Atlanta Injury Attorney Blog
We recently got a call from a client who had been hit from behind by a tractor trailer after midnight on the highway. His truck was knocked into a ditch and he sustained multiple fractures that required surgery. That would seem like an open and shut case right? Wrong, and that is where an experienced Georgia tractor trailer accident lawyer can make a world of difference.
The client is Hispanic and speaks no English and he was towing a small pickup truck. The investigating police officer could not understand the client and therefore only talked to the tractor trailer driver that hit him. Based on one half of the story the officer ticketed our client claiming that the taillights on the towed vehicle were out. This conclusion ignored the fact that the semi driver rammed into the truck my client was driving and would have done so regardless of whether he was towing a vehicle. Our client was rushed to the hospital and later had a rod inserted to stabilize the fracture.
This is a classic case of the police officer making a snap decision based on a language barrier. Had I been the driver in front, it is clear that the trucking company’s insurance carrier would have accepted responsibility. A good Atlanta personal injury lawyer knows to send an Open Records Request to secure the 911 audio tape of the tractor trailer driver’s call to the police. The audio tape records the trucker calling in and admitting 1) that he saw our client 2) that he decided to try to change lanes to go around our client but did not make it. This directly contradicts what he told the police officer. We will ultimately get him fair compensation for his truck and the surgeries he underwent, but this is a classic example of how language barriers and bias can affect the state trooper’s view of the collision.