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    Personal Injury Division

    Trucking Accident Lawsuits in California – How to Bring a Claim for Damages

    After a semi-truck or tractor-trailer accident in California, you may be left with serious injuries and financial damages. If the truck driver or trucking company was negligent in causing the accident, you can seek damages by filing a lawsuit. A personal injury lawsuit can help you recover money for

    • Lost wages,
    • Doctor’s bills, and
    • Pain and suffering.

    The following flowchart shows the progression of trucking accident litigation in California.

    Flowchart of the litigation process for a trucking accident lawsuit in California

    Shouse Law Group is a personal injury law firm that represents accident victims nationwide. Below, our Jury smacks California trucking company with $70.5 million ‘nuclear verdict’, Freight Waves (December 20, 2019).  David Siegel, Jury Awards $52M+ To Brothers Injured In Head-On Collision With Semi-Truck, CVN (February 22, 2018). David Siegel, CA Jury Awards Deaf Motorcyclist $3M Over Big Rig Truck Crash, CVN (May 13, 2022). Contessa Brewer and Katie Young, Rise in ‘nuclear verdicts’ in lawsuits threatens trucking industry, CNBC (March 24, 2021).

  • California Civil Jury Instructions (“CACI”) 400. See also California Civil Code section 1714(a) (“Everyone is responsible, not only for the result of his or her willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by his or her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person.”). Perez v. Van Groningen & Sons, Inc. (1986) 41 Cal.3d 962, 967 (“Under the doctrine of respondeat superior, an employer is vicariously liable for his employee’s torts committed within the scope of the employment.”). Learn more about California’s “Respondeat Superior” laws.
  • CACI 712. Affirmative Defense-Failure to Wear a Seat Belt.
  • NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts Large Trucks 2021.
  • Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS), Berkeley.
  • California Code of Civil Procedure 335.1 (“Within two years: An action for assault, battery, or injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another.”). California Government Code Section 911.2.
  • California Code of Civil Procedure 377.60 (“A cause of action for the death of a person caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another may be asserted by any of the following persons or by the decedent’s personal representative on their behalf: (a) The decedent’s surviving spouse, domestic partner, children, and issue of deceased children, or, if there is no surviving issue of the decedent, the persons, including the surviving spouse or domestic partner, who would be entitled to the property of the decedent by intestate succession.”)

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