Collisions with commercial trucks can cause widespread losses. You might have physical injuries, mental trauma, possible permanent disabilities, a totaled vehicle, and even more. If someone else caused the crash, the legal system allows you to seek compensation for these extensive losses.
In a truck accident case, you can sue for pain and suffering, vehicle repairs, lost income, medical expenses, and other damages. Civil courts provide victims with a fair amount of leeway to seek fair compensation from liable parties. Your lawyer will consider all of your damages, including both economic and non-economic damages, as they build your case.
It is one thing to sue, but your case is only successful if you obtain all the compensation you deserve. You may hire a proven truck accident lawyer to present the strongest case possible, as cases like yours can be supremely complicated.
Damages You Can Sue for After a Truck Accident
Truck accidents are notoriously dangerous, as trucks account for a disproportionately high number of fatal accidents. Every truck accident victim has their own story to tell, and your lawyer will demand fair compensation for all of your damages, which may include:
Medical Bills
Because truck accidents are often severe, you may need a stable of medical services, including:
- Ambulance transport
- Diagnostic imaging
- Emergency department care
- A hospital stay
- Medications
- Surgery
- Doctors appointments
- Rehabilitation services
The severity of your injuries may be the greatest determinant of the cost of your accident-related medical bills.
Pain and Suffering
Those who survive a truck accident do not emerge unscathed. The effects of the accident, including injuries, can cause:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can cause several distressing symptoms, including intrusive memories and chronic stress
- Anxiety
- Physical pain (including chronic pain)
- Depression
- Lost quality of life
- Scarring
- Amputation injuries or other types of disfigurement
- Sleep disruptions
Such damages don’t have an obvious financial cost, but attorneys use accepted methods to calculate their value.
Mental Health Treatment Bills
Many survivors of truck accidents struggle with memories of the accident and other symptoms of pain and suffering. Counseling, medications, and other treatments may help. Your lawyer will include the cost of any such treatment in their settlement demands.
Professional Losses
Your physical and psychological injuries can contribute to several professional damages, including:
- Lost income
- Diminished earning capacity
- Lost benefits
- Lost bonus opportunities
- Lost opportunities for promotions
Being unable to work at your full capacity can add to the distress you experience after a truck accident. Your lawyer will measure the full professional toll of the accident and demand fair compensation from liable parties.
Property Damage
If your vehicle, phone, clothing, or other property was damaged during the truck accident, your attorney will seek fair compensation for the repair or replacement of the property. If you need temporary transportation because of vehicle damage, your lawyer will also include that cost in your case.
Who Can I Sue Following a Truck Accident?
Your lawyer will review all relevant details about your accident and establish liability. Those who can be defendants in truck accident lawsuits include:
- A truck driver: Motorists are often the sole cause of accidents. Truck drivers’ long hours and difficulty driving a truck can increase the likelihood that a trucker will cause an accident. Ultimately, though, truck drivers are prone to the same distractions and poor decisions that every motorist can succumb to.
- A trucking company: Trucking companies are generally liable when their drivers cause accidents. However, a trucking company can also be negligent, such as failing to drug test drivers or replacing defective trucks.
- A municipality: If a work zone, dangerous road conditions, defective traffic signals, or other road-related hazards contribute to a truck accident, the municipality where the accident happened can be liable. Accident victims usually have an unusually short deadline for suing municipalities, so don’t wait to retain your truck accident lawyer.
- A vehicle or trailer manufacturer: When a defective vehicle or cargo trailer contributes to an accident, the manufacturer of the defective product can be responsible for victims’ damages. However, such defects can be due to the owner or operator’s failure to perform maintenance, in which case the owner or operator will likely be liable.
The details of each truck accident differ, and these varying details determine who pays for those damages. Your attorney will review all accounts of those involved in the accident, witness testimony, and evidence to determine who owes you compensation.
Will Insurance Cover My Accident-Related Losses?
It is possible that insurance will cover your accident-related damages. Trucking companies typically carry high-limit insurance policies, as accidents will inevitably happen in the trucking sector.
However, your lawyer may face several challenges during the claims process. Insurers generally try to pay as little as possible to claimants and may try to underpay you by:
- Initially denying your claim
- Extending a lowball settlement offer
- Coaxing you into admitting fault for the truck accident
- Delaying the claims process in hopes you’ll cave to the lowball offer
- Exercising other bad-faith strategies
An effective attorney will be familiar with these insurance tactics, and they will not daunt them.
I Want a Fair Settlement. How Can I Get It?
Hiring a truck accident lawyer should be your first order of business if you want fair compensation for your accident-related damages. Retaining an attorney may be the right decision for you because:
- Injuries from truck accidents require a recovery without distraction: Truck accidents are associated with particularly serious injuries. Nobody who is recovering from injuries should have to field calls from insurers or lose sleep over their case. Task a lawyer to secure your financial recovery so you can focus on your actual recovery.
- Your attorney will handle your case from start to finish: Lawyers like to have full oversight of clients’ cases. This full-service approach ensures that no detail falls through the cracks and that the client doesn’t have to worry about any aspect of the case.
- Your lawyer will protect you and your case: As the point person for your case, your lawyer will deal with insurers and others involved in your claim or lawsuit. This will prevent anyone from violating your rights, as your lawyer will be a buffer.
- Your case will benefit from your lawyer’s experience: Attorneys’ background in negotiating insurance settlements and completing lawsuits may benefit your case. Experience can sharpen a lawyer’s skills and familiarize them with potential challenges that will arise during your case.
- There is no out-of-pocket cost to hire a truck accident lawyer: Truck accident attorneys typically offer their services for a contingency fee. This fee type allows you to hire a lawyer without paying any out-of-pocket costs. Your lawyer will receive an agreed-upon percentage of any settlement or verdict they obtain for you, meaning they are paid for performance.
Between your ability to focus on your recovery and a lawyer’s experience with cases like yours, the benefits of hiring an attorney may extend to your health and wallet.
How a Truck Accident Attorney Will Help You
Your truck accident attorney will be responsible for obtaining the settlement or judgment you are entitled to. Fair settlements and jury awards don’t simply materialize—they must be fought for and earned.
Your lawyer will fight for the compensation you deserve in a step-by-step manner that includes:
Securing Evidence of Who Caused the Truck Accident
Many types of evidence will be readily available for your lawyer to secure, including:
- Eyewitness accounts (which your lawyer may obtain existing copies of or re-interview witnesses to get)
- Video footage of the truck accident
- The police report detailing the accident
- Photographs of vehicular damage
- An expert’s digital or physical reconstruction of the accident
- Your account of the accident
Proving that negligence caused the accident is a critical step in your case. Your lawyer will let the evidence tell the story of your collision.
Obtaining Evidence from the Trucking Company
Other types of evidence may be in the hands of a defendant you are seeking compensation from: A trucking company. The trucking company may be wary of (or downright hostile to) handing over valuable evidence, which may include:
- Black-box data
- Employment logs (which can show the driver was overworked or breaking industry regulations)
- A truck driver’s disciplinary history
- Information about defects in a truck or trailer
- A truck driver’s drug and alcohol test history
Your attorney may need to file a letter of spoliation, a legal document demanding that the trucking company produce accident-related evidence.
Document and Calculate Your Accident-Related Damages
Your lawyer will reach out to your doctors and their network of experts to document your damages with:
- All accident-related medical bills
- Invoices for repairing or replacing your vehicle
- Receipts for temporary transportation
- Your doctor’s diagnosis of injuries and symptoms
- Your doctor’s explanation of your treatment needs
- A mental health professional’s description of your pain and suffering (and treatment needs)
- Work-related records proving your professional damages (including lost income)
Your attorney will build your case around your damages, documenting them with all available proof.
Negotiate Settlements with Insurers
Your lawyer will have a precise settlement demand. These demands will reflect the full scope of your economic and non-economic damages. Your insurer and the insurance provider for at-fault parties will negotiate with your lawyer, and they may reach an agreement you find acceptable.
Sue the Trucking Company or Other Liable Parties
If you do not receive a settlement offer you’re willing to accept, suing may become your case strategy. Your attorney will help evaluate settlement offers and determine if filing a suit is right.
Lead Your Court Case
If you sue a truck driver, trucking company, or any other liable party, there is still a chance your case will settle. There is also a chance that liable parties will continue to rebuff your lawyer’s settlement demands, in which case your lawsuit may head to trial.
Your attorney will lead every step of your court case, with their responsibilities including:
- Completing discovery, which may include depositions and the exchange of case-related materials with the court
- Making an opening argument
- Questioning witnesses (both experts and eyewitnesses)
- Making objections and filing motions as necessary
- Making closing arguments
Your attorney will present the most compelling case possible, imploring a jury to award you all the compensation you deserve.
Recognize Why Truck Accident Cases Are Often Complicated
Truck accident cases are in a class of their own. One reason why such cases are distinct is the unique challenges they present, including:
- Determining the cause of the accident: Trucks are complicated vehicles that become even more complicated when pulling a trailer filled with cargo. This complexity can make it challenging to determine exactly why a truck accident happened, but that’s exactly what your attorney will do.
- Securing evidence from the trucking company: A liable trucking company goes on the defensive as soon as an accident happens. Your lawyer will act quickly through legal channels to ensure a trucking company cannot “lose” evidence that can be valuable to your case.
- Calculating the exact value of damages: Truck accidents often cause high-cost damages. Calculating the total case value may be no easy feat, as it may involve pain and suffering, vehicle damage, and other harm from the accident. Attorneys can calculate even the most complex case values.
- Negotiating with high-powered insurers and trucking companies: Trucking companies are always ready to fight lawsuits, while their insurance companies may be ready to fight your claim. Your attorney will negotiate for all the compensation you deserve, and they will not let liable parties off the hook.
Let your attorney lead the way in a potentially complex, high-stakes case. You worry about your health.
What Should I Do Once I Hire a Truck Accident Attorney?
Once you hire a lawyer, they will guide you the way. You merely receive the treatment you need, be available to answer your lawyer’s calls, and they will keep you updated. If insurance representatives or others in your case contact you, refer them to your attorney.
Do not wait any longer to conduct your lawyer search. The sooner you start, the sooner you can hire your personal injury attorney in Cape Girardeau, and the sooner they can resolve your case.