Missouri Truck Accident Lawyer Discusses the Evidence Preservation Letter
As a Missouri truck accident lawyer, one of the first things I do when I am retained on a semi truck accident injury case, is to send out a preservation of evidence letter. Tractor trailer accident cases are much different that a car accident case. In fact, not only do most individuals not realize this, but most attorneys fail to even realize this if they do not specialize in tractor trailer cases. Although the preservation of evidence letter can be used in any type of case, it is most prevalent in eighteen wheeler accident injury cases. This is because the Federal Government has enacted the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, which governs almost every aspect of the truck company and the truck driver’s operations. One of these aspects is that it requires them to keep an enormous amount of paperwork. However, there are time limits on how long they are required to keep this paperwork. In fact it is common for truck companies to flag files where their truck driver has been involved in a bad semi truck crash. If they have not received any letter requesting that they preserve the evidence, they will destroy it at their soonest availability. Generally, these time limits expire within six to twelve months.
Often times, a victim of a truck accident crash has not even completed their treatment within that time frame. Thus, the last thing on their mind is sending in any type of paperwork to the truck company.
On the other hand, our firm obtains the highest truck accident settlements when we are retained just shortly after the truck crash. This way we are able to send the letter to the truck company, the truck driver, and their liability insurer identifying every type of document we want them to preserve. That way, if we need to wait a year or two before filing suit, those documents will be there. And if the truck company destroys them any way, then we are entitled to have the judge ultimately instruct the jury that the truck company destroyed the documents because they were very harmful. Of course, this is a huge advantage for our side and makes the jury very suspicious of the truck company and generally serves to increase the recovery. Additionally, truck companies are dealing with all types of lawyers in numerous cases every day. They are able to sort out very quickly those lawyers who know what they are doing from those that don’t. By immediately sending a very detailed preservation of evidence letter, we are also letting the insurance companies know that we are a force to be reckoned with.
So if you have been injured in a truck crash, make sure that you are consulting a lawyer who specializes in these types of cases. If you have already retained a lawyer make sure that they have already sent out a preservation of evidence letter. If they have not, you may want to think twice about continuing to be represented by such an attorney.
Joshua P. Myers is the President of Myers Injury Law, LLC and a founding partner of Schultz and Myers, LLC. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, the firm exclusively handles severe personal injury cases with an emphasis on trucking accidents throughout all of Missouri and Illinois. All fees are contingent upon the firm recovering. Therefore, there is no retainer fee required and no bills sent throughout the case. Rather, the firm’s fees will be taken as a percentage of the recovery. If there is no recovery, then nothing is owed to the firm. It is always free to discuss your case by calling 877-SUE-TRKS (783-8757).
