Truck and Semi Injuries

We depend on truckers for the food we eat, the clothing we wear and just about everything else we need in life.  And truckers get hurt taking care of the rest of us.  Trucking accidents can result in serious and catastrophic injuries.  However, because commercial driving is so physically demanding, any injury that prevents a trucker from working can have career- threatening implications.

With over 27 years of experience in private practice, attorney Wayne Haig has represented truckers in cases involving serious lower back, neck, head, shoulder, hip, knee and other lower extremity injuries.  While injuries sustained in both single and multiple vehicle collisions are common, many of our commercial driver clients have sustained injuries outside their tractor cabs.  For example, a simple slip and fall in a parking lot, truck stop or drop yard or a shoulder injury while cranking down landing gear can cause a permanently disabling injury.    To make matters more challenging, most life-long commercial drivers do not have readily transferable light-duty work skills.  If a commercial driver can no longer operate a tractor trailer due to a work related injury, other employment options may be limited or non-existent. It is critical therefore that commercial drivers protect and secure their legal rights in workers compensation cases. 

If you are a commercial driver with an on- the- job injury, call Attorney Haig today for a free, no obligation, telephone consultation.  Even if the insurance company has been making voluntary payments of wage loss benefits and has been covering your medical expenses, those benefits can be cut off if timely legal action has not been taken.  And even if you do not wish to retain an attorney, please feel free to speak with Attorney Haig anyhow and find out what the law says you need to do to protect yourself — and those who depend upon you. There is simply no reason why you should not at least gain critical knowledge about how to avoid being financially victimized in the workers’ compensation process.  Remember, in Virginia, the mere payment of wage loss compensation benefits and/or medical benefits does not automatically create a legally enforceable entitlement to those benefits. 

With regard to injuries sustained in accidents involving other vehicles, commercial drivers will often have, in addition to a workers compensation remedy, a civil remedy against the party whose negligence caused the accident.  This civil remedy is sometimes referred to as a “third party claim” or a “personal injury claim.”   If you are a commercial driver who has both a workers’ compensation claim and a third party/personal injury claim, beware that the settlement of your third party/personal injury claim under certain circumstances can result in the forfeiture of future workers’ compensation benefits. Sadly, many commercial drivers learn this the hard way, after accepting a personal injury settlement.  Therefore, a commercial driver who has both workers’ compensation and third party/personal injury claims, should consult with an attorney as soon as possible after an accident and find out how to preserve the workers’ compensation case before settling the third party/personal injury claim.