Skip to Content
Top
Injured in a Truck Accident? Protecting the Injured in Wisconsin & Minnesota

Eau Claire Truck Accident Attorneys

The trucks driving up and down I-94 through Eau Claire are vital to our economy, delivering goods from all over the country. Unfortunately, drivers and trucking companies are under intense pressure to get their loads delivered on time, which sometimes results in compromises on basic safety. The Eau Claire truck accident attorneys of Bye, Goff & Rohde have seen tragic results too many times.

For the victim of an accident involving a semi-truck, it all starts with a feeling of powerlessness. There was nothing you could do to avoid the wreck. In the aftermath, you may feel powerless against the insurance company handling your claim. We are here to help you regain a sense of control. Our Eau Claire injury attorneys will begin by listening to you, taking the time to learn about the particulars of your case. Then, our attorneys will dig until the facts of your case are clear and understandable. We will then build your case and seek maximum compensation, taking it to trial if we cannot reach a favorable settlement with the other party. 


Our attorneys are on your side. Call us at (534) 202-5404 to schedule a free consultation today.


Overview of FMCSA Regulations

Federal trucking regulations set standards for commercial motor vehicles (CMVs), drivers, and trucking companies to ensure safety on the roads. Some key regulations established by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) that drivers and trucking companies must follow include:

  • Hours of Service (HOS): These regulations limit the number of hours a driver can operate a commercial vehicle within a specific period to prevent driver fatigue. For example, drivers must take breaks after a certain number of consecutive driving hours and adhere to daily and weekly rest periods.
  • Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs): Mandated to replace paper logbooks, ELDs track a driver's hours of service automatically to ensure compliance with HOS regulations accurately.
  • Commercial Driver's License (CDL): Drivers operating commercial vehicles must possess a valid CDL with the appropriate endorsements for the type of vehicle and cargo they transport.
  • Drug and Alcohol Testing: Trucking companies are required to conduct drug and alcohol testing for drivers in accordance with specific guidelines. Pre-employment, random, post-accident, and reasonable suspicion testing are among the types mandated.
  • Vehicle Maintenance and Inspections: Regular maintenance and inspection of commercial vehicles are mandatory to ensure they meet safety standards. This includes brake checks, tire maintenance, and general mechanical upkeep.
  • Weight Limits: Regulations determine the maximum weight a truck can carry on different types of roads and bridges, aiming to prevent excessive strain on infrastructure and maintain safety.
  • Hazardous Materials Transportation: Guidelines regulate the handling, labeling, and transportation of hazardous materials to prevent accidents and environmental hazards.
  • Driver Qualifications: Specific qualifications, including age, medical fitness, and driving history, must be met by drivers to operate commercial vehicles.
  • Record-Keeping Requirements: Trucking companies are required to maintain records of driver duty status, vehicle inspections, maintenance, and other essential documents for a set period.

These regulations are designed to promote safety, reduce accidents, protect drivers and passengers, and ensure the proper functioning of the commercial transportation industry. Non-compliance with these regulations can result in penalties, fines, or restrictions on operating licenses for both drivers and trucking companies.

What Are the Common Types of Truck Accidents?

A truck accident is an incident involving a large truck, such as a semi-truck, tractor-trailer, or big rig, and typically involves collisions with other vehicles, pedestrians, or stationary objects. These accidents can result in serious injuries, fatalities, and significant property damage due to the size and weight of trucks.

Common types of truck accidents include:

  • Rear-end collisions: When a truck crashes into the back of another vehicle. This can happen due to sudden stops, distracted driving, or tailgating.
  • Jackknife accidents: These occur when the trailer of a truck swings outward, forming an angle with the cab, resembling the shape of a folding pocket knife. This often happens due to sudden braking or slippery road conditions.
  • Rollovers: When a truck tips over onto its side or roof. Rollovers can be caused by speeding, taking a turn too sharply, or improper loading of cargo.
  • Underride accidents: When a smaller vehicle slides underneath the trailer of a truck, often resulting in severe injuries or fatalities for the occupants of the smaller vehicle.
  • Blind spot accidents: Trucks have large blind spots where smaller vehicles can be hidden from the driver's view. Accidents occur when trucks change lanes or make turns without realizing a vehicle is in their blind spot.
  • Tire blowouts: Sudden tire failures on trucks can cause the driver to lose control, leading to accidents.
  • Cargo-related accidents: Improperly loaded or unsecured cargo can shift during transit, causing the truck to become unstable or spill its load onto the road, creating hazardous conditions for other vehicles.

What Are the Common Causes of Truck Accidents?

Car accidents are one of the most common causes of injury and death in Wisconsin and Minnesota. At Bye, Goff & Rohde, we understand how devastating these accidents can be for both victims and their families. We also know that many different factors can contribute to truck accidents.

Accidents involving a truck are commonly the result of:

  • Driver Fatigue
  • Reckless Driving
  • Speeding
  • Improperly Balanced Loads
  • Defective Manufacturing
  • Improper Vehicle Maintenance

You deserve to know why your accident happened and to have justice served in your case.

Federal Truck TCommon Injuries Associated with Truck Accidents 

Trucking accidents can result in a wide range of injuries, many of which can be serious or life-threatening. 

The most common injuries stemming from trucking accidents include: 

  • Traumatic Brain Injury: The leading cause of disability related to trucking accidents. These types of brain injuries are often caused by blunt force trauma to the head resulting from the impact of a crash with a large commercial vehicle. Victims may suffer cognitive impairments such as memory loss, confusion, and difficulty focusing on tasks. Victims may also experience physical symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), vision problems, and paralysis. 
  • Spinal Cord Injuries: These are common among victims of trucking accidents. These types of injuries often result in permanent paralysis due to tears or displacement of the vertebrae that make up the spine. Victims may lose sensation in any part of their body below where the damage was incurred. Additionally, victims may experience difficulty walking or controlling bodily functions such as bladder control or breathing, depending on the severity of the injury. 
  • Broken Bones: Bone fractures are another frequent consequence of trucking accidents. Fractures can occur in any bone in the body but typically manifest most commonly around feet and ankles due to bracing for impact during an accident. 
  • Soft Tissue Injuries: Injuries like whiplash are also common among victims who were not wearing seatbelts at the time of an accident. These sprains occur when ligaments that support a joint stretch beyond their normal limits causing pain and reduced mobility. 
  • Burns and Lacerations: When a vehicle is damaged severely enough for its airbags to deploy, or if it leaks combustible materials such as fuel or oil following an accident, victims may suffer burns, scrapes, or lacerations. These severe skin wounds often require immediate medical attention to prevent infection or long-term scarring. 
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Another condition that victims might develop after being involved in a traumatic event like a trucking accident, PTSD is a type of psychological injury that can cause intense feelings of fear, anxiety, and depression, which require medical treatment to return to normalcy before an incident occurred. 
  • Internal Organ Damage: Organs like the lungs, heart, brain, stomach, liver, and kidney can all sustain various levels of trauma due to extreme pressure released upon impact with a large commercial vehicle

Following an accident, it is essential to have a medical report written up as soon as possible. This will give us critical information crucial to supporting your claim or lawsuit.

Who Can Be Found at Fault for a Truck Accident?

While determining liability in some areas of personal injury law is reasonably straightforward, trucking accidents are more complicated. In cases like these, numerous parties can be found liable for different reasons. 

Liability could fall on any of the following parties in your case: 

  • The Driver: The driver can be considered at fault if they drove carelessly during your accident. Tailgating, excessive speed, and driving under the influence would be considered careless driving.
  • The Driver’s Employer: If the truck driver was operating within the scope of their employment when they caused your accident, you might be able to file a claim or sue the driver’s employer.
  • Service Technicians: If someone performed shoddy maintenance or incorrectly installed a part on your truck, they could be found negligent since their actions contributed to the accident.
  • The Person Who Loaded the Truck: If improperly loaded or insecure cargo led to the accident, the person or company responsible for loading the truck could be liable.
  • The Manufacturer of the Truck or Its Parts: Product defects often lead to auto accidents, and trucking accidents are no exception. If a faulty part contributed to your accident, you could seek damages from the manufacturer of the part or the truck itself.

The list above is not exhaustive, as many things can lead to a truck accident. For example, a person’s aggressive or careless driving could lead a trucker to over-correct, resulting in an accident. In this case, the other car’s driver could conceivably be found liable for the accident. 

We will perform a comprehensive analysis of your accident, taking care to note any potentially liable parties. We will pursue all potential damages from all responsible parties, leaving no stone unturned in our fight for your justice. 

Contact Us Today

If you choose to put us to work, you owe us nothing unless we win your case or get you a settlement. We encourage you to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation for your case as soon as possible. You are not powerless during this process. Allow us to fight back on your behalf, and give us a call today.


To schedule a free consultation, call us at (534) 202-5404 or contact us online.


How an Attorney Can Help With Your Truck Accident Case

At Bye, Goff & Rohde, our experienced and knowledgeable Eau Claire truck accident lawyers can help you fight for the compensation you deserve for your injuries. With decades of combined legal experience, our attorneys understand the complexities of these cases and have successfully represented many individuals throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota who have been harmed in semi-truck and other types of large vehicle accidents. 

We carefully review all available evidence to determine liability and identify any parties who may be held accountable for the accident. We work with top experts in the field to determine how the truck was maintained, investigate roadway conditions, evaluate driver behavior, and assess whether other factors, such as road construction or bad weather, may have contributed to the crash. Our team pursues all potential sources of recovery when taking on a truck accident case, including pursuing claims against negligent parties, insurance companies, and manufacturers of defective components or vehicles.

Our attorneys will listen to your recollection of the accident and provide a thorough assessment of your claim while advocating on your behalf with insurance companies. We are committed to seeking justice after a serious trucking accident and will seek maximum compensation for medical bills, lost wages due to missed time at work, pain and suffering, vehicle repairs or replacement costs, and more. Our team will handle all communication with insurers to avoid settling for less than you are entitled to.

The Tragic Consequences to You and Your Family

Unfortunately, far more than just your vehicle may have been damaged in your accident. Injuries from truck accidents are painful and leave lasting damage that can take months or even years to heal. Severe brain damage, paralysis, and permanent disability are all too common in these cases. When a loved one is killed in an accident, the financial and psychological harm may never fully pass.

Victims of a truck accident caused by negligence are entitled to fair compensation for medical bills, medications, lost wages due to time missed from work, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and pain and suffering resulting from their injuries. These recovery costs are costly, and the other party’s insurance company will fight to keep their costs down as much as possible.

Don’t Fight This Alone

You are not obligated to accept any settlement offer made by the insurance company. The attorneys of Bye, Goff & Rohde are here to protect the people of Eau Claire and see that they get justice and fair compensation for their injuries. Accepting a settlement offer quickly could leave you stuck bearing the bill if further medical or rehabilitation treatments are required. Let our attorneys work to protect your and your family’s interests.

How Long Do Truck Accident Lawsuits Take?

Truck accident lawsuits can vary substantially in length depending on the case’s complexity and the parties’ willingness to settle out of court. Generally speaking, truck accident lawsuits are lengthy proceedings that can take several months to a few years for all matters to be resolved. Factors such as whether or not negligence must be proven, how many witnesses need to be questioned, how many documents must be reviewed and/or analyzed, and if expert testimony is necessary can all impact the length of a truck accident lawsuit. In any case, we will apply pressure wherever we can to expedite the process on your behalf

Our Eau Claire Truck Accident Attorneys Will Fight for Results

Many personal injury attorneys rarely see the inside of a courtroom, preferring to take a quick settlement and move on to the next case. Our attorneys know that you deserve someone willing to fight to protect your interests. We start from day one with a trial mindset. We prepare to take your case to trial right from the start.

 Our firm has a fierce reputation with corporate lawyers and insurance companies. They know we won’t settle for less than the full value of the damages that you incurred.

Hear From Our Past Client's Real Clients. Real Stories.
"I Knew I Was in Good Hands"

Steve Goff and his staff helped me through a painful and emotional 3 + years in many ways. They were very diligent with all communications, they promptly and respectfully answered any questions or confusions that came up for me.

- Maryjo

We’re Ready to Help Contact Bye, Goff & Rohde Today!

If you or a loved one has been injured, contact our dedicated and experienced team for the justice you deserve.

  • Please enter your first name.
  • Please enter your last name.
  • Please enter your phone number.
    This isn't a valid phone number.
  • Please enter your email address.
    This isn't a valid email address.
  • Please make a selection.
  • Please enter a message.