Truck accidents can be catastrophic, causing victims extreme physical injuries, emotional trauma, and financial losses. If this has happened to you, it is important that you know the types of compensation for which you may be eligible. That is where truck accident lawyers come in. They can help you navigate the legal process and recover the compensation you deserve.
Economic Damages
These are the tangible financial losses you experience following an accident. It is easy to identify economic damages. They include:
- Medical Expenses: Besides needing to pay for emergency care and surgeries, you might need to pay for rehabilitation, ongoing treatments, and your stay in the hospital. That covers both future and current medical expenses associated with your injuries.
- Lost Wages: If your injuries keep you from work, you can recover compensation for lost income. This includes wages lost during your recovery and, if your ability to work has been permanently impacted, any future earnings you will be excluded from.
- Property Damage: Economic damages include these costs if the accident damaged your vehicle or other personal property, such as a jacket or cell phone.
- Reduced Earning Capacity: If your injuries limit your ability to work or compel you to switch careers, your settlement might compensate you for the loss of earning capacity.
- Care Assistance: You can also claim costs if you need help looking after your children or running the house because of your injurie.
Because economic damages are based on actual numbers like bills, receipts, and pay stubs provide strong evidence of your financial losses since they are relatively easy to calculate.
- Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages seek to compensate victims for the intangible losses resulting from the truck accident. Some of them are more subjective but no less important. They include:
- Pain and Suffering: It refers to the physical and psychic horrors your injuries created. It allows your doctor to account for how the accident has affected your overall quality of life.
- Loss of Consortium: If your accident has impacted a relationship with a spouse either emotionally, causing loss of companionship, affection, or intimacy, you may be entitled to financial compensation.
- Emotional Distress: A truck accident can be psychologically draining in that it causes anxiety, depression, PTSD, as well as other mental health problems caused by the incident.
Unlike economic damages, non-economic damages cannot be supported with receipts or invoices. However, courts value them based on factors like the severity of injuries and how they will affect a person’s life long term.
- Punitive Damages
In court cases, punitive damages are awarded to the defendant to punish them for damaging or careless behavior and discourage others from acting similarly. Unlike compensatory damages, which aim to reimburse the plaintiff for their actual losses, punitive damages go beyond compensation and intend to serve as a form of punishment for the defendant.
Conclusion
A truck accident claim can become tough, especially if you are dealing with insurance companies or multiple liable parties like drivers, trucking companies, and manufacturers. Working with an experienced truck accident lawyer is vital in such a case.
They will be there to collect evidence, negotiate for a fair settlement, and fight for every dollar you deserve, economic, non-economic, and even punitive if warranted. The lasting mark that truck accidents leave, physically and emotionally, does not have to be shouldered by you. You can pursue all types of damages applicable to your situation.
