Ridgewood Truck Accident Lawyer

Injured in a Truck Crash in Ridgewood? Get a Free Case Review Now

Life after a truck accident rarely looks like the life you had before. The physical recovery alone can take months, but dealing with trucking companies and their insurers while you’re hurt adds another layer of difficulty most people aren’t prepared for. These companies have teams of adjusters and attorneys working to protect their interests from day one.

That’s where having the right personal injury lawyers matters. At Grigor Law Injury & Car Accident Lawyers, we know Ridgewood’s streets, from Myrtle Avenue to Fresh Pond Road, and we know how to handle the complex regulations that govern commercial trucking. We dig into driver logs, maintenance records, and federal safety violations to build cases that get results. Our team works in your language—whether that’s Spanish, Greek, French-Creole, or Korean—and we’re here around the clock because serious accidents don’t wait for business hours.

You pay nothing unless we win your case. Call now for immediate help in your language.

Do I have a Truck Accident Case Under New York Law?

If your injuries meet New York’s serious injury threshold, then yes, you probably have a case. This legal standard is what makes it possible for no-fault insurance to handle small claims and for people to get full compensation in major lawsuits.

There are a few specific types of injuries that count as serious in New York. Any broken bone automatically qualifies, no matter how small it may seem. People can see significant disfigurement if there is permanent scarring or deformity. The 90/180 rule applies if your injury keeps you from doing everyday things for at least 90 days in the first 180 days after the crash.

• Permanent limitation: not being able to use or function in any body part, organ, or system.
• Death: Wrongful death claims when truck accidents kill someone.
• Significant limitation: Important body functions are greatly limited by a significant limitation.

Because commercial trucks are so much bigger than passenger cars, most truck accidents cause serious injuries. This is where you learn about your rights, but acting quickly protects them.

What Should I Do After a Truck Accident in Ridgewood?

What you do right after a truck crash can have a big impact on how strong your case is. Your chances of getting fair compensation can be hurt or helped by every choice you make.

Get help from a doctor right away

Even if you feel fine right after the crash, your health is more important. Adrenaline hides pain, and serious internal injuries may not show symptoms for hours or days. For a full evaluation, go to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center or another hospital close by. This doctor’s visit is the first official record of your injuries.

Call the police and file a report

Call the NYPD 104th Precinct to make sure that officers come to the scene. A police report is very important because it shows what happened and who was to blame. Before you leave the scene, get the report number, the name of the officer who responded, and their badge number.

Take pictures of everything to keep records

Take a picture of the truck’s license plate, DOT number, and company name with your phone. Take pictures of all the damage to the cars, your visible injuries, and the scene of the accident from different angles. If there are witnesses, ask for their names and phone numbers right away before they leave.

You have 30 days to file your no-fault application

To meet New York’s 30-day no-fault deadline, you must file a no-fault application with your own insurance company. If you miss this deadline, you will lose your right to basic medical care and lost wage benefits. This application pays for the first costs while your lawsuit is going on.

Avoid giving recorded statements

Within a few days, the trucking company’s insurance adjuster will call and ask for a recorded statement. Politely say no and tell them to get in touch with your lawyer. These talks are meant to find ways to deny your claim or lower the amount you get.

Get in touch with a Ridgewood truck accident lawyer right away

After a few weeks, commercial trucking companies can legally get rid of things like driver logs and dashcam footage. We send preservation letters right away to protect this important evidence before it is lost for good.

Who is Liable for a Truck Crash in Ridgewood?

Multiple parties often share responsibility for truck accidents, unlike typical car crashes where only two drivers might be involved. This complexity means more opportunities to recover compensation, but also more challenges in proving your case.

The truck driver is responsible for direct actions such as speeding, distracted driving, or violating Hours-of-service regulations. Trucking companies face liability for their drivers’ actions under legal principles of Respondeat superior. They can also be directly liable for negligent hiring, inadequate training, or pressuring drivers to break safety rules.

• Cargo loading companies: Improperly secured freight that shifts and causes rollovers.
• Maintenance contractors: Faulty repairs leading to brake failures or tire blowouts.
• Truck manufacturers: Defective parts that contribute to accidents.
• Government entities: Poor road design or inadequate signage in construction zones.

Do special rules apply to city trucks?

Yes, accidents involving municipal vehicles like DSNY garbage trucks or MTA buses require filing a Notice of Claim deadline within 90 days. This formal document notifies the city of your intent to sue and must include specific information about your injuries and how the accident happened. Missing this deadline completely bars you from filing a lawsuit against the city.

How We Prove Your Case With Truck Data and Federal Rules

Modern commercial trucks are rolling computers that record detailed information about crashes. As an experienced truck accident attorney in Ridgewood, we know exactly how to obtain and analyze this electronic evidence to build powerful cases for our clients.

Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) are federally mandated systems that track driving hours, speed, and braking patterns. This data often reveals hours-of-service violations that prove driver fatigue contributed to your accident. Driver logs show rest breaks, routes, and duty status, exposing patterns of illegal driving encouraged by trucking companies.

Evidence Type	Information Recorded	How It Helps Your Case
Electronic Logging Device	Speed, braking, hours driven	Proves speeding or fatigue violations
Maintenance Records	Repairs, inspections, part replacements	Shows neglected safety issues
Driver Qualification File	Training, medical exams, violations	Reveals unqualified or dangerous drivers
Cargo Documentation	Weight, loading procedures, securement	Identifies overloading or shifting freight

Trucking companies often destroy this evidence within weeks unless legally required to preserve it. We act immediately to secure every piece of data that supports your claim.

Don’t let crucial evidence disappear. Call us to start building your case today.

What Causes Most Truck Accidents in Ridgewood and Queens?

When big delivery trucks drive through Ridgewood’s narrow residential streets, they create unique dangers. Most of these accidents happen because drivers make mistakes that could have been avoided or companies don’t do their jobs right.

Fatigue is still the main reason for serious truck accidents. Federal rules say how long drivers can drive, but a lot of companies pressure them to lie about their logs or skip required breaks. Using GPS and cell phones in truck cabs has made distracted driving much worse.

Wide right turns are a common cause of accidents on Myrtle Avenue and Fresh Pond Road, where trucks need more room to make turns. Going too fast through neighborhoods to meet delivery deadlines is very dangerous for pedestrians and other drivers.

• Inadequate training: New drivers are driving big trucks without getting the right training.
• Poor car maintenance: worn-out brakes, bald tires, and broken steering systems.
• Trucks that are too heavy: They go over weight limits that make it hard to brake and steer.
• Weather: Not changing how you drive when it rains, snows, or ices.

The rise of online shopping has made delivery trucks a lot more common in Ridgewood, which makes it easier for these accidents to happen.

What Injuries Qualify for Lawsuits Beyond No-Fault?

Truck accidents usually cause terrible injuries that aren’t covered by no-fault insurance. Because commercial trucks are so much heavier than cars, even low-speed crashes can cause serious injuries that change your life.

When your head hits the steering wheel, window, or airbag during an accident, you are likely to get a traumatic brain injury. These injuries can make it hard to remember things, change your personality, and even permanently damage your brain. Damage to the spinal cord can cause partial or complete paralysis, which means you will need medical care for the rest of your life and changes to your home to make it easier to get around.

Surgery with metal plates, screws, or rods is often needed to fix multiple broken bones. These procedures often leave people with long-term pain and limited mobility. Blunt force trauma can damage internal organs and cause bleeding that could kill you and needs emergency surgery.

• Amputations: losing limbs that need prosthetics and a lot of therapy.
• Severe burns: From fires that start with fuel or chemical spills that happen during crashes.
• Crushing injuries: Crushing injuries happen when the weight of a truck pushes on body parts.
• Wrongful death: Accidents that kill people and destroy whole families.

If you lost a loved one in a truck accident, our experienced personal injury law firm can help you file a wrongful death claim to get money and hold the people who caused the accident accountable.

What Compensation Can You Recover After a Truck Accident?

We want to get you compensation that covers all of your losses, both now and in the future. This includes economic damages for the money you lost and non-economic damages for the pain and suffering you went through and the lower quality of life you experienced.

Victims of truck accidents often have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. This includes medications, medical equipment, surgeries, hospital stays, rehabilitation, and emergency care. You also need to figure out how much ongoing treatment and therapy will cost in the future.

When injuries keep you from working, you start losing money right away. We figure out how much you could have made over your career, including raises, bonuses, and benefits. Compensation for pain and suffering recognizes that money can’t really make up for the physical and emotional pain.

• Damage to property: the car was totaled and personal items were lost in the crash.
• Changes to the home: wheelchair ramps, bathroom renovations, and features that make it easier to get around.
• Loss of companionship: spouses can get money when injuries hurt their relationships.
• Punitive damages: More punishment for trucking companies that are very careless.

While your case is going on, we take care of all medical liens and billing issues so that debt collectors can’t bother you while you recover.

Can You Still Get Compensation if Partly at Fault?

Yes, New York’s comparative negligence law lets you get money even if you were partly to blame for the accident. Your compensation goes down by the amount of fault you had, but you can still sue.

If you were speeding when a truck ran a red light and hit you, a jury might say you were 20% at fault. You would still get 80% of the damages, which could be hundreds of thousands of dollars in a bad truck accident.

Insurance companies take advantage of this rule by putting as much blame as possible on the victims. To lower the amount they have to pay you, they might say you were distracted, following too closely, or driving aggressively. We fight these unfair tactics with the help of accident reconstruction experts and hard evidence.

How Long Do You Have to File a Truck Accident Lawsuit in NY?

There are strict time limits for filing lawsuits, and if you miss these deadlines, you will never be able to get your money back. The statute of limitations in New York is different for different types of claims and people you are suing.

You have three years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit. The deadline for filing a wrongful death claim is only two years from the date of death. If you want to sue the government, you have to file a Notice of Claim within 90 days and then a lawsuit within one year and 90 days.

To get basic medical and wage benefits, you must file your no-fault insurance claim within 30 days of the accident. This insurance pays while your lawsuit is going on, so if you miss this deadline, you’ll have to pay right away.

After truck accidents, evidence goes away quickly. People forget important things, like driver logs and surveillance footage, and witnesses forget important things. The sooner you get in touch with us, the better we can keep evidence that helps your case.

Were You Driving For Work? Workers’ comp and Third-Party Claims

If you were working when the truck accident happened, you might have two separate paths to compensation. Workers’ compensation provides medical coverage and partial wage replacement regardless of fault, while a third-party lawsuit can recover full damages from the at-fault trucking company.

Common work-related truck accidents involve delivery drivers, rideshare operators, contractors, and employees traveling for business. We coordinate both claims to maximize your total recovery without jeopardizing either case.

Your immigration status doesn’t affect your right to file injury claims in New York with personal injury attorneys. Undocumented workers have the same legal protections as citizens when it comes to recovering compensation for truck accident injuries.

• Delivery drivers: UPS, FedEx, Amazon, and food delivery services.
• Construction workers: Traveling to job sites or transporting materials.
• Sales representatives: Driving for client meetings or business purposes.
• Healthcare workers: Nurses, home health aides, and medical professionals.

We handle the complex coordination between workers’ compensation carriers and personal injury claims to ensure you receive every dollar you deserve.

How We Fight Insurance Company Tactics

Trucking companies have huge insurance policies worth millions of dollars, but their adjusters are trained to pay as little as possible. They use tried-and-true methods to protect their profits, but we know exactly how to stop them.

Quick settlement offers come in just a few days after a serious accident, sometimes before you even know how bad your injuries are. These offers sound good, but they don’t usually cover future medical costs or lost wages. Before any talks start, we figure out how much your case is really worth.

Insurance adjusters ask for recorded statements so they can find things that don’t add up that they can use against you later. They ask questions that are meant to get you to admit to some fault or downplay your injuries. We take care of all communications so they can’t twist what you say.

• Surveillance investigations: They follow you around to say your injuries aren’t that bad.
• Monitoring social media: using your posts to say you’re not really hurt.
• Independent medical exams: hiring doctors who downplay your injuries.
• Delaying tactics: putting off negotiations in the hopes that you’ll agree to less money.

Insurance companies have to negotiate fairly because we are known as aggressive trial lawyers who win in court. We don’t think twice about taking them to court when they turn down fair settlement offers.

Why Choose Grigor Law for your Ridgewood Truck Accident Case?

When you’re facing powerful trucking companies and their insurance teams, you need fierce advocates who won’t back down from a fight. Our personal injury law practice has deep roots in the Ridgewood community and a proven track record of achieving outstanding results for truck accident victims.

Chrissy Grigoropoulos has earned recognition as one of New York’s top personal injury attorneys through her relentless courtroom advocacy. Insurance companies know she thoroughly prepares every case and isn’t afraid to take them to trial when they refuse to pay fair compensation.

We’re available 24/7 because truck accidents don’t happen on a convenient schedule. Our multilingual team ensures you can communicate comfortably in Spanish, Greek, French-Creole, or Korean throughout your case. You pay nothing unless we successfully resolve your claim.

• Award-winning attorney: Chrissy Grigoropoulos recognized for excellence in personal injury law.
• Local community focus: Serving Ridgewood families from our Myrtle Avenue office.
• Hundreds of five-star reviews: Clients consistently praise our results and compassionate service.
• No upfront fees: Contingency fee arrangement means no risk to you.

Contact a Ridgewood Truck Accident Attorney Today

Taking the first step toward justice doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Our free consultation gives you the opportunity to understand your rights and options without any pressure or obligation.

Bring any documents you have, such as police reports, medical records, or insurance correspondence, but don’t worry if you don’t have everything yet. We can still evaluate your case and provide valuable guidance about your next steps.

You’ve been through enough trauma. Let us handle the legal battle while you focus on healing and rebuilding your life. Our team is standing by to provide immediate support and start fighting for the compensation you deserve.

Call our personal injury attorneys or contact us online for your free consultation. We’re available 24/7 in your language, and you pay nothing unless we win your case.