The most serious types of car accidents that occur on the road are truck accidents. Because of the size of the vehicle, a truck accident can often cause severe or life-threatening injuries. Commercial vehicles can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, making them extremely difficult to stop quickly to avoid an accident.
As with any auto accident, the primary concern is you or your loved one’s health and safety. A truck accident injury can require lengthy medical and rehabilitative treatment during the recovery process. This can also result in quickly mounting medical bills that may only add to the stress of the injuries. If the truck driver or the trucking company were negligent, they may be responsible to cover the damages that were incurred.
What are the types of damages in California?
Damages are compensation provided to an injured person when their person or property has been harmed by an unlawful act or negligence of another. In almost all personal injury cases, compensation will mean money that is paid to the victim.
A crash with a negligent truck driver will likely result in a number of different damages. Damages are broken down into economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are those that are measured easily or can be considered a hard cost. Examples would be medical bills, lost wages, and physical damage to your car or property. Non-economic damages are those that aren’t as easy to put a number on and can vary case by case. These include pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life.
Additionally, damages are either compensatory or punitive. Compensatory is meant to compensate, or put you back into the position you were prior to the injury. Punitive is meant to be a punishment to the negligent party so they don’t act the same way again.
Here are the main types of damages you will see in a trucking accident case (each case varies and not all will apply to every case):
• Medical. Medical expenses add up quickly, especially when there are serious injuries. It is important to keep detailed records of doctor’s visits, exams, and treatment. Having a copy of your medical records will also help your attorney. Damages for medical expenses include past and future costs. This means that if you need surgery or treatment that goes into the future, you will be able to receive that cost
• Lost Wages and Loss of Earning Capacity. A serious injury may prevent you from working. Sometimes it may prevent you from being able to do your job in the future at all. The negligent party may be responsible for the wages you’ve already lost and those into the future. This is referred to as past and future earnings. If your earning capacity is decreased by the injury, the negligent party may be responsible for these as well.
• Physical Impairment or Disfigurement. If the injury is disabling, this may mean you can no longer work or limit mobility. When an injury causes permanent damage, this results in disfigurement. For example, if a limb is amputated or there is a serious burn, you will not be the same again. The damages for these types of injuries are usually calculated with standard insurance formulas.
• Pain and Suffering. It’s nearly impossible to measure the dollar amount on someone’s pain and suffering. Every case is different and every injury affects people differently. The courts look at two different types of pain and suffering: physical and mental anguish. The more severe the physical injury, the more physical pain likely to have been endured. To receive physical pain and suffering compensation, you must have actually had a documented injury. The accident may also cause severe mental trauma. Accidents can be traumatizing events. To fully recover, you may need to go through therapy to overcome anxiety from events of the crash.
Sacramento Truck Accident Attorneys Can Help
A serious truck accident doesn’t immediately produce monetary compensation from the insurance company. There may need to be a complex investigation into several factors that can delay things or try to reduce their offer to you. You will need to prove that the truck driver was negligent and/or the trucking company was negligent. But you don’t need to fight this battle alone.
Our trucking accident legal team has several years of experience with catastrophic injuries. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to discuss a potential trucking accident claim. We can be reached at (916) 619-5452 or you can fill out our form online.
