What Types of Expert Witnesses Are Useful for Maximizing Recovery and Success in Truck Accident Cases?

What Is an Expert Witness?

An expert witness is an individual who helps the judge and jury understand complex technical and scientific issues. Experts provide unbiased, independent opinions and explanations of issues. Experts may be hired by any party in a dispute, but still must provide an independent opinion that is not swayed or biased toward the party that hired them for the case. Expert witnesses are useful in truck accident cases because the investigation into the accident and issues litigated are often complex, unfamiliar, and possibly confusing to jurors and the judge. Experts in truck accident cases have specialized knowledge, skills, education, or experience on the issue that they are helping explain. Their testimony will help the judge and jury understand and provide a credible opinion on what caused the accident, who was at fault, what the injuries are, and what proper recovery entails to fully compensate the victim.

Common Experts in Trucking Accident Cases:

• Accident Reconstruction
• Lighting/Visibility
• Trucking Standards
• Biomechanical
• Mechanical Engineer
• Medical
• Mental Health Professional
• Economist

An experienced personal injury and truck accident attorney at Charles E. Boyk Law Offices will determine which experts would be the most beneficial for recovery in your case. Your attorney will consider the facts of your case specifically, the nature of the accident, and what issues need to be explained to select what expertise is needed. As seasoned lawyers in the truck accident field, Charles E. Boyk Law Offices uses experienced, credible, and knowledgeable expert witnesses to strengthen your claim and seek maximum compensation for your injuries. With offices in Northwest Ohio up to Ann Arbor, Michigan, personal injury and truck accident attorneys at Charles E. Boyk Law are conveniently located near major trucking routes, including I-75, I-475, I-90, U.S. Route 24, and U.S. Route 23.

How Do These Experts Help With Your Claim?

In general, hiring expert witnesses helps the judge and jury understand important aspects of your case and provides credibility to the arguments that your personal injury or truck accident attorney makes. Often, most judges and members of the jury do not have extensive knowledge of the ins and outs of the law, especially in complex cases. As experts have specialized knowledge learned from education and/or experience in their field, they provide an independent opinion that judges and juries may feel more confident and secure in believing than simply hearing the information from a party or lawyer of the case. Experts also direct the attention of these finders of fact to important issues and clarify liability and recovery. Hiring experts tends to maximize the recovery sought and convince the judge and jury that you deserve the outcome you and your attorney seek. Your experienced truck accident and personal injury lawyer at Charles E. Boyk Law Offices will consider if and how the following common experts in truck accident cases will benefit your case. As a law office with six attorneys and years of experience in the Toledo area, Charles E. Boyk Law uses credible, knowledgeable, and valuable experts to help their clients recover to the fullest extent.

Accident Reconstruction

This expert reconstructs the accident to determine what and who caused the accident and what happened during it. They use forensics, mathematics, physics, and engineering to form an independent opinion. The expert may go to the scene of the accident to collect data and observe the scene, including whether there is any debris, skid marks, or property damage that may help them form their opinion on how the accident occurred. They may also reference photos, videos, the crash report, and eyewitness statements. The vehicles involved in the collision and the data they store are also useful for the experts to determine how the accident happened and who is at fault. Looking at the truck and other vehicles involved in the collision can help the expert in determining the speed the vehicles were going, where and how they collided, and how severe the damage was.

An Accident Reconstruction Expert may be used in your case if the cause of the accident is unclear or disputed, and to determine which claims to bring against the truck driver and other parties responsible for the trucking accident. Since each party is likely to claim the other is at fault, this expert may be essential to your case. As the expert has an independent opinion, if the evidence and data may point to the truck driver being at fault, they may be able to convince the judge or jury that the truck driver caused the accident and how they did so.

Lighting/Visibility

This expert looks at factors that may have had an effect on the drivers’ visibility at the time of the truck accident to understand how each driver perceived the scene leading up to the collision. These experts consider factors specific to your experience, including the weather, traffic, and what lights were on on each vehicle involved. They often return to the scene of the accident to take note of the lighting in the area, line of sight obstructions, and any signage or traffic signals. The lighting expert uses their specialized knowledge, skills, education, or experience to conduct a lighting level measurement survey and determine, in their unbiased, expert opinion, whether there was enough lighting for the circumstances and possibly whether the area’s lighting complied with the local code.

A Lighting and Visibility Expert may be useful to your claim or defense to explain how the scene was perceived by each party leading up to the accident and to determine whether any driver’s visibility was obstructed by the lighting or other features of the scene. The expert may also be useful if the truck driver was driving without their lights on or was otherwise the cause of your or their own impaired visibility.

Trucking Standards

This expert applies their specialized knowledge in the trucking industry, safety standards, best practices, and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations.  This expert is useful to determine liability and contributing factors to the truck accident. They can opine whether the truck driver and their employer were following all applicable regulations, including load limit and Hours of Service (HOS) limitations. If the regulations and standards were not being followed, they could have contributed to the accident taking place; the expert can provide an opinion on this.

A Trucking Standards Expert may be useful to determine whether the truck driver was negligent or reckless and whether their employer contributed to the cause of the accident. This expert may clarify which claims can be brought and who to bring claims against. If the expert determines that regulations, proper training, or other trucking industry rules were not followed, you may be able to collect compensation from the truck driver’s employer in addition to the driver to receive proper recovery for your injuries. This expert is useful in truck accident cases because these regulations are not common knowledge amongst the general public. They can be complex and confusing to understand when presented in a trial setting, so the expert explaining and applying them to the case is helpful for the judge and jury to understand whether the driver is at fault and why.

Biomechanical

This expert uses forensic, mechanical, and engineering theories to form their independent opinion on the causation of the injuries in the truck accident. The expert uses their specialized knowledge of how the human body reacts to force, how mechanical devices such as vehicles work, and whether the scene of the accident contributed to or affected the collision. They reference the medical records and injuries of the parties, the positions in the vehicles the parties were in, the accident report, evidence collected from the scene, and possibly eyewitness statements. They may return to the scene of the accident to determine whether there is any remaining evidence they can analyze, such as skid marks.

If there is disagreement about how the injuries occurred, a Biomechanical Expert can be useful to explain to the judge or jury what their specialized knowledge, skills, education, or experience applied to the evidence of the case leads them to believe the cause is. This expert may work with the Accident Reconstruction Expert to compile data used to determine how the injuries occurred.

Mechanical Engineer

This expert focuses on the vehicles involved in the truck accident to determine whether any of the vehicles’ components contributed to the accident occurring. They investigate whether there were any mechanical failures, maintenance issues, or defects with the vehicles themselves that caused the truck accident. They will inspect all vehicles involved and parts such as the brakes, steering, suspension, and tires to determine, in their unbiased opinion, whether any defects were the cause of the collision or if they were the result of the collision. They typically collect data from the “black box”, or Event Data Recorder, of the vehicles to determine what the vehicles did before, during, and after the accident. These devices collect data, including airbag deployment, speed, brake application, steering angle, and even whether the passengers were wearing their seat belts. An expert may also use data from the accident scene, such as skid marks, to aid in forming their opinion. The Mechanical Engineer may work with other experts to assist each other in forming reports and credible opinions on how the accident and injuries occurred and who was ultimately at fault for the truck accident.

The mechanical components of vehicles are complex, and the details of their operation are not common knowledge. A Mechanical Engineer is useful to explain to the judge and jury how the vehicle itself and what actions or omissions of the drivers may have contributed to the collision. They may also explain how the “black box” collects the data of the vehicle for the judge and jury to understand that it is reliable.

Medical

This expert focuses on the injuries sustained from the truck accident, including the symptoms, treatment, and future implications. The expert will review the health and treatment history of the injured people and narrate how their injuries resulting from the car accident were caused and the impact they have on their lives. The expert forms an independent opinion on whether the accident caused the injuries; what necessary treatment you have gone through; what future treatment you will need; and whether these injuries are permanent. Importantly, the expert can also provide an opinion on how much future medical treatment related to the accident will cost; this may enable your attorney to seek additional compensation from the at-fault driver.

A Medical Expert is useful in truck accident cases to explain the extent of the injuries when the injured themselves cannot effectively do so or to clarify complex terms. The medical field is complex, and for outsiders, such as judges and juries, the terms are often difficult to grasp; having an expert helps. If the judge or jury does not understand how your injuries occurred, the extent of them, or what they even are, your case may fail to convince them that you deserve the recovery you are seeking. Utilizing this expert adds credibility to your injuries and informs the judge and jury that you are actually injured and not just pretending in hopes of more recovery. There may also be skepticism about whether the truck accident actually caused the injuries or whether they existed prior to the accident. The expert can ease this skepticism with their independent opinion on whether the accident caused the injuries after reviewing all treatment information and the injured person’s medical records.

Mental Health Professional

This expert focuses on injuries to the victim’s emotional and psychological health. These injuries may include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, sleep disorders, traumatic brain injuries, and other complications with cognitive functioning. Experts in this category may be psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed social workers, and licensed counselors. The expert will analyze the effect that the truck accident had on you and determine how that is being displayed through psychological troubles. The expert can opine how severe the conditions are, what future treatment may be needed, and whether they are permanent. Often, psychological conditions impact a person’s behavior in all aspects of their life; the expert can explain to the judge and jury the extent of this. This expert testimony provides evidence of your symptoms and suffering as well as a connection to how they are impacting your quality of life, ability to work, social relationships, and any other aspect of your life that is affected.

A Mental Health Professional is useful to identify and explain how the impact of the truck accident contributed to these often severe, yet invisible injuries. The victim may not be able to explain to the judge and jury the extent of the psychological and emotional injuries. The opposing counsel may try to minimize these injuries. Working with credible, experienced experts in this field can help secure recovery for these internal injuries, which tend to have a widespread impact on the victim’s life.

Economist

This expert focuses on the economic loss and monetary damages you have suffered as a result of the truck accident. Economic damages are actual monetary loss. This includes property damage, medical expenses, and lost wages. When a truck accident results in severe damage, injuries, or financial loss, an economist will analyze the costs and evaluate the tangible financial loss you have incurred. The economist also determines how much future loss could be reasonably anticipated; this includes future medical expenses and future lost wages. The expert will use mathematical and statistical knowledge to account for inflation and estimate the total financial burden associated with the accident.

An Economist is useful in any personal injury case to prove the amount of damages the Plaintiff has faced and the costs they will incur in the future as a direct result of the accident. Medical bills and payments with receipts are simple to calculate as monetary damages. The expert economist provides experience and streamlines calculating other, more complex monetary damages, such as lost wages and all future expenses. Due to their specialized knowledge, the economist focuses on identifying and compiling any and all of these costs stemming from the accident and identifying and calculating the future costs.  As economic loss can provide significant recovery, your lawyer may determine that an economist is essential to your case.

Contact Our Top-Rated Personal Injury Lawyers for Help With Expert Witnesses and Damage Recovery After a Truck Accident

The top-rated Toledo, Ohio, personal injury lawyers at Charles E. Boyk Law Offices are experienced in car and truck accident cases and are committed to maximizing their clients’ recovery. Contact one of the conveniently located offices throughout Toledo and northwest Ohio for a free consultation to discuss your truck accident experience. Your attorney at Charles E. Boyk Law will consider the issues and claims throughout your case and determine what experts may be useful to explain these to the judge and/or jury. Choosing an experienced attorney to work on your case provides the opportunity to work with credible, qualified, and helpful experts who have the ability to make a big difference in the recovery of your experience.