As the trucks are much larger and heavier than regular vehicles, the significant height-and-weight difference is crucial when a truck is involved in an accident with any kind of passenger car.
The outcome of this collision can be devastating. Almost any regular size vehicle doesn't stand a chance when being hit by a semi-truck.
Even if the accident occurs at very slow speeds, the nature of the accident ensures that damages and injuries can still be excessive.
Because there are greater chances of indisputable injury, commercial truck accident settlements tend to be a lot more complex than those concerning regular vehicle accidents.
For this reason, you could consider hiring a truck accident lawyer in Toledo (or wherever you may live) in order to make the process less stressful and ensure you get the settlement that you deserve.
Regardless of being as complicated as it sounds, it is possible to estimate the average settlement of a truck accident considering a few main factors related to the case.
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Liability
In the process of claiming compensation after an accident, the first factor that plays a big role in your settlement offer has to do with whether or not the truck driver did anything wrong to cause the collision and how easily it can be proven.
In some cases, it is not easy to determine how the accident was caused, then your job becomes harder, and you might have to hire an accident reconstruction expert to recreate how the accident occurred.
One of the things a jury decides on is a fault or, more correctly, negligence – and they can spread fault around if they want and divide it up, for example, 50/50, 70/30, 90/10, 47/53 – any combination of percentages as long as they total up to 100%.
What it means is that whatever percent fault a jury puts on you, then your compensation is reduced by that percent. For example, if a jury says you are 50% at fault and awards you $300,000 compensation, then you can only take $150,000 home.
Property Damage
Normally, if your vehicle is only slightly damaged in the truck accident, the insurance company will pay the cost of the repairs, so once your car is fixed, the truck insurer pays the bill.
On the other hand, if the vehicle is totaled, meaning the damage is so great that the cost of repair is near, at, or above the value of the vehicle itself, you will more than likely receive the blue book value of your car during the settlement process.
Meaning, the insurer’s obligation is only to pay fair market value for the car.
Since not everyone owns the same model of vehicle, it is hard to predict the average amount of money you can get when it comes to vehicle damage.
The thing that matters most is what’s the fair market value of the car. It is advised to have that information handy if and when any discussion regarding the replacement value of the car arises.
Medical Expenses
When making an insurance claim or otherwise filing a lawsuit for compensation after a truck accident, the total cost of your medical expenses plays a large part in your settlement offer.
Unfortunately, the injuries that are suffered by the people in passenger vehicles during truck accidents are severe or life-altering.
The worse you are injured, the higher your medical bills will be, and besides that, it will be very useful for your case to know whether you will need to keep seeing doctors in the future and how much that treatment will cost.
That being said, it is clear there is not a guaranteed amount that you can receive for your medical bills, as each amount is determined the severity and nature of the injuries.
There is also no prediction on average compensation of this kind. Although there are some calculators to be found online, be assured they are almost completely unreliable.
Lost Wages
Depending on the nature of their work, people involved in the accident might miss time at work due to the injuries that they suffered for a shorter or longer period.
By the means of lost wages, you will be given compensation if you missed work while treating your injuries. Sometimes it may be impossible to ever return to work fully healed and able to pick up where you left off.
If your injuries leave you with one or more permanent disabilities that affect your work in the future, limiting it in any way, your claim will have a much higher value.
The essential thing is to have a trusted and experienced lawyer by your side, as the folks at DDDLaw.com suggest.
You are going to need an attorney highly specialized in this field who can offer you all the help you need while making the most of the case and supporting you every step of the way. You can visit here, and attorney who is specialized in truck accident law.
Pain and Suffering
Unlike hard economic losses, there is something also known as “non-economic damages” presented as an appropriate amount for pain and suffering compensation, and that is even harder to determine than anything mentioned above.
Your attorney will need to take into consideration so many things to calculate the compensation for non-economic damages.
Besides missed work and medical bills, this includes what other things in your life you had to miss on account of the sustained injuries, the physical pain you went through, the emotional stress you experienced, physical limitations, permanency, and so on.
If others rely on you, perhaps you are the caretaker of the family, your attorney will also take into account how the accident affected the lives of your family members as a result of the injuries that you suffered, as well as their observations of your pain and limitation.
As a defender in the settlement process, the last thing large truck companies want is a public trial, so to protect their reputation and insurance coverage, Their insurance investigators can offer a settlement agreement without admitting liability.
Therefore, it is crucial to have an expert in this specific field alongside, so he can smartly negotiate the amount of money you can get out of the settlement in every step of the process and make the best out of it.