What Kind of Damages Can You Pursue After a Truck Accident?

Any motor vehicle accident can cause harm, but truck collisions often have particularly catastrophic consequences. As an experienced truck accident lawyer knows, the occupants of smaller vehicles tend to experience greater injuries and damage when hit by a large commercial truck. 

If you were involved in a truck accident, you may be dealing with devastating injuries, missed time at work, and expensive property damage. Auto insurance claims are often most people’s first choice to seek compensation, but they don’t always cover all accident-related expenses. In that case, personal injury claims provide another route to compensation for truck accidents.

Here is more about what you need to know about the kinds of damages you can pursue in truck accident cases.

Economic Damages

Economic damages after a truck accident refer to the direct financial losses you incur from the accident. To prove economic losses in an insurance claim or truck accident litigation case, you will provide invoices, receipts, pay stubs, and other documentation showing the dollar amount of your losses.  

Truck accident lawyers include the following under the category of economic damages:

• Medical expenses: You may seek reimbursement for money you spent on emergency transportation, hospital stays, prescription medication, physical therapy, and medical devices like wheelchairs. You can also seek compensation for future medical bills if your condition is ongoing or permanent.
• Lost income: You can seek to recover the wages you lost at work while recuperating from your injury. If you cannot return to the same position after the accident, you may also be able to seek compensation for lost earning capacity.
• Property damage: You will likely need to repair or replace your car after a truck collision. You can seek reimbursement for these costs and damage to other personal property like electronics, jewelry, or prescription glasses. 

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages compensate you for physical and emotional suffering associated with an accident. While non-economic damages are harder to calculate, they are no less real. At Fadduol, Cluff, Hardy, & Conaway, we believe that the non-economic damages are typically the greatest damages suffered.  

Examples of non-economic losses include the following:

• Pain and suffering
• Mental anguish and emotional distress
• Loss of enjoyment in life
• Loss of companionship
• Burns, scars, or other disfigurement
• Permanent impairment or disability

Wrongful Death Damages

If you lost a loved one in a truck accident, you may qualify to file a wrongful death claim. While personal injury claims compensate the truck accident victim, wrongful death claims compensate certain surviving family members for their losses.

Wrongful death damages include the following:

• Lost income and benefits of the deceased
• Pain and suffering the deceased experienced before death
• Medical expenses for the deceased’s injury before death
• Funeral and burial costs
• Loss of care or companionship
• Loss of parental guidance

Punitive Damages

In particularly egregious cases, punitive damages may also apply in truck accident claims. While economic and non-economic damages aim to compensate the victim for their losses, punitive damages aim to punish the defendant for wrongdoing — and prevent it from happening again.

Typically, courts will impose punitive damages only in cases of willful, fraudulent, or malicious misconduct. In a truck accident case, this may include a trucker driving under the influence or a trucking company engaging in overtly negligent hiring practices or permitting their drivers to violate the rules truckers are required to follow under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act. .

Contact a Truck Accident Lawyer Today

If you or a loved one suffered an injury in a truck accident, contact Fadduol, Cluff, Hardy & Conaway, P.C. today. We provide experienced legal representation for truck collisions and can answer any questions you may have about truck accident damage claims.

Call us at 800-433-2408 for your free consultation with a knowledgeable truck accident attorney.