Under Florida law, all drivers must carry personal injury protection coverage in their auto insurance policies. After a minor crash, their insurer pays for a portion of their medical bills and missed paychecks. However, heavy trucks, like construction vehicles and semi trucks, don’t cause minor crashes — they more often cause severe or fatal injuries.
The value of an injury claim depends on many factors unique to your truck accident. In other words, there’s no settlement value that applies to all crashes. Consequently, any “average” given would provide little to no information about the payout you can expect in your case.
Instead of providing generic figures, a truck accident attorney will look at the following factors to assess the value of your case.
The Severity Of Your Injuries
The primary factor in determining your case’s value is your injuries. Injuries that cause greater losses will enable you to recover greater compensation.
An injury may be considered “severe” in a few ways. First, a severe injury often requires extensive medical care. For example, suppose that you suffer a chest injury in a truck accident, damaging your heart. Even if you fully recover, the cost of open-heart surgery may be enormous.
Second, severe injuries often cause long-term or permanent effects. Thus, a facial laceration might be considered “severe” because it causes a permanent disfiguring scar.
Injuries that require costly medical care or produce long-term or permanent effects will justify higher compensation than temporary injuries that require little or no medical treatment.
The Impact On Your Income
Injury compensation is meant to cover both economic and non-economic losses. Economic losses include the expenses you incur due to your injuries, as well as the income you lose. Injuries that impact your ability to earn a living will justify a larger payout than those that don’t.
For example, let’s say you work in data entry. If you fracture your leg when an 18-wheeler hits your car, your injuries might have little effect on your ability to make a living. However, if you work in a warehouse preparing orders, the same broken leg might prevent you from working for six to eight weeks.
Importantly, you can also pursue compensation for diminished earning capacity. This amount is the difference between your expected income with your injuries and what you would have earned otherwise.
Evidence Of Liability
If you can step outside of Florida’s no-fault system, you can pursue a claim against the negligent driver or company that caused your accident. The trucking company may be eager to settle if you have strong evidence of negligence, such as witnesses who saw the driver fall asleep at the wheel. In this way, you have a much better chance of receiving an attractive settlement offer.
Conversely, suppose that your assertion of negligence is weak due to evidence that your own actions contributed to your accident. In this case, the trucking company might be willing to take its chances at trial and only offer a low settlement amount.
Available Insurance Coverage
Federal law requires trucking companies to carry a minimum amount of insurance and surety bonds. Specifically, carriers of non-hazardous cargo and property must have at least $750,000 in resources in case of crashes.
This amount may be insufficient for some serious injuries, such as spinal cord injuries or brain damage. Trucking companies with larger policies will be more likely to offer a settlement amount that fully addresses your losses.
Contact a Jacksonville Truck Accident Lawyer at The Truck Accident Law Firm for a Free Consultation
An average settlement value might give you a preliminary estimate of the payout you might see in your case. However, it wouldn’t account for the unique factors at play in your accident. You can get an accurate estimate of the value of your case by working with a Jacksonville truck accident attorney.
Contact The Truck Accident Law Firm today for a free consultation.
