Police recently responded to an accident involving two commercial vehicles on an interstate highway in New Jersey. One person died in this accident.
Police are continuing to investigate the accident, which shut down the Interstate in one direction for a period of time. The accident involved a semi-truck with a FedEx logo on it and a dump truck, which wound up on its side after the accident.
Commercial vehicle accidents can raise complicated legal questions
After this tragedy, the family of the person who died is probably trying to figure out how they are going to cover their loved one’s lost wages. They also have almost without a doubt have suffered through some tremendous emotional trauma and will continue to do so.
The victim may well receive workers’ compensation benefits, assuming he or she was on the clock when this daytime accident happened.
However, while they are helpful, workers’ compensation simply will not pay for all of the family’s losses. In particular, workers’ compensation benefits are not available to cover the family’s so-called non-economic losses, including emotional distress.
While they may well deserve compensation for this accident, commercial vehicle accidents are usually difficult for victims.
For one, businesses are usually quick to deny that they are responsible for an accident. For this reason, victims should not rely on what the other side’s insurance company or even the police say about fault or responsibility until they have done a thorough and independent investigation.
Furthermore, there may be a lot of difficult legal issues to navigate when pursuing a personal injury claim. For this reason, a victim of a commercial accident should strongly consider speaking with an experienced personal injury attorney.