Preserving evidence is a crucial step toward obtaining a successful result in truck accident cases. When a truck is involved in an accident, trucking companies must retain relevant documents and other evidence. Unless your truck accident injury lawyer takes steps to preserve this crucial evidence, it may be destroyed or lost. This can have disastrous consequences when litigating truck accident cases.

For example, the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration requires that trucking companies retain hours of service logs for six months. If a truck driver was involved in a serious truck accident, you can be sure those records will be destroyed exactly six months after the truck accident. But a truck accident injury lawyer can send a truck accident spoliation letter asking the trucking company to preserve crucial evidence in your truck accident injury case and prevent it from being destroyed.

Collecting Evidence and Documentation for a Truck Accident Claim

Different pieces of evidence can help when establishing liability in a truck accident case.

The black box data contains some of the most important evidence in truck accident cases. The black box should contain technical details about the moments leading up to the crash and information about the driver’s activities in the days prior to the crash. This evidence can be crucial for establishing liability in truck accident cases.

An experienced truck accident injury lawyer can also take steps to preserve other evidence, like physical and electronic records, that trucking companies are usually only required to retain for a certain amount of time. In addition to the driver’s hours of service log and black box data, a truck accident injury lawyer can request that the truck company preserve records about:

• The driver’s hiring and training
• Daily logs
• Vehicle inspection logs
• Routine inspection and maintenance of the vehicle
• Vehicle repairs and tests
• Past accidents involving the driver

The Trucking Accident Spoliation Letter

Preserving evidence can be challenging after a truck accident, especially when the injured victim is focused on their physical and mental recovery. But failure to preserve evidence in truck accident cases can be costly and make it much more difficult to establish liability when litigating truck accident cases.

When collecting evidence and documentation for a truck accident claim, a lawyer can send the potential defendants a trucking accident spoliation letter. The trucking accident spoliation letter notifies potential defendants of a possible claim and warns them against hiding, destroying, or tampering with evidence that could be relevant in truck accident cases.

Once a potential defendant receives a trucking accident spoliation letter, they can be held liable for intentionally or unintentionally hiding, destroying, or tampering with evidence that could be used when litigating truck accident cases.

How an Attorney Can Help When Litigating Truck Accident Cases

As soon as a truck accident occurs, the trucking company will send investigators to the scene to search for ways to blame the crash on someone else. To protect your case, your lawyer will send a truck accident spoliation letter and conduct their own investigation. At Muth Law, P.C., our truck accident injury lawyers frequently work with accident reconstruction experts to investigate and help in establishing liability in a truck accident case. An accident reconstruction expert can inspect the vehicles, examine black box data, and analyze skid marks, the position of the vehicles after the crash, roadside debris, and other evidence to establish the cause of the accident.

Muth Law, P.C.: Decades of Experience Litigating Truck Accident Cases

The importance of preserving evidence in trucking accident cases cannot be overstated. When a truck accident causes injuries, the victims and their families must act quickly to preserve evidence that can be crucial in establishing liability in a truck accident case. A personal injury lawyer with experience litigating truck accident cases will know the steps to follow to preserve evidence.

Muth Law has represented injured victims and their families throughout Michigan for over 40 years. To put our experience to work for you, contact us today to schedule a free and confidential consultation to discuss your situation and how we can help.

Muth Law is based in Ann Arbor and proudly represents injured victims throughout Michigan. Contact Muth Law, P.C. today by calling 734-481-8800, emailing info@muthlawpc.com, or completing our online form. We look forward to discussing your case.