Denver Truck Accident Lawyers

A crash with a semi or commercial truck can leave lasting injuries and financial repercussions. It’s more than just a wreck. It’s a life interrupted. That’s where a Denver truck accident lawyer at Matlin Injury Law can help.

Our Denver personal injury lawyers have over 50 years of combined experience standing up to powerful trucking companies and their insurers. We’ve recovered over $25 million for injured clients across Colorado, guiding them through recovery with honesty, empathy, and constant communication.

You’ll always have direct access to your attorney and real-time updates through our case-tracking app. Every client receives a personalized legal plan built for their situation and goals. We believe in justice, accountability, and treating every client like family because your future matters.

Why You Need a Lawyer After a Truck Crash

After a truck accident, victims often face pressure to settle fast. Insurance adjusters may sound sympathetic, but their goal is simple: pay as little as possible. A truck accident attorney in Denver protects you from those tactics and ensures your case is taken seriously.

Without an attorney, critical evidence can be lost or destroyed. Time is limited, too; while Colorado allows three years to file a motor vehicle claim, waiting too long makes it harder to track evidence and witnesses.

One of the best reasons for hiring a truck accident lawyer is that it gives you a voice and a strategy. Your lawyer knows the system, understands the real value of your case, and stands firm against the powerful interests trying to minimize your pain or losses.

The Challenges in Truck Accident Claims

Truck accident cases are far more complex than ordinary car crash claims. When a commercial vehicle is involved, there’s often a tangled web of responsibility. A single collision can implicate the truck driver, the trucking company, the cargo loaders, a maintenance contractor, or even the manufacturer of a defective part.

Each of these parties carries its own insurance policy, and each employs lawyers and investigators with one goal: to protect their bottom line. Untangling who is truly at fault and proving it requires deep legal and technical knowledge.

Other common challenges include:

• Complex federal and state regulations: Trucking operations are governed by strict safety and service-hour rules from the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). However, proving violations—like fatigue, poor maintenance, or falsified logs—calls for a lawyer who knows where to look and how to interpret these technical records.
• Severe injuries and higher damages: Because of their enormous size and weight, commercial trucks can cause devastating harm, including brain and spinal injuries, amputations, and other life-changing conditions. These cases often involve long-term rehabilitation, loss of income, and future medical costs that must be precisely calculated.
• Aggressive defense teams: Trucking and insurance companies respond fast, sending investigators to the scene within hours. Their goal is to control evidence and shape the story before victims even know what happened.

Given these challenges, hiring an experienced commercial truck accident lawyer in Denver, CO, isn’t just a good idea; it’s essential. A skilled attorney can preserve crucial evidence, identify every liable party, and ensure you’re not outmatched by the teams working to minimize your recovery.

What a Truck Accident Lawyer Can Do for You

An experienced semi truck accident lawyer does far more than prepare paperwork—they take on the legal, emotional, and financial burden so you can focus on recovery. Truck crash cases require precision, patience, and a deep understanding of how the trucking industry operates.

A skilled legal team investigates every angle to uncover exactly what happened and who is responsible.

Thorough Investigation

A lawyer will collect crash reports, dash cam and GPS data, black box information, and driver logs to piece together how the collision occurred. In serious semi-truck collisions, these details often reveal truck driver negligence, such as fatigue, improper loading, speeding, or violations of federal safety standards.

Identify All Liable Parties

Truck accidents often involve multiple layers of responsibility. Beyond the driver, there may be third-party maintenance providers, cargo loaders, or truck manufacturers whose choices contributed to the crash. An attorney ensures that each party is held accountable.

Handle Insurance Companies

Insurance adjusters often try to downplay the severity of truck crash injuries or shift blame. A lawyer steps in to communicate directly, protecting your rights and preventing unfair settlements while ensuring your hospital bills, lost wages, and future care costs are fully addressed.

Calculate Full Compensation

Truck crash injuries can lead to long-term disabilities, chronic pain, and emotional trauma. A lawyer builds a complete claim that factors in economic losses and personal suffering, ensuring that every cost—from property damage to rehabilitation—is recovered.

Build a Personalized Legal Plan

Every client’s story is unique. A skilled attorney will create a plan that fits your circumstances, outlining clear steps for your case and providing regular updates so you always know where things stand.

Trial-Ready Representation

While many truck crash cases settle out of court, strong preparation is key to achieving the best results. Lawyers prepare as if every case will go to trial, using expert testimony, accident reconstruction, and meticulous analysis to present the truth with confidence.

In short: the right Denver truck accident attorney safeguards your rights, builds a solid case rooted in evidence, and ensures your voice isn’t lost in the noise of corporate defense and industry bureaucracy.

Your Truck Accident Settlement Should Cover All Economic and Non-Economic Losses

Recovering from a truck accident isn’t just about healing physically; it’s about protecting your financial future. The costs that follow a serious crash can pile up quickly, and many victims underestimate how long those expenses last.

A fair settlement should account for every measurable loss you’ve suffered, as well as the emotional impact that can’t be captured on a bill or receipt. Understanding both economic and non-economic damages is key to ensuring full and fair compensation.

Economic Damages: Covering Your Financial Losses

Economic damages represent the tangible, documentable financial losses caused by the crash. These include:

• Present and future medical bills related to your truck accident injuries
• Costs of ongoing care, rehabilitation, or in-home support
• Income losses from missed work during recovery
• Diminished earning capacity if your injuries prevent you from earning what you once did
• Home modifications or adaptive equipment needed after a disabling injury
• Property damage, including the repair or replacement of your vehicle
• Other related out-of-pocket expenses essential to your recovery

Every dollar matters. An experienced truck accident lawyer ensures your economic damages reflect not just today’s bills, but the long-term ripple effects of your injuries—medical, occupational, and financial.

Non-Economic Damages: Recognizing the Human Cost

Not all losses are financial. The emotional and personal toll of a truck accident can be just as real and often even more devastating. These non-economic damages acknowledge the pain, suffering, and loss of normal life you’ve endured.

They may include:

• Pain and suffering, including physical pain, emotional trauma, and lasting psychological distress
• Loss of consortium, or the strain that accident injuries place on your closest relationships
• Lowered quality of life, including the inability to enjoy activities you once loved
• Loss of enjoyment of life, acknowledging how your daily experience has changed

Truck crash cases often require strong, credible evidence to prove both categories of loss. We work with medical experts, financial specialists, and witnesses to quantify your full range of damages.

A well-prepared case doesn’t just reflect what you’ve lost; it helps secure the financial compensation your family deserves under Colorado law, accounting for both your present hardships and your future needs.

Wrongful Death Claims for Truck Accidents

If your loved one died from their injuries, their surviving family members should not have to deal with the resulting financial burden. Our Denver wrongful death lawyers will manage your legal case with compassion so your family has time to grieve.

Under Colorado law, only certain close family members can file a wrongful death action, such as the decedent’s:

• Spouse
• Heirs
• Parents, in some circumstances

Your attorney will pursue compensation covering funeral and burial costs, medical expenses, and other losses related to their passing.

Why Choose a Matlin Injury Law Attorney to Handle My Truck Accident Injuries?

You can count on our team to fight for your rights. Founding attorney Brian Matlin, Esq., and his team are prepared to fight for you after your 18-wheeler accident.

We believe having the right attorney on your side can significantly relieve the stress and frustration you feel and make it easier to focus on your treatment and physical recovery.

Here’s what you can expect when you work with our truck accident lawyers in Denver:

• Direct access to your lawyer: You won’t need to go through a case manager or office assistant to reach your attorney.
• Access to an app to track your case: Get daily updates on your case so you’re always aware of what’s going on.
• Walk through the truck accident case: We’ll make sure you understand the complex legal and insurance process.
• Representation start to finish: Most cases will settle out of court, but if we need to take the case to trial, we’ll be ready.

When Should I Hire a Denver Truck Collision Attorney to Handle My Case?

Our truck accident lawyers recommend speaking with our team as soon as possible. Hiring a lawyer early in the process means we can protect your rights from the start. As soon as your injuries allow, contact our team.

Generally, you have a three-year time limit to file a car accident lawsuit in Colorado, per CO. Rev. Stat. § 13-80-101. The deadline is typically two years for wrongful death cases, per Colo. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 13-80-102.

Other deadlines could apply to your case. You must also navigate several steps before you sue, so hire a truck accident lawyer to oversee this process and ensure you meet all necessary timelines.

Prove the Cause of Your Truck Accident to Hold the Driver and Carrier Accountable

In 2022, 5,837 commercial trucks were involved in fatal accidents, while another 120,200 trucks were involved in accidents where injuries occurred. These numbers have increased by almost 50% in the last ten years. Despite the prevalence of trucks on interstates, almost three-quarters of fatal truck accidents occur on non-interstate roadways.

But whenever and wherever in the Denver area that your truck accident occurred—I-25, I-70, downtown, the Denver suburbs, or any of the city’s main and side roads—your truck accident lawyer will need to prove the cause to hold the driver and carrier liable.

Some causes of truck accidents include:

• Driver fatigue
• Speeding
• Inattentive driving
• Drug use
• Brake issues
• Traffic flow issues, such as congestion or hazards in the road
• Failure to come to a complete stop, such as at intersections
• Following too close behind other vehicles
• Not being familiar with the road
• Tire problems

Our Denver Truck Crash Lawyers Build Cases to Prove Liability

An accident caused by a commercial driver creates several complexities, potentially making it difficult to file a personal injury claim, negotiate a payout, or otherwise get justice in your case.

When you consider who might be liable for your crash, it becomes apparent why victims hire a truck accident lawyer to help with their case.

Unlike in most auto accidents, liability in truck accidents often goes beyond the other driver. Parties that could be liable for your truck accident include:

• The Truck Driver: The truck driver may have acted negligently by speeding, disobeying traffic laws, being distracted while driving, or failing to yield.
• The Trucking Company: The company may be negligent if it hired unqualified drivers, neglected to properly train drivers, or has practices that violate safety standards.
• Vehicle Manufacturers: If a defect in the truck caused or contributed to the wreck, the vehicle manufacturer could also be liable.

Further, truck carriers are often vicariously liable for accidents caused by their truck drivers. Employers are responsible for the negligent actions of their workers. This means we will likely pursue a case against the truck company. To win these cases, we must deal with insurers, lawyers, and large corporations.

Our Denver semi-truck accident lawyers have the knowledge, experience, resources, and reputation to manage these complex cases. We know what it takes to navigate this process and secure the compensation our clients deserve.

How Our Truck Accident Attorneys Prove Responsibility

We must prove the negligence that led to your accident. To do so, we may take some of the following actions:

• Interviewing Witnesses: Eyewitnesses can offer clear, impartial accounts of what happened during the accident. Witnesses may be bystanders or drivers and passengers in other vehicles.
• Obtaining Video Footage and Photographs of the Accident: Photos or videos from dashcams, cellphones, and traffic and security cameras can be some of the most helpful forms of evidence, as they can provide unbiased footage of what happened.
• Accident Reconstruction: An accident reconstruction specialist may examine physical evidence such as debris and skid marks to demonstrate a driver’s actions leading up to and during the collision.
• Retrieving Evidence From Carriers: Other evidence, such as driving records and personnel records, can also be helpful. Compliance with (or lack thereof) trucking regulations like hours of service and inspection rules could be relevant to your case, and our attorneys can retrieve those records.
• Reviewing Police Reports: Police or crash reports contain valuable insight into an accident. They can provide crucial details of the accident scene.

Having a truck accident lawyer by your side can mean peace of mind knowing that no stone is left unturned as they investigate your accident.

Truck accidents involve more regulations, more parties, and more complexity than most auto accidents, so knowledge of those nuances is important.

Commercial Vehicle Regulations in Colorado

In Colorado, commercial vehicle operations are governed by specific laws and regulations designed to ensure road safety and compliance.

A commercial vehicle is one used in commerce that weighs at least 16,001 pounds, is designed to transport 16 or more passengers, or is used to transport hazardous materials.

Other trucking regulations in Colorado include:

• Licensing: Operators of commercial vehicles are required to obtain a commercial driver’s license (CDL) appropriate for the vehicle’s class and adhere to hours-of-service regulations to prevent driver fatigue. These regulations mandate specific rest periods and limit driving hours within a given timeframe.
• Sizing: Size and weight limitations are strictly enforced. Vehicles exceeding an empty weight of 16,000 pounds or a gross combined weight rating over 26,000 pounds must clear through the state’s ports of entry managed by the Colorado State Patrol.
• Road Usage: Additionally, commercial vehicles are prohibited from using the farthest left lane on certain stretches of Interstate 70, except when safely passing slower vehicles.
• Insurance Regulations for Commercial Vehicles in Colorado: As in other parts of the country, commercial truck operators must comply with both state and federal insurance requirements to maintain adequate financial responsibility. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) mandates that interstate motor carriers operating vehicles over 10,000 pounds maintain a minimum liability insurance coverage of $750,000.

If a driver or trucking company is in violation of these regulations, it can impact your truck accident claim.

Things to Avoid After a Truck Accident

• If the truck driver seems aggressive or inebriated, do not interact with them. Instead, remain in your vehicle, if it is safe to do so, until emergency responders arrive.
• Avoid taking blame for the accident when discussing the wreck.
• Never post about your accident online. These social media posts can be used against you.

If you’ve been in an accident involving an 18-wheeler or other large truck, contact our Denver truck accident lawyers as soon as possible. We manage your injury case from start to finish so that you can focus on your recovery.

What to Expect Once You File Your Truck Accident Claim

When you file a truck accident claim, the process typically involves several key steps. Here’s what to expect:

• Investigation: Once you file your claim, the insurance company will investigate the accident. This includes reviewing police reports, examining evidence (like photos, videos, and witness statements), and analyzing medical records to assess injuries.
• Liability: Establishing fault is critical. Truck accidents can involve multiple parties, such as the driver, trucking company, or vehicle manufacturer. The investigation may include checking for violations of trucking regulations like driver fatigue limits or vehicle maintenance standards.
• Medical Treatment and Documentation: Ensure you follow through with prescribed medical care, as this serves as evidence of your injuries. Detailed medical records are essential to substantiate your claim.
• Negotiations: The insurance company may offer a settlement. Your truck accident attorney will evaluate the offer and negotiate to ensure it reflects the full extent of your losses, including medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
• Litigation (if necessary): If negotiations fail, your case may proceed to trial. Your attorney will present evidence to support your claim and seek maximum compensation.

Throughout the process, communication with your Denver truck accident attorney is vital to ensure your rights are protected.

Denied Claim? Your Truck Accident Lawyer Can Help

If your claim is denied or the insurance company is making lowball settlement offers that don’t account for all your losses, your attorney can fight the decision on your behalf. Your lawyer will respond with evidence proving the truck driver’s or truck carrier’s liability and establishing the short- and long-term effects of your injuries.

Your lawyer will continue negotiations or take the case to trial if necessary to recover full and fair compensation.

Contact a Denver Truck Accident Law Firm Today for a Free Case Review

If you or a loved one has been involved in a collision with a truck, you are likely dealing with financial worries on top of physical pain and emotional trauma. You don’t have to deal with the complexities of your truck accident claim alone.

At Matlin Injury Law, our team provides free initial case consultations for truck accident victims and their families. We will review your case and assess your legal options.

You can learn how a Denver truck accident lawyer from our team can help you through the claims process and fight to hold the trucking company responsible. Contact us today to get started.