Getting Your Claim The Attention it Deserves Can Be Hard
- Insurance companies won’t properly compensate you
- You’re given the runaround and no one wants to help
- It’s hard to navigate the claim process by yourself
No One Should Lose Income Because of Downtime.
Our Lawyers Know the Trucking Industry
Being an owner operator means there are a lot of things you have to do on your own. Recovering lost income due to an accident shouldn’t be one of them.
We help owner operators and fleets recover money lost through not-at-fault accidents. We also handle insurance subrogation. We pursue property damage losses, including diminution of value, as well as lost income. You may have the right to recover lost income for the days your equipment was down and unable to operate.
We offer free consultations. Call us at (904) 278-7688 or click “Get Started.” We look forward to speaking with you.
Getting Started is Easy
Complete the “Get Started” Form
From there, we’ll have a free consultation to talk about the details of your claim. Most owner operators are entitled to downtime coverage but face resistance or misinformation from the insurance company or large self-insured trucking company.
Get the Team You Need
Our lawyers focus on exactly this kind of work, so you’re in good hands. Once you complete the initial paperwork, we get to work helping you recover the downtime pay you’re entitled to.
Get Paid for Downtime
Losing income because of downtime should not be something an owner operator just accepts. There are systems in place to ensure someone else’s negligence doesn’t impact your earnings, and we help you through this process.
What Our Clients Have Said
“The only place to call. Excellent people that do an outstanding job!”
“Eckert & Associates provided a resource to recover some of my monetary losses. They kept me updated on the status and were very honest on the possible outcome. They were never pushy.”
“Eckert & Associates came to my aid and got me much more than I would have [received].”
“I didn’t think I was going to get any money for my downtime. I called about 6 law offices . . . From the moment I talked to Mrs. Eckert, I knew I was in good hands.”
“Everyone was very professional & worked with us in a very timely manner. We wish there were more people like you. You relieved a lot of stress from us. We knew we were in good hands with y’all.”
The 5 Most Common Things Truckers Forget in the Aftermath of an Accident
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The Unique Nature of Downtime Claims
Downtime, Lost Revenue, Loss of Revenue, Loss of Use, Lost Income, and Business Interruption Losses are terms often intermingled within the insurance industry.
When your equipment isn’t operating, you can’t make money. For owner operators – truckers, wreckers, rideshare or delivery drivers, it’s important to get back on the road as quickly as possible after an accident.
But…your bills keep coming even if your truck isn’t bringing in the money. Owner-operators, motor carriers, and fleets who lose the use of their vehicles following an accident are stripped of their income-making capacity, playing havoc with their livelihood and bottom line profit.
Large losses of revenue add up quickly. It’s important to take action immediately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Downtime is that time when your equipment is down and not making money. Downtime, Lost Revenue, Loss of Revenue, Loss of Use, Lost Income, and Business Interruption Losses are terms often intermingled within the industry. When rolling assets are not moving, no income is produced. Owner operators don’t make income while equipment is sitting still. However, businesses continue to have fixed expenses (insurance, truck payment, office expenses, etc). Owner-operators and motor carriers who lose the use of their trucks following an accident are stripped of their income-making capacity, playing havoc with their livelihood and bottom line. Large losses of revenue add up quickly.
In order to speak with an attorney about your case, please call, email, or complete the “Do I Have a Case” questionnaire. The button is at the top of this page. We will review your information and get back with you as quickly as possible. The consultation is free of charge.
Documents vary depending on the case. Has the adverse party admitted wrongdoing and accepted liability? If not, we will need the documents and evidence proving they were at fault. If they have agreed they were at fault, we will need documents and evidence proving the financial loss your business had because of the accident. We will provide you with a list of the documents needed.
We will request a breakdown of your income and expenses. If the accident occurred during a high-income time of the year, we will want the data which proves these higher-than-normal figures. We will calculate lost profit on a daily basis and multiply this loss by the number of working days down to arrive at your lost income figure.
There is no charge to talk with an attorney. Once we take your case, we work on a contingency fee basis. This means we take a percentage of the settlement at the end of the case. The amount of the contingency fee depends on the size and facts of the case. Many law firms handle these matters only on an hourly basis — with a hefty retainer. We are a positive alternative to this scenario. We strive to recover lost profits for owner operators from negligent third parties.
- You have a free initial consultation with a lawyer.
- You sign the contract, complete the forms and submit your evidence to our office.
- We set up a file and send you an Acknowledgement Letter.
- We review the file and contact you for any additional documents and evidence needed.
- Once all information is analyzed, we prepare and send a demand letter with attachments to the adverse party or their insurance company.
- We call the adverse party or their insurance company if they don’t call us.
- If the adverse agrees they were at fault, we discuss and negotiate the amount of the loss and provide whatever documents they need to settle the case .
- With each offer, our staff contacts you to let you decide if it is an offer worth accepting.
- If we can come to an agreement and resolve the case, the adverse will often send us a release for you to sign.
- Once the release is signed, the adverse will send us a check.
- Once that check has cleared our trust account, we will remit your settlement, less our fee, to you.
- If we cannot come to terms with the adverse on settlement, we will ask you for court costs to refer the file out to a local attorney to file suit.
We provide our clients with a packet to complete. We use various methods to calculate your losses and will discuss which method is best for your case. We invite you to contact us to learn more about how we can help you recover your claim.
Every state is different. Drivers may be able to pursue their lost income. We will make that determination once we have discussed the matter with you.
Eckert & Associates, P.A.’s goal is to negotiate a settlement for you that is acceptable without the necessity of litigation. If you are not satisfied with the offers from the adverse party, we will look for a local lawyer in the proper jurisdiction to file the case.
Most of our cases settle without going to trial. Whether you go to court is for you and your local attorney to discuss; and the local judge to ultimately decide.
Typically, we suggesting filing suit in the county and state in which the accident occurred. However, each case is different and an actual legal opinion will be necessary to determine proper venue.
Eckert & Associates, P.A. has a fine network of referral attorneys around the nation who we refer cases to for litigation. We are not licensed in most states, so it will be necessary to partner with a local lawyer for litigation proceedings. We will monitor the file throughout the litigation and keep you abreast of the proceedings.
Whether you can proceed will depend on the type of release that you signed and language written on the check. If you have signed a release or cashed any check from the adverse party or their insurance company, be sure to let us know. We will look at these documents and give you our opinion.
Whether or not you can pursue these expenses depends on the state law governing the case. Once we determine the proper state for venue, we can better advise you on whether we can pursue these expenses.
Contact our office as soon as possible to discuss your injuries and options for representation.
In many jurisdictions, you still have the right to collecting your lost revenue. This will depend on state law. The amount of time for which you can be compensated is often a reasonableness standard, but again, this varies by state law.
This must be answered on a case by case and state by state basis. We will be happy to discuss this with you.
Yes. We handle property damage claims on a daily basis. We will be happy to look at your entire claim and discuss with you the best manner to proceed.
Some adverse insurance companies require you to provide tax returns. Others do not. If they don’t ask for your taxes, we certainly don’t suggest providing them. However, some adverse companies’ policies require a copy of your tax returns in order to move forward with any type of settlement. In most cases, we argue that providing tax returns is not necessary. Determining the difference between net operating income and net taxable income is typically more important. We educate adverse parties on this on a regular basis.
Each case has a Statute of Limitation (SOL), which is the date by which you must file your action or be completely barred from ever doing so. Our goal is to resolve your case long before the SOL is an issue. However, where the claim is close to the SOL, we will suggest filing suit to protect the case. We recommend that in order to protect the statute of limitation, you contact an attorney at your earliest convenience.
Our Downtime Claims Attorneys & Staff
The law firm of Eckert & Associates, P.A. aggressively pursues and collects downtime claims for owner-operators and fleets, as well as subrogation matters for insurance companies.
We work in the style of a collection agency, but with the force of a law firm. We work on a contingency fee basis. No upfront cost is required to begin a case through our office. Our active hands-on approach during the early stages of collection allows for a better chance of resolving the matter without litigation.
