Why do Truck Accidents Happen?

There are various reasons why accidents and collisions happen on Illinois’ roads and highways. These include driver related errors like fatigue, aggressive driving such as tailgating or speeding, inattention like the use of cell phone while driving, and drug and alcohol use. However, accountability does not start and end only with the driver of the truck. The shipping or trucking company has a crucial responsibility in ensuring that the truck is inspected, tested, and maintained in accordance with regulations and industry standards. They are responsible in making sure that the driver is properly trained, physically and mentally capable of engaging in such a high risk profession, and is negative on alcohol and drug use.

What are the Truck Accident Laws and Regulations?

Companies need to comply with state and federal rules and regulations like the number of hours that a driver can drive, log of hours worked, drug and alcohol tests for drivers^[2], brake safety^[3], and truck size and maximum weight load. There are also regulations for carrying cargo^[4] like proper use of tiedowns, proper loading and transportation of special commodities like lumber, metal coils, paper rolls, concrete pipes, containers, automobiles and large boulders.

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The son of a construction worker who was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Terry Lavin received a Journalism degree at the University of Illinois. He graduated from I.I.T.-Chicago Kent College of Law in 1983, but his first break in the legal field came two years earlier, when he was hired as law clerk to legendary Chicago trial lawyer Philip H. Corboy during his second year of law school. Corboy’s partner, Thomas Demetrio, has publicly called Lavin “the best law clerk” who ever worked at the firm.

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J. Patrick White is an associate at Lavin Law Offices, P.C. in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. White was raised in Evanston, Illinois, and attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, earning a degree in political science in 2001.

After working on an Illinois gubernatorial campaign, he attended law school while working full-time as a clerk for the Chicago firm of Corboy & Demetrio, P.C.

Mr. White graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in January 2007 and is a member of the American Bar Association, American Association for Justice, Illinois State Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.

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Railroad Crossing: Thirty-nine year old working mother struck by train at crossing with inoperative lights and gates. She sustained minor injuries to her hand and developoed a brain injury and psychiatric condition that left her totally disabled. Her husband received a $3.35 million for loss of consortium. Verdict is the third largest compensatory damage verdict in an Illinois personal injury case and the largest ever railroad crossing verdict in Illinois.

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Medical Malpractice: Thirty-six-year-old with bacterial endocarditis that was misdiagnosed as a flare-up of a gastric ulcer. As a result of the delay in proper diagnosis, the plaintiff suffered a stroke that left him mildy brain-damaged and paralyzed on the left side of his body. Terrence Lavin was co-counsel with Joseph A. Power in this case, which resulted in a verdict that stood as the largest Illinois medical malpractice injury verdict for ten years.

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