Compensation for Truck Accidents
If you have suffered injuries in a trucking collision and you require medical care, you may be wondering how you are supposed to pay all of your medical bills. Depending on the type of injuries you suffered and the length of treatment you need to recover, your bills may be much higher than you are able to afford. Fortunately, if the other driver was partially or completely at fault for the collision, you may be able to recover money to pay your medical bills (and additional money to compensate you in other ways) in a settlement. What you are being compensated for is referred to as your “damages.”
We have a national law firm with practicing attorneys in every state, so contact us today if you have been hurt in a truck collision and believe you might be entitled to recover compensation for your injuries. Our attorneys have experience pursuing claims for trucking accidents and can discuss your case options with you and fight for your rights to be compensated for your injuries.
Compensatory Damages
There are two main forms of damages that can be collected in a personal injury case or claim. The first is called compensatory damages. Compensatory damages are used to compensate you for the harm you suffered as a result of the accident. This category is further broken down into special and general damages.
Special Compensatory Damages
Special damages are specific and include reimbursement of your medical bills and lost wages from the time you were off work as prescribed by your treating doctor. You may also be able to recover future medical bills and future lost earnings in some cases involving significant injuries and ongoing medical care.
General Compensatory Damages
General compensatory damages are designed to compensate you for things that are non-specific and unmeasurable. General damages include the pain and suffering you went through, mental anguish you experienced, and loss of consortium. Pain, suffering, and mental anguish are things people involved in truck accidents may feel or experience. The law allows for recovery for these experiences to the degree which you can show the injury affected your life or caused you serious pain and suffering. Loss of consortium is a claim that is typically brought by the spouse of the injured party. Loss of consortium is essentially a loss of companionship and generally, comes into play when there are severe injuries involved which require significant hospital stays or significant recovery time.
Wrongful Death Damages
Wrongful death damages include pre-death medical treatment, burial expenses, emotional distress of family members, and loss of consortium. If a loved one was killed in a trucking accident, the law allows for recovery of this money to compensate the family for their loss.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are awarded or included in a settlement when there is evidence of serious wrongdoing on the part of the at-fault driver. In trucking cases, this can include significant errors made by the trucking company, such as failing to keep up with repairs on the company vehicles or unreasonable company policies requiring drivers to stay on the road longer than is reasonable. Punitive damages have nothing to do with the injuries you suffered; rather, they are designed to punish a party for serious wrongdoing to discourage the actions that led to your claim in the future. Your lawyer will be able to investigate your trucking accident case to determine whether punitive damages may be a potential recovery option in your case.