Filing Indiana Truck Accident Injury Claims (2026)

How to File a Truck Accident Claim in Indiana

First, you will need to let your insurer know that the accident occurred and then file the claim with the at-fault party’s insurer. You must present evidence of the losses you sustained and show that the other party was responsible for the crash.

What to Do Immediately After a Truck Accident

After being in a truck accident, it’s essential to seek medical assistance, report the accident and gather evidence from the scene to help establish liability. You should then hire an Indiana personal injury lawyer to assist you.

Who You Can File a Claim Against

When beginning Indiana truck accident injury claims, it can be a challenge to establish liability. The trucker is typically responsible, but the company that employs them could also be liable via vicarious liability. Mechanics, manufacturers and loading companies could hold a degree of fault, too.

Information and Evidence Needed for Your Claim

You will need evidence from the scene. Take pictures and videos of the vehicles at the scene if at all possible. Additionally, your lawyer may be able to help you gather types of evidence like these:

Electronic Logging Devices (ELD)

Commercial vehicles are equipped with electronic logging devices (ELDs) to keep track of their driving time. ELD data can be extremely valuable in a truck accident case, especially if it contradicts what’s been written in the trucker’s logs.

However, trucking companies frequently overwrite ELD data, and if a company knows a trucker has caused a crash, they might try to erase that data even faster than normal. Contacting a truck accident lawyer as soon as possible increases your chances of recovering key data before it’s erased.

Hours of Service Logs

Federal law limits the hours of service for truck drivers, so the trucker’s log books may be crucial pieces of evidence. If a trucker violated hours of service regulations or the trucking company pressured them to do so, those violations might be powerful evidence in your favor.

Black Box Data

Most vehicles come equipped with an event data recorder (EDR), commonly known as a “black box.” Black boxes capture information before, during and after the crash. For instance, a black box can usually tell you whether the vehicle was accelerating before the impact and whether the driver braked.

Dashcam Footage

Dashcam footage from the truck, another involved vehicle or a vehicle near the accident scene might be able to show what happened.

Vehicle Inspection Records

These records may indicate whether the truck was properly inspected and maintained.

Toxicology Reports

If the driver was suspected of driving while intoxicated, the results of post-crash drug and alcohol tests might be able to support your case.

Physical Evidence

Physical evidence from the scene of the accident can help reconstructionists determine what happened. Skid marks, property damage and debris from the involved vehicles can all be important.

Filing the Insurance Claim and Preparing a Lawsuit

Once you have filed the claim with the other party’s insurer, your lawyer will typically begin negotiations to help you receive damages. If the negotiations don’t lead to a settlement, the next step is to file a truck accident lawsuit. You will go through the discovery phase and then, if a settlement is still not possible, go to court.

Deadlines and How Long a Claim Takes

In Indiana, you usually have two years to file a claim. A claim can take a few months to conclude. If you file a lawsuit, the process takes much longer.

Damages You Can Recover in Indiana

After a truck accident, you may recover two main types of damages, or compensation for losses. Economic damages pay for monetary losses, and non-economic damages pay for pain and suffering and other intangible losses.

These are some common economic losses:

• Current medical expenses
• Estimated future medical expenses
• Lost income
• Lost earning capacity
• Rehabilitation costs
• Property damage

Typical non-economic losses include:

• Pain and suffering
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Scarring or disfigurement
• Loss of consortium
• Mental anguish

Putting a number to non-economic losses is generally more complex than calculating economic losses. Attorneys, courts and insurance companies often use something called the pain and suffering multiplier to do so.

With this method, your case is assigned a multiplier between 1.5 and five based on injury severity, and your economic damages are multiplied by that number. The result is your total compensation for non-economic losses.

Getting Legal Help in Indiana

If you have suffered losses in a truck accident, the knowledgeable team at ConsumerShield can help. We can connect you with an experienced attorney nearby to fight for your rights. Contact us to begin your search for the right lawyer.