifying about how the accident affected your life and the activities you used to enjoy. Your attorney can help you understand what your pain and suffering may be worth.
Call Our Pecos, TX Oil and Natural Gas Truck Driver Injury Attorneys for a Free Consultation
If you or a loved one was injured while working as a truck driver in the oil and natural gas industry, contact our Pecos oil and natural gas truck trucking accident lawyers today for a free legal consultation. The injury lawyers at The Queenan Law Firm can help you understand what your case might be worth and how to work to maximize the compensation you are entitled to claim by taking your employer or the at-fault driver to court in a personal injury lawsuit. For your free legal consultation, call us today at (817) 476-1797.