Logging Truck
Accident Lawyer

The logging industry is an important contributor to the Washington state economy. But when logging trucks are traveling on the highways in the state, their large size, the natural instability of dozens of logs, and the massive weight that these vehicles carry could place other drivers in danger of serious injuries in a crash. If you or a family member had injuries or a death after an accident involving a logging truck, our logging truck accident lawyer is ready to help. We know that the consequences of involvement in an accident with a logging truck could leave you with a significantly reduced quality of life and an inability to work. When the accident was not your fault, you should not have to suffer financially. The truck driver, the trucking company, or any other party that was responsible for your accident should reimburse you for your financial losses and for your pain and suffering. Contact Montoya Hinckley today at 509-895-7373 for a free consultation. Our logging truck accident attorney wants you to be able to focus on your health after an accident with a logging truck. So what should you do if you were hit by a logging truck? Start by seeking emergency health care. Whether you travel to the hospital in an ambulance after the crash or you visit the hospital or your doctor’s office on your own a day or two later, you need to receive a thorough medical examination. The medical exam will give your doctor a full list of your injuries, which is important for determining the best possible treatment plan. It is important for you to receive high-level medical care, so you can attempt to return to your life and to your favorite activities. You can focus on following your doctor’s orders and participating in any physical therapy appointments. Allow our logging truck accident lawyer to handle filing your claim and to work on the legal process. Before we can bring a claim on your behalf against the truck that hit you, we need to have a complete list of your injuries. This is another reason why it is important for you to receive a doctor’s diagnosis as quickly after the accident as possible. In the state of Washington, statute RCW 4.16.080 gives victims in truck accidents up to three years to start the process of filing a claim. However, we would not recommend waiting anywhere near that long. Contacting our logging truck accident lawyer as early as possible after the accident ensures that we can keep your case on track and that we can collect evidence and speak to witnesses while the information remains fresh in their minds. It is crucial for us to be able to investigate the facts of the accident. We need to be able to show which party, with the assistance of an Ellensburg personal injury lawyer, is responsible for the crash and your injuries. Should the insurance company attempt to blame you for the crash, our evidence will help us show that you did nothing wrong, which keeps your injury claim viable. You could sue the logging company after the crash, as long as our logging truck accident lawyer can prove that the company’s negligence played a role in the accident. Depending on the circumstances, we may be able to sue more than one party as part of your injury claim. Some of the ways we can show that you have the right to sue the logging truck driver, the maintenance company, or the logging company include:

• Driver mistake: If the driver illegally changed lanes or was speeding before the accident, this is a sign of negligence occurring behind the wheel. This potentially shows that you can sue the logging truck driver.
• Improper training: You potentially can sue a logging company if you were hit by their truck when we can prove the company is negligent. This may occur if the company hired a driver without the proper training or if the company was forcing drivers to work too many hours, causing fatigue.
• Truck maintenance: If a maintenance company does not properly care for the logging truck before sending it out on the road, causing a mechanical failure that leads to your crash, our logging truck accident lawyer may choose to bring a claim against the maintenance company.

You can trust the team at Montoya Hinckley to always guard your interests. Insurance company adjusters who contact you after the crash may claim they are on your side, but they actually are representing the insurance company. They will try to convince you to accept a reduced payout instead of guarding your rights. Let us help you stand up to the insurer. We will protect your right to seek damages. Call us today at 509-895-7373 for a free review of your case. If you hire us and we do not win damages for you, you will owe us nothing. The state of Washington has numerous laws devoted to the way companies must maintain and load logging trucks. Should the trucking company fail to follow these laws, this is a sign of negligence that we can use to improve your chances of winning damages in the claim.

• Loading weight: The people loading the logging truck must follow RCW 46.44.047, which sets the maximum weight for the logging truck to operate legally on the road, depending on the number of axles in use. Exceeding the maximum weight can cause a truck to malfunction.
• Bindings: When securing the logs onto the logging truck, loaders must follow WAC 296-54-58950. This law specifies the types and number of wrapper chains, binders, and cables the loaders must use and where these wrappers must go.

Collecting evidence that shows the logging company violated laws can be a challenge. The sooner you contact our logging truck accident attorney to represent you, the earlier we can begin collecting evidence in an effort to help you win damages. The state of Washington is the second-largest state in terms of the amount of softwood net growth, trailing only Oregon, according to the Oregon Forest Resources Institute. With logging being such a large industry in Washington, logging trucks appear more frequently on Washington roads than in the majority of other states. Logging trucks can carry tens of thousands of pounds of weight; if the loaders did not secure the load properly, it could shift suddenly, leading to a major crash. When one of these logging trucks ends up in an accident with a passenger vehicle, those in the vehicle are in significant danger of suffering serious injuries and death. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), of the 4,119 people who died in truck accidents in the United States in 2019, 67% of them were occupants of passenger vehicles, while only 16% of truck occupants died in those crashes. This shows that others on the road are in grave danger when any truck, including a logging truck, loses control or malfunctions and crashes into a passenger car. After an accident with a logging truck that was not your fault, you could seek financial compensation for several different items related to your injuries and the way they are affecting your life. Some of the items for which you could receive damages include:

• Medical bills: When you need hospitalization to recover from your injuries, as well as physical therapy, ongoing rehabilitation, and prescription drugs, you can try to receive reimbursement from the insurance company for all these costs.
• Lost wages: If you are unable to work while recovering from your injuries, or if you must take a different job or work fewer hours than you did before the crash, you can attempt to receive a payment for the wages you did not earn because of the accident.
• Pain and suffering: After the accident, should you have ongoing pain, emotional trauma, a reduction in your quality of life, an inability to enjoy the same activities that you did before the crash, or similar issues, you can seek damages that reflect the negative impact this crash had on your life.

When you are facing a long recovery after you were hit by a logging truck, you may feel as if you are all alone. Trying to deal with your recovery, while worrying about being unable to work and about your mounting bills, is extremely difficult. Our logging truck accident lawyer knows the challenging aspects of this situation. When the insurance company is not listening to your concerns and is ignoring the way your life changed after the accident, it can be frustrating. Trust the team at Montoya Hinckley to stand by your side from start to finish. Our logging truck accident attorney will take over negotiations with the insurers. We will figure out exactly which parties should be part of the claim. Let our Washington personal injury lawyer defend your right to seek damages. We take pride in making sure that victims like you can sue a logging company if you were hit by their truck. For a free case review, contact Montoya Hinckley at 509-895-7373 today. We work on a contingency fee basis, so you do not need to pay us anything ahead of time to secure our services.