Attorney Michael L. SaileIf you’re involved in a truck accident, it’s important to document the accident and gather any information relevant to it. Any evidence you can collect may help prove your claim. To prove negligence, you must present evidence that establishes the following elements:
- Duty of Care: You must show that the at-fault party owed you a legal duty. For instance, truck drivers must obey traffic laws and avoid harming others on the road.
- Breach of Duty: You must show the at-fault party breached their duty. For example, a driver who drives while distracted or intoxicated would breach the duty of care.
- Causation: You must prove that the breach of duty directly caused your accident and injuries.
- Damages: You must have suffered compensable losses, such as medical bills, lost wages, physical pain and suffering, and emotional distress.
Navigate This Page
- Types of Evidence Used to Prove Negligence
- Importance of Preserving and Gathering Evidence
- Common Evidence Admissibility Issues in Truck Accident Cases
- Trucking Companies Perform Their Own Investigations
- How Truck Accident Lawyers Help You Gather Evidence
- How Cordisco & Saile Can Help You Gather and Preserve Evidence
Types of Evidence Used to Prove Negligence
Heavy trucks were involved in 6,805 crashes, causing injuries in 2,746 incidents and resulting in fatalities in 124. Crashes involving heavy trucks accounted for 6.1% of all crashes on the Commonwealth’s roads, according to a 2024 Pennsylvania Department of Transportation study. Far too many of these accidents result from negligence or carelessness and are thus preventable.
Different kinds of evidence can be used to prove negligence after being in a truck accident. Some common types of evidence you can use to prove negligence are:
- Dash Camera Video: Video footage of the accident can clearly show the exact circumstances leading up to and during the incident. A dash camera video could show if another driver ran a red light or was speeding. The footage could also prove that the truck driver was driving erratically and show how the accident occurred.
- Black Box Data: If you were involved in a truck accident, the truck should have a black box that you can use to obtain data showing how fast the driver was traveling at the time of the accident.
- Surveillance Footage or CCTV: Similar to a dash camera, this will provide video evidence of the circumstances of the accident, like how fast vehicles were traveling.
- Eyewitness Testimonies: If anyone else witnessed the accident, having them explain what they saw can help your case.
- Truck Driver Logs: The driver’s logs show how long the trucker has been driving and when they last took a break from the road. Driving logs and trucking company records might show that the company imposed unreasonable schedules that forced the driver to work while fatigued, leading to an accident.
- Photographs: If you took photos of your vehicle and the accident scene after the collision, these photos can help prove your claim and establish how the accident occurred.
- Medical Records: These can be used to link your injuries to the accident and establish their severity, and a medical expert could testify on your behalf about the future effects of your injuries.
While some of this evidence is easy to collect on your own, other forms of proof are much more difficult to obtain. Consulting an experienced truck accident lawyer soon after a wreck can ensure you gather all the relevant evidence and build the strongest claim possible.
Importance of Preserving and Gathering Evidence
Following a truck accident, it’s crucial to gather evidence while it is still fresh and accessible. Time can degrade evidence like skid marks or road conditions, and some CCTV footage is lost after time limits.
Memories fade, so witness statements are most valuable when provided closer to the accident. Thus, fewer details are missed or forgotten. Waiting to gather this evidence means it could not be there forever, which can hurt your case.
Common Evidence Admissibility Issues in Truck Accident Cases
In Pennsylvania, evidence must be relevant to be admissible. Evidence is relevant if it makes a fact more or less probable without the evidence and is a consequence of determining what happened.
In addition, witnesses can only testify if they can prove they have personal knowledge of the incident. Witness statements about what another party said, offered as evidence, are hearsay and inadmissible. This idea boils down to, “they said they said, or did this.” Hearsay is generally inadmissible under the law, but there are certain exceptions. Witnesses can also have their truthfulness questioned by the court if the evidence doesn’t support their statements.
Having an experienced truck accident attorney helps you avoid evidence issues. Our attorneys leave no stone unturned and make sure nothing is missed.
Get legal help from a team that will never stop fighting for you.
Trucking Companies Perform Their Own Investigations
If you were involved in an accident with a driver who works for a trucking company, you may face some difficulties with your claim. Trucking companies have their own attorneys and insurance adjusters to save the company money and protect its bottom line.
To even the playing field, having your own attorney to build your defense can help your case, giving you a fair chance against these companies to secure your compensation.
“If you’re involved in a trucking accident, you should notify a lawyer immediately. We must start our investigation almost from the beginning, because the insurance company or the trucking company sends their own investigators and team to the accident scene to try to gather evidence and reduce their liability."
How Truck Accident Lawyers Help You Gather Evidence
Truck accident cases often involve multiple liable parties, complex layers of negligence, and difficulties obtaining evidence. Having an attorney to help you navigate the aftermath of an accident is critical. A lawyer can fully analyze your case, identify key evidence to prove your claims, and determine your available legal options.
If you choose to work with the experienced truck accident attorneys at Cordisco & Saile, you won’t have to worry about the next steps. We’ll handle every aspect of your case, including investigating your accident, gathering relevant evidence, negotiating for a full and fair settlement, and filing a truck accident lawsuit, if necessary.
You’ll get access to our wealth of resources. With our own private investigators, we can keep you on the same playing field as the insurance company’s investigators.
Our legal team will identify all liable parties and deal with the insurance companies, trucking companies, their lawyers, and accident witnesses to obtain all the relevant evidence. If necessary, we’ll obtain court orders to secure key evidence from trucking companies.
We’ll determine whether any violations of trucking regulations contributed to your accident. We have extensive knowledge of state and federal trucking laws and know how to obtain evidence establishing violations and linking them to your accident.
In addition, expert witness testimony is sometimes necessary to prove certain elements of truck accident cases, particularly when they involve technical matters beyond the general knowledge of everyday laypeople. We have a deep network of accident reconstruction experts and medical professionals that can bolster your case. Using accident reconstruction expert testimony, we can demonstrate how the standard of care was breached and how that led to your injuries. We might also have doctors and other medical experts testify to explain the nature and extent of your injuries and how they impact
How Cordisco & Saile Can Help You Gather and Preserve Evidence
We are passionate about helping clients, and if you choose us to fight for you, we will not take that lightly. We will help you no matter how much effort it takes.
Being sure you’ve gathered all the necessary evidence after a truck accident can be intimidating, but with the right legal support, you won’t have to worry. Our attorneys at Cordisco & Saile will do everything to support you and your case.
If you’ve been in a truck accident in Pennsylvania, Cordisco & Saile will help. Our attorneys will seek out, gather, and review all the evidence available to help strengthen your case. We’ll fight because you deserve someone on your side.
Call (215) 642-2335 or contact us online for a free consultation.
Serving as a personal injury attorney in Pennsylvania, Michael Saile has been honored as both a Brain Injury Top 25 Lawyer by National Trial Lawyers and a 2024 Super Lawyer. He earned his J. D. at Widener University School of Law where he was a member of the Moe Levine Trial Advocacy Honor Society. Saile is also the author of two publications titled “Not Another Bad Lawyer” and “Don’t Crash Again”.
