How Expert Witnesses Can Strengthen Your Truck Accident Claims

Truck accidents are a mess of twisted metal and high-tech mayhem. They usually involve serious injuries, large claims, and complex dynamics. This is particularly likely to be the case if the ultimate cause was a mechanical failure. You might need an expert witness to help you win a truck accident claim.

Expert witnesses are not the same as lay witnesses. Instead of testifying about their own experiences, they testify about how their field of expertise applies to the facts of a given accident. Depending on the facts of your particular case, an expert witness can greatly strengthen your truck accident claim.

The expert witness industry

Expert witnessing is its own industry. You can even find expert witnesses through online agencies such as The National Expert Witness Agency. Expert witnesses are almost always paid, and they are not cheap. If you are using an expert witness and the other side is not, you can expect the other side to bring to the court’s attention the fact that you are paying the witness, to cast doubt upon the witness’s credibility. Nevertheless, expert witnesses are a routine part of litigation.

Professional expert witnesses may testify full-time and usually do not even practice their original profession. A doctor might retire from medicine, for example, to work as a full-time expert witness. These witnesses are often superior to practicing professionals. Their experience testifying gives them the ability to withstand the heat of cross-examination better than someone who has never testified before.

Negligence, causation and damages: What you have to prove to win

To win a truck accident claim, you must prove:

1. The defendant committed a negligent act or omission. A trucker might have run a red light, for example, or driven with overloaded cargo. A mechanic might have made faulty repairs on the truck’s braking system. If someone owes a duty of care and breaches that duty through unreasonable conduct, it may constitute negligence.
2. The defendant’s negligence caused the accident.
3. The accident generated damages. Damages are losses that money can compensate for, such as medical bills or emotional distress. Damages work differently for wrongful death claims than they do for personal injury claims.

If you prove all of the foregoing facts, you have proven liability.

How do you qualify as an expert in Oklahoma?

Ultimately a court will decide whether to qualify someone as an expert witness. A court will consider the expert’s knowledge, skill, experience, training, and education. Oklahoma, like most US jurisdictions, applies the Daubert standard.

Under the Daubert standard, the expert must possess the appropriate knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education. The expert might need a PhD, for example, or a professional license. This is not a requirement in every field, of course. An expert in auto mechanics would not need a PhD, for example, while a physics expert probably would. The Daubert standard also governs when expert testimony constitutes admissible evidence.

Types of expert witnesses you might need

You are likely to need expert witnesses in truck accident claims because the complexity of a truck accident case is often beyond the understanding of jurors. An expert witness can help translate technical issues into understandable, persuasive testimony the lay jurors can understand. Below is a list of some of the common types of experts that lawyers use when litigating truck accident claims.

Accident reconstruction specialists

The job of an accident reconstruction specialist is to prove how an accident happened. They might, for example, analyze skid marks, black box data, the impact angle, and the speed, direction, and momentum of the vehicles. This could allow the expert to generate an exact sequence of events.

An accident reconstruction specialist might also examine mechanical failures such as brake failure, tire blowouts, or faulty maintenance. They may also assess compliance with FMCSA trucking regulations to help assess whether factors like speed limits, braking distances, or driver behavior align with appropriate standards. Liability is considerably easier to prove if you can establish that the defendant violated a trucking regulation.

Once an accident reconstruction specialist understands the accident, they can assess fault in a persuasive manner. The expert might point to driver error, for example, to a manufacturing defect, or even to third-party negligence.

Medical experts

A medical expert, such as a physician, can:

• Describe the victim’s injuries, their seriousness, and the degree of disability of the victim;
• Establish that the truck accident is what caused the victim’s injuries;
• Confirm or rule out alternative causes of an injury that an insurance company might assert;
• Project the victim’s future medical needs;
• Help quantify pain and suffering, disability, and loss of function; and
• Quantify treatment and rehabilitation costs.

A medical expert need not be a doctor, although they typically would be.

Economic experts

An economics expert such as an economist, a vocational expert, or an accountant, can calculate the victim’s lost income, long-term diminished earning capacity, and projected future economic losses. If the victim is young and suffers serious disability, this might add up to the majority of damages in the case.

Vocational rehabilitation specialists

Seriously injured truck accident victims sometimes cannot return to their previous occupations. They might require vocational rehabilitation services to return to gainful employment. A vocational rehabilitation specialist can evaluate the victim’s return-to-work potential and employment limitations, and place an economic value on them.

Trucking industry experts

A trucking industry expert can explain safety protocols, training standards, and industry norms. This kind of testimony can help interpret trucking regulations and determine fault. It can also establish negligence for inadequate training, for example.

Expert witnesses in negotiations

Most truck accident claims never make it to trial. The vast majority of claims end at the settlement table. So how do you use an expert witness in settlement negotiations? The simple answer is ‘bargaining power.’ If you have a convincing expert witness on your side, the defendant is more likely to agree to a fair settlement rather than face you in court.

The ‘battle of the experts’

Don’t ever forget that the defense can call its own expert witnesses. If you call an expert witness and the defense calls an expert witness who contradicts your expert, you are in a ‘battle of the experts’ situation. At the negotiating table the end result is usually compromise. In court, the jury usually decides whose expert is more persuasive.

Contact a truck accident lawyer today

Don’t wait until the statute of limitations deadline is looming to contact an Oklahoma City personal injury law firm. The sooner you get started pursuing your truck accident claim, the better your chances of receiving fair compensation. Here at Cunningham & Mears, we know what you are facing–we have brought in over $250 million for our clients. Contact us at your earliest convenience to schedule a free initial consultation.