A fuel tanker truck that gets into an accident can cause devastation to everything around it. In addition to injuring or killing people as it collides with a passenger vehicle, a fuel tanker that tips or rolls and spills its cargo can cause extensive property and environmental damage. Sometimes, the force of a collision involving a fuel tanker causes an explosion, fire, and toxic fumes as the fuel burns.
It can take months or years to recover from injuries from fuel truck accidents. Some individuals never make a full recovery, and some accidents are fatal, especially those causing extensive burn injuries. A hazmat spill caused by a fuel truck accident can do lasting damage to real property.
The seriousness of injuries that occur in tanker truck accidents and the multiple parties involved make fuel tanker accident claims complex. But at Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer, our truck accident attorneys have the knowledge, experience, and Kentucky Courage to fight aggressive trucking companies and insurers for you.
As you face painful medical treatments and a potentially changed life because of a devastating fuel tanker accident, we’ll work to make things right for you financially. Contact us today to set up a free consultation about pursuing a fuel tanker accident claim in Kentucky.
Causes of Fuel Tanker Truck Accidents in Kentucky
Fuel tankers are typically commercial tractor-trailers equipped to transport liquid or gaseous materials in tanks with an aggregate rated capacity of more than 119 gallons to 1,000 gallons or more. Tanker trucks often transport materials that are hazardous because of their flammability or toxicity.
Drivers typically need an additional hazmat endorsement on their commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) to haul gasoline, propane, chlorine, or other hazardous materials. Drivers may also have combination endorsements for tankers and hazmat transport.
Examples of common types of fuel tanker truck accidents include:
- Rollover accidents
- Jackknife accidents
- Blind spot accidents
- Rear-end collisions
Some of the leading causes of tanker truck crashes include:
- Fatigued or drowsy driving,
- Distracted driving
- Speeding or driving too fast for conditions
- Mechanical failures, such as a tire blowout or loss of brakes
Types of Injuries from Fuel Tanker Truck Crashes in Kentucky
Short of a fatal truck accident, severe burns are the injuries that cause the most concern in a fuel truck accident.
Burns are among the most painful and devastating injuries a person may suffer. A driver or passenger in a vehicle who has suffered a burn injury due to spilled petro-chemical fuel needs immediate emergency medical care. Severe burns over widespread portions of the victim’s body can require multiple rounds of surgery and lengthy recovery. But even with specialized care, it is not unusual for a severe burn victim to die from their injuries.
Many other serious injuries can occur because of the impact of a fuel truck collision, such as:
- Head and traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
- Back and spinal cord injuries, including paralysis
- Whiplash, serious sprains and strains caused by the sudden jerking of the neck and upper back, particularly in rear-end accidents
- Chest and abdominal injuries, including damage to internal organs
- Broken bones and other injuries of the musculoskeletal system (bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and surrounding soft tissue)
- Crushing injuries leading to traumatic or surgical amputations
Compensation for Fuel Tanker Accident Victims in Kentucky
As your truck accident attorneys, we are prepared to seek maximum compensation for your:
- Future medical care costs
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Reduced future income
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Emotional distress
- Vehicle repair or replacement
Why You Need Our Truck Accident Attorneys After a Fuel Tanker Truck Accident
A fuel tanker truck accident claim can be much more complicated than other motor vehicle claims. Some potential factors to consider include:
- Multiple potentially liable parties – The negligent truck driver is typically at fault in a tanker truck accident, but their employer or the truck and cargo owner could also share responsibility for putting the driver and truck on the road. In some cases, a negligent vendor responsible for loading or maintaining a truck may have had a role in the accident. Multiple potentially liable parties tend to blame one another and otherwise use each other to obscure their roles in the accident. Our lawyers are ready to pursue maximum compensation for you from every available source.
- Federal and state regulations governing trucking – If you can show that violations by the truck driver, truck owner or operator, or vendors contributed to the crash and your injuries, you could hold them accountable. Federal regulations require trucking companies to maintain liability coverage worth $1 million or more, which means money should be available to pay most claims.
- Investigating the cause of the accident – Our lawyers are ready to investigate your truck accident claim and prepare a compelling case for compensation. In many cases, we obtain court orders to require truck owners to preserve records like drivers’ hours-of-service logs, cargo manifests, dispatch logs, and maintenance records, as well as the crashed truck and trailer, and make them available to us. We also work with consulting experts who can examine the truck and download and interpret data from a truck’s event data recorder or black box recorder and re-create complicated truck accidents.
- Dealing with insurance companies – We’ll handle all contact with insurers, including presenting them with an accounting of your costs and losses and the damages you are due. We work with medical experts to document serious injuries and the ongoing medical care and costs they will require. We then present this along with compensation demands on our client’s behalf.
A trucking company can complicate an accident claim in several ways. Some trucking companies might argue that their drivers are independent contractors and that they do not own the truck, so the company has no liability for the accident. Sometimes, the trucking company is part of a complex corporate structure that makes it challenging to identify the specific legal entity responsible for an accident claim. To complicate and drag out payments, some trucking companies have layered liability insurance policies, which are triggered only after prior layers of coverage run out.
Our attorneys understand all of this and can bring the knowledge and experience to your case that’s necessary to seek maximum compensation for you.
Contact Our Kentucky Truck Accident Attorneys for Help
The Kentucky truck accident attorneys at Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer stand ready to investigate the fuel truck accident that injured you, calculate the full extent of your losses, and build a strong case to pursue maximum compensation for you. For more than 25 years, we have been aggressive negotiators and litigators fighting trucking companies and insurers. We will stand by your side and do everything in our power to make you financially whole again.
Contact us today at (877) 809-5352 or online to set up a free initial consultation with a Kentucky truck accident attorney at Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer.
