After being injured in a semi-trailer accident and filing a personal injury claim or lawsuit, a common question asked by victims is how much compensation they should seek for their injuries and damages. That’s because most people aren’t aware of how much they can realistically ask for. Aside from property damage, there are several different types of personal injury compensation that a big rig accident victim can ask for. Martin Gasparian is a highly experienced California truck accident lawyer, and the principal attorney at Maison Law. His insight and sound advice follow.
The Opposing Insurance Company
The insurer of the semi-trailer driver who caused your accident and injuries hasn’t stayed in business by giving money away. It collects premiums from truck drivers or their employers, and it banks them. Then, when those funds reach a certain level, it puts those funds in safe investments to make even more money. After its insured person causes an accident, totals your car and seriously injures you, that insurance company will want to pay you as little compensation as possible for your injuries and damages to have you go away. It knows that the company’s exposure is high, and if you start your big rig injury claim out by representing yourself, it’s likely to save substantial sums of money by painting you into a legal corner. With that being said, here are the primary criteria that a seasoned California truck accident attorney will use to evaluate your claim or lawsuit and place a range of value on it:
- Your Medical Expenses: These are likely to accrue over time, and the issue of whether or not you have your own insurance covering them is irrelevant. Those can include the costs for paramedics and an ambulance, emergency room treatment, radiological studies, expenses of hospitalization and any surgeries, physical therapy and any future medical expenses that can be proved within a reasonable degree of medical certainty.
- Lost Earnings or Diminished Earning Capacity: After being hit by a 70-foot long vehicle that weighs up to 80,000 pounds, its highly likely that a victim will miss at least some work if he or she wasn’t rendered completely disabled Maybe that victim could return to work, but not in the same capacity and rate of pay. That would give the victim the right to pursue compensation for his or her lost time, plus the difference that he or she would have earned if the big rig crash never occurred.
- Pain and Suffering: There is no price tag on this item of damages. It would be extremely difficult for insurance defense lawyers to argue that fractures or a surgery were painless, especially when a fractured bone is protruding through the victim’s skin. Compensation for pain and suffering can be substantial, especially if it lasts a lifetime.
- Permanent Disfigurement or Disability: It’s perfectly foreseeable that disfigurement or disability suffered in a semi-trailer crash can stay with a person for life. Although these are other components of damages that are difficult to put a price tag on, victims can pursue compensation for either or both of them. Depending on the nature and extent of the disfigurement or disability, compensation for one or both of these can also be substantial.
A California Big Rig Accident Lawyer works to identify every party that bears fault in your accident. This can include truckers and the trucking companies that hired them. It’s the only way to make sure you receive the support you need to make a full recovery.
Contact a California Truck Accident Lawyer.
If a truck accident resulted in the loss of a loved one, other valuable damages can be sought under California’s wrongful death laws. After becoming a victim of a big rig crash, don’t take a single step in the direction of representing yourself. You’ll be starting your claim or lawsuit at a severe disadvantage, and it’s highly likely that you’ll make mistakes along the way that can cost you tens or hundreds of thousand of dollars. California law doesn’t require you to cooperate with the opposing insurance company and help it build its case against you. Rather than doing that, contact us at Maison Law, and we can arrange for a professional consultation and case review at no cost to you at all. If we’re retained to represent you, not a penny of legal fees need be paid as a retainer. If you can’t come to us, we can come to you anywhere in California
