What Do I Do After a Truck Accident in Illinois?

You or someone you love was recently injured in a truck accident. What should you do next? 

Truck accidents are vastly different from car accidents. Getting hit by a semi-truck, dump truck, or another large commercial vehicle often causes serious and sometimes permanent injuries. In addition, the defendants in your case (trucking companies and their insurers) have millions of dollars to protect themselves. 

So, you must act quickly and carefully following a truck crash. 

As truck accident attorneys, we’ve put together this article on what to do and what not to do following a serious semi-truck crash.

If you have any questions about your truck accident lawsuit, you can call us anytime at (312) 578-9501. We’re happy to speak with you. 

I Was Injured in a Truck Accident. Now What? 

Step 1: Engage an Attorney as Early as Possible

The trucking company’s insurer began its investigation of your crash within hours of the crash. The insurance company’s immediate response gives them a head start on investigating the crash. 

When you hire an attorney shortly after the truck accident, you’re shortening the gap between the defendant’s investigation and yours. 

Under Illinois law, an individual injured due to the negligence of others typically has two years from the date of injury to file a lawsuit against the negligent party. This fact doesn’t mean that you should wait nearly two years before starting to pursue your case. 

Too many times, we have had prospective clients come into our office asking us to file their case right before the statute of limitations expires. Sometimes, the impending statute is beyond the control of the individual. 

For example, they previously hired an inexperienced attorney that failed to investigate or promptly file the case. Other times, however, these prospective clients did not understand the urgency in investigating and prosecuting truck accident cases. 

If you take one thing away from this article, let it be this: If you’re involved in a serious truck-related accident, talk to a trucking attorney as soon as possible. Together, you can start building your case for trial.

Step 2: Avoid Talking to Insurance Companies

When an insurance company calls you, refer them to your attorney immediately. Insurance adjusters can be ruthless. Oftentimes, they will attempt to ask you for information about the crash or your medical treatment. 

Your situation is your business, not the business of the negligent trucking company. They are not asking for this information because they’re trying to help you. 

Rather, they’re looking for information that will limit the amount of money that their company has to pay you. Adjusters have been known to advise injured victims against hiring an attorney. They have also recommended that victims sign a release absolving them.

Step 3: Focus on Your Physical, Mental, and Emotional Recovery

When you have been injured in a truck crash, the last thing on your mind should be dealing with insurance companies and bill collectors. Every time we meet with a new client, we ask them to delegate the stress and anxiety inherent in litigation to us, their attorneys. 

Let us shoulder the burdens of litigation; we do it every day. Instead of thinking about the lawsuit, you can focus on what’s most important – getting your health back.

Step 4: Begin to Collect Items for Trial

At the end of your truck accident case, you (and your lawyers) will have an opportunity to tell your story to twelve jurors. These jurors will determine whether you’re entitled to compensation as a result of the crash, as well as determine the value of your case. 

These twelve people aren’t professional jurors; they’re teachers, nurses, and construction workers. They absorb information in different ways. A particular piece of evidence may be extremely compelling to one witness and relatively unimportant to another. 

In our experience, the most effective trial evidence is visual. Jurors have a better understanding of how your injury has affected your life if you’re able to show, rather than tell. 

It’s one thing to tell a jury that you went to dozens of physical therapy sessions. It’s another thing entirely to show them a video of you in physical therapy, wearing a gait belt, using a walker, and struggling to go even a few feet without needing to take a break.

From the moment after a crash occurs, you and your family should be collecting items related to the accident. Your attorney can use these items at trial to show the jury your experience. Some of these essential visual items include braces, casts, surgical hardware, crutches, walkers, wheelchairs, and the clothes you wore on the day of the crash. 

It is also important to document your experience with photographs and videos. Some of our clients hesitate when we ask them to document their recovery, and it’s completely understandable. 

Recovery from catastrophic injuries is ugly. People don’t typically like to showcase their lives at their most vulnerable moments. We get it; it can be uncomfortable. That said, it’s critical that a jury understands what you’ve been through – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Step 5: Be Smart About Social Media

Defense lawyers constantly monitor the social media accounts of injured plaintiffs. 

That’s not to say you need to lock yourself in your home until your case is over. Just recognize that anything that you put out on social media may be viewed by insurance companies and defense lawyers.

If you wouldn’t want a potential juror to see or read the post you’re about to make, don’t post it. 

Our advice: Take a break from social media and focus on getting better.

Step 6: Collect Medical Records and Bills for your Attorney

Any time you get a bill from a provider or a collection agency, you should immediately forward it to your attorney.

It’s important that your attorney knows every provider that has treated you for your injuries. 

Second, your attorney can help shoulder the stress of your medical treatment. They can call providers and bill collectors to let them know your case is in litigation. Typically, we will ask them to bill your health insurance company.

Either way, we’ll inform them that you are represented, and have them direct all calls to us.

Step 7: Memorialize Your Experiences in a Memo to Your Attorney

All communication between you and your attorney is confidential and protected by the attorney-client privilege. As such, we ask most of our clients to write us a memo documenting the injury since the date of the crash. 

For example, you should be noting days when you have physical therapy, particularly painful or difficult activities, headaches, stresses, difficulty sleeping, and other noteworthy ways that your injury complicates your life. 

This memo helps us understand exactly what you’ve been going through. It will help us adequately explain it to a jury. It also helps you identify and remember all of the different ways that the injury has affected your daily life.

Make sure that you title the memo “To My Attorney” so that it is clear that this memo is protected.

Step 8: Check Your Insurance Policy for Medical Payment Coverage

Many personal automobile insurance policies have something called medical payment coverage (“Med Pay”). If you have Med Pay coverage, your own insurance company will pay you for medical bills incurred up to the limits of your coverage. 

Say you have $3,500 worth of hospital bills from the day of the crash and a $5,000 limit for Med Pay coverage. You can submit those bills to your insurer who then should write you a check for $3,500. If you have retained an attorney, he or she should be able to recover your Med Pay for you.

Med Pay coverage can be a lifesaver for clients when their medical bills from the crash quickly start to add up.

It’s important to note that when your insurance company pays you Med Pay, it is essentially a loan. 

If you recover from the trucking company’s insurer, your insurance company will want back a portion of what they paid you in Med Pay through a process called subrogation. An experienced injury attorney will be able to explain in detail this process to you.

Questions? Our Truck Accident Attorneys Can Help

If you follow the above steps, your case will run more smoothly, and you can rest easy knowing that you have provided all of the tools necessary for a capable trucking attorney to maximize your recovery.

If you have any questions about your truck accident lawsuit, we’re happy to speak with you. Call us at (312) 578-9501 or fill out the form below to get started.