Hurt in a Truck Crash? Start With a Free, Confidential Consultation

T. Madden & Associates, P.C. represents people hurt in truck crashes across Georgia. We also represent families who lose a loved one in one. This page explains how our fee works, what you may still owe, how a truck claim moves forward, and how Georgia’s fault rules apply.

What “No Fee Unless We Win” Means After a Truck Crash

Our fee is charged only if we recover money for you, and court costs and case expenses may still be your responsibility. T. Madden & Associates, P.C. handles truck accident claims on a no fee unless we win basis. If we recover nothing, you owe no attorney fee for our work. You may still owe court costs and case expenses, even under this arrangement. Those costs are separate from our fee, so ask about them before you sign anything.

This arrangement is built for people hurt when a semi-truck or other large commercial truck strikes their vehicle. It also serves families whose loved one died in a truck crash. You do not have to pay an hourly rate to start.

Your first step is a free first consultation. It is confidential, with no obligation to continue. Schedule your free consultation whenever you are ready.

What the Arrangement Covers and What You May Still Owe

The attorney fee covers the legal work on your claim. Court costs and case expenses fall in a separate category.

On a truck claim, our work usually includes:

• Gathering crash facts, including the police report and scene photos
• Requesting medical, employment, and trucking company records
• Handling communication with insurers
• Preparing the claim for negotiation or, if needed, a lawsuit

Case expenses are what it costs to build the case. Examples include records fees, accident reconstruction work, and filing fees. Court costs are charges tied to the court process itself. Both can stay your responsibility under the arrangement, so raise them at your consultation.

What you keep from any recovery depends on your injuries, your medical bills, and the costs in your case. No lawyer can promise a particular result, because each claim turns on its own facts. Keep every bill, pay stub, and receipt from the crash. Those papers show the losses you will need to prove.

What a Georgia Truck Accident Claim Can Include

A truck crash claim can seek payment for losses the crash caused, such as medical care and time away from work. Georgia limits medical expense damages to the reasonable value of medically necessary care, as the trier of fact decides (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-1.1). If you have health insurance, the evidence can include both the amounts charged and the amounts actually needed to satisfy those charges.

When a truck crash kills a family member, a surviving spouse may recover the full value of the life lost, as shown by the evidence (O.C.G.A. § 51-4-2). Children may recover this if there is no surviving spouse. A surviving spouse receives no less than one-third of that recovery.

Truck evidence can disappear, so speed matters. Under federal rules, a motor carrier operating commercial motor vehicles must install and require each of its drivers to use an ELD to record the driver’s duty status, though the regulation permits manual recording in certain listed situations (federal duty-status recording rule). Under the federal ELD rules, an ELD automatically records the date, time, CMV geographic location information, engine hours, vehicle miles, driver or authenticated user identification data, vehicle identification data, and motor carrier identification data (federal ELD data recording rule). Under federal regulations, all records may be preserved by any technology that accurately reflects all of the information in the record and remains accessible in a form that can be accurately reproduced later for reference (federal record preservation rule).

More than one party can share responsibility. That may include the driver, the motor carrier, or a broker that hired the carrier.

How the Process Works, Step by Step

Your claim moves from a free consultation to evidence requests, insurance negotiation, and, if needed, a lawsuit.

1. Free first consultation. You describe the crash, your injuries, and your treatment. The meeting is confidential and carries no obligation to continue.
2. Evidence requests. The firm asks the trucking company and insurers to keep logs, inspection records, and electronic data. Those records can be lost if no one asks in time.
3. Investigation and medical records. Police reports, photos, witness names, and treatment records get organized into a clear picture of your losses.
4. Insurance claim and negotiation. The firm presents the claim and negotiates with the insurer. Negotiation can resolve a claim without a lawsuit.
5. Lawsuit if needed. If talks do not resolve the claim, a suit can be filed within Georgia’s deadlines.

Georgia generally gives two years after the right of action accrues to bring an injury lawsuit (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33; Cameron v. JMP Pizza, Inc. (2026)). Timing varies with the injuries, the number of parties, and whether the case goes to trial. No single timeline fits every claim.

Liability in Georgia Truck Crashes and the 50 Percent Fault Rule

Georgia reduces your damages by your share of fault. You cannot recover damages if you are 50 percent or more responsible (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33; Quynn v. Hulsey, 310 Ga. 473 (2020)).

A judge reduces the damages awarded to you in proportion to your percentage of fault (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33). Where a plaintiff is to some degree responsible for the injury or damages claimed, the judge reduces the damages otherwise awarded in proportion to the plaintiff’s percentage of fault (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33). At 50 percent or more, you recover nothing.

Fault is assessed across everyone who contributed to the crash, even people not named in the suit. Each liable person pays only their own share. Those shares are not joint, and no right of contribution applies.

The other side may argue you contributed to the crash. That is one reason an early investigation matters.

Insurance limits matter too. The federal Schedule of Limits for public liability prescribes a minimum level of financial responsibility of $750,000 for for-hire carriage of nonhazardous property in interstate or foreign commerce by vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,001 or more pounds. The rule applies to vehicles rated at 10,001 pounds or more. A minimum is the least coverage required, not the amount of any claim.

Georgia also limits when you can add an insurer to a suit against a motor carrier. Generally, that happens only when a carrier is insolvent or bankrupt, or when the carrier or driver cannot be served after reasonable diligence (O.C.G.A. § 40-1-112).

Why Injured Georgians Call T. Madden & Associates, P.C.

T. Madden & Associates, P.C. has been in practice since 1999. Terance Madden is the responsible attorney for this practice.

The firm handles personal injury matters, including car, truck, motorcycle, and e-bike crashes, slip and falls, medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, negligent security, and wrongful death.

Offices are in Jonesboro (Clayton County), Atlanta, Decatur, Macon, and Augusta. Clients in those communities can meet with the firm in person.

Our support staff handle scheduling and paperwork. Our team keeps you informed as the case moves. The phone line is available 24/7, so you can report a crash or ask a question after hours.

Responsible attorney: Terance Madden, T. Madden & Associates, P.C. Contact the firm through its contact page.

Questions People Ask Before Calling About a Truck Crash

Most people ask about cost, insurers, and fault first. Short answers follow.

Do I pay anything for the first meeting?

No. The first consultation is free, confidential, and carries no obligation to continue.

Should I give a recorded statement to the trucking company’s insurer?

Call us before you give a recorded statement. Insurers may ask for one soon after a crash.

What if I was partly at fault?

Georgia law reduces a plaintiff’s recoverable damages in proportion to the plaintiff’s percentage of fault (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33). At 50 percent or more, you cannot recover damages (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33; Quynn v. Hulsey, 310 Ga. 473 (2020)).

Do you have offices near Macon or Augusta?

Yes. The firm has offices in Macon and Augusta, along with Jonesboro, Atlanta, and Decatur.

Who may recover in a Georgia wrongful death case?

A surviving spouse may recover, or children if there is no surviving spouse. The claim is measured by the full value of the life lost, as shown by the evidence (O.C.G.A. § 51-4-2).

If a semi-truck crash left you injured or took a family member, call T. Madden & Associates, P.C. now to start your free case evaluation. We can talk through your options at any hour.