No driver ever hopes to get into an accident with a larger car. Unfortunately, the dangers of a collision with a truck are numerous. The physical injury and emotional trauma accompanying these kinds of accidents may lead you to think of walking away and trying to forget all that happened.
However, before making this decision for yourself or a loved one, you must inform yourself of your legal options. Some injuries may seem minor, like a tweak on your neck that may evolve into a serious spinal injury that leads you to miss work and go for expensive restorative therapy. When made in time, an accident compensation claim may cover such compensation claims.
Types of Compensation in a Truck Accident Claim
Truck accident compensation is awarded after you win a negligence claim. The types of compensation you’ll be entitled to depend on the extent of your injuries. Your attorney is responsible for putting together a list and account of your injuries’ worth estimate.
There are various kinds of compensation that you may gain after a truck accident:
Economic Damages
Economic damages refer to damages that have a direct monetary value. Establishing such damages is often easy when you record how much these things have cost you.
The following are examples of such rights:
- Your present and future medical bills from injuries resulting from the accident
- Physical therapy
- Home nursing care
- Any residential modification due to the accident
- Any damage on your property
- Wages you lost due to the accident, present, and future
While truck accidents may be traumatizing, the aftermath too may be quite a tremendous financial burden. For this reason, working with a skilled team of attorneys is essential to ensure that you get the full value of your compensation.
Non-Economic Damages
Calculating non-economic damages is often a bit harder since these are intangible losses that aren’t directly valued in monetary form. For instance, future medical expenses aren’t a current invoice but can be tallied through an estimate created by your doctor.
Other examples of non-economic damages include:
- Pain and suffering
- Grief and emotional counseling
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of quality of life
You must allow an attorney to do this valuation for you to protect your legal rights to compensate for all these losses while the case is still ongoing. Your attorney will ensure that these intangible losses are catered for.
For instance, if you lost your loved one in the accident, they will work out a value for your pain and suffering. As much as they are hard to evaluate, such losses are important to compensate since some victims experience drastic changes in their quality of life and lifestyle.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are awarded in very rare cases. Punitive damages are an addition to your non-economic and economic damages. However, courts do not award them to compensate you, rather punish an extraordinarily negligent truck company or driver.
Suppose a truck company or driver willfully and knowingly ignored safety regulations and laws or exhibited extreme reckless driving when they caused the crash. In that case, the court may require them to pay punitive damages.
Courts also often reward this damage when an accident victim passes away or suffers life-changing injuries due to reckless negligence. Punitive damages are highly dependent on the court’s judgment, so don’t count too much on it.
Seek Compensation for Your Injuries
Truck collisions are some of the most dangerous accidents on the road. More often than not, they’ll lead to severe injuries and major damage to property, including vehicles. When you have suffered in such an accident, you must be aware of the full extent of any legal remedy at your disposal.
Lack of knowledge on compensatory value leads to people accepting one-off deals from insurance companies that are way below their losses’ true value. Make sure you consult an attorney to help you evaluate the true value of your damages before accepting any offer given by an insurance company or any party involved in the accident.
Resources:
https://www.justia.com/injury/negligence-theory/non-economic-damages/
https://www.slingshotlaw.com/what-can-i-do-to-protect-my-rights-after-a-truck-accident/