Atlanta Moving Truck Accident Attorney Near Me
Atlanta is a destination for families, singles, and businesses. As such, we see countless moving vans pulling up to buildings to offload furniture and other personal property every single day. And for every person moving into Atlanta, someone else is moving out, and they hire professional movers or rent their own moving trucks.
Just like other motor vehicles, however, moving vans get into accidents. Because these are large trucks with heavy cargo, they can cause a lot of damage to innocent victims. If you were involved in a collision, please contact MG Law today. We can get right on your case.
Inexperienced Drivers Can Cause Accidents
Some accidents involve professional moving companies. They advertise their services, and people hire them to come to load everything up and transport it.
However, other accidents are caused by people who rent a van to move. These drivers often do not know how to operate a large vehicle, so they can make simple errors that hurt people. For example, they might not understand how long it takes a moving van to stop or they don’t appreciate the size of a van’s blind spots.
The first step after a wreck is to identify who is to blame for the accident. If you were hurt by professional movers, then you can probably sue the van driver and the moving company. However, things are different if you are injured in an accident by a person renting a U-Haul or Ryder truck.
Fortunately, most trucking companies should have insurance on the vehicle that will kick in even if you are injured by an inexperienced driver. The renter pays for this coverage as part of renting the vehicle, and they will need to show they have other insurance before the trucking company will let them reject it. However, there are many smaller rental moving companies in our state that might not extend coverage to their renter.
Moving Company’s Negligence & Truck Accidents
Federal law, 49 USC 30106 provides protection from liability for companies when their trucks are involved in accidents. This means if a careless driver slams into you with a Ryder truck, you cannot automatically turn around and sue Ryder.
However, the trucking company could be to blame in certain situations where they make an error that leads to an accident. For example, they might have been negligent by renting the truck to someone who was underage, lacked a license, or appeared intoxicated. These kinds of mistakes put the rental company on the hook.
Trucking companies like U-Haul and Ryder carry large insurance policies that should cover accidents when the company is to blame. Negotiating with them requires the help of a seasoned personal injury attorney in Atlanta.
Truck Defects Might Lead To Accidents
Companies have a duty to make sure that their trucks are properly serviced before they rent them to consumers. If the company has been negligent in repairing vehicles, then they could be liable for any collision the defect causes.
For example, the trucking company might have noticed that the brakes are not working on a vehicle. The company should immediately pull the truck from the fleet and have it serviced before renting it again. We know, however, that this does not always happen. Some companies do not want to pay for repairs, so they let questionable vehicles out on the road. When a company does nothing—and the brake defect leads to a crash, for example—then the rental company can be responsible.
Other trucks are defective in the manufacture and might arrive in poor shape. These defects can also contribute to crashes, and the manufacturer or designer of the vehicle could be to blame.
Unbalanced Cargo Causes Rollovers
A moving van is long and thin with a high center of gravity. Consequently, it is at risk of tipping over, especially when it tries to take corners at a high speed. If the cargo was unbalanced, then it can increase the vehicle’s instability. Whoever loaded the truck could be responsible for any accident that results. We mention this because some people might drive their own trucks by hiring other people to load the back. In this example, the company that loaded the truck could be legally liable for a rollover accident.
Speak With An Atlanta Moving Truck Accident Lawyer
MG Law has spent years protecting the public’s safety by bringing claims for compensation after an accident. We understand moving truck collisions and how to increase the compensation our clients take home. Please call or contact online our truck accident lawyers in Atlanta today to schedule a free consultation with a member of our team.