Truck accidents often cause severe injuries because the commercial truck and its load are much heavier than a standard passenger car. If you suffered injuries in a truck crash, you should get the opportunity to rest and get well without having to fight an insurance company. A Covington truck accident lawyer can help.
You can call Morris Bart at (504) 613-4771 today to find out what we can do for you. We can evaluate your injury claim at no cost and without any obligation. Our clients get to focus on getting better while we handle their personal injury cases.
Potential Personal Injury Compensation from an Injury Accident
We cannot say how much personal injury compensation you can go after for your losses without talking with you and investigating your situation. Every case is unique. Your damages might be a different amount than someone sitting right next to you in the same vehicle. The amount of recovery you can get will depend on the facts of your claim.
Here are some examples of the types of monetary damages we have won for our clients:
Lost Wages
You probably missed time from work because of the trucking accident and your injuries. If you did not get paid for all the work that you missed, whether it was wages, salary, self-employment, or other forms of regular income, we can include the loss in your claim.
Diminished Earning Capacity
Severe injuries might make it necessary for you to work at a lower-paying job than before. You can go after compensation for the difference.
Disability
If you suffered devastating wounds that make it impossible for you to work at all, you can get damages for your loss of income.
Medical Expenses
This category can include things like the ambulance, emergency room, hospital, X-rays and other imaging studies, blood tests, diagnostic tests and procedures, surgery, physical therapy, and prescription drugs that you need to treat your injuries.
Specialized Treatment Center
People who sustain catastrophic wounds, like a traumatic brain injury or spinal cord damage, often need to get skilled care at a specialized facility for weeks or months following a truck wreck. These are sometimes known as long-term or inpatient rehabilitation facilities.
Future Medical Care Costs
If your condition will likely call for future treatment or ongoing follow-up care, you can pursue the estimated cost of this care. For example, those with burn injuries often know plastic surgery will be necessary in the future to give their wounds the best appearance and function. However, they cannot wait to seek damages until this treatment is over. We work with medical experts to estimate these costs instead.
Long-Term Care
After a life-changing accident with a large truck, some people can no longer take care of their daily needs without assistance. If you need ongoing help with regular medical treatments and personal care, you might have to move into a long-term care center or have ongoing support from a home health nurse or another care attendant.
Pain and Suffering
Merely receiving damages for your economic losses does not compensate you for the physical discomfort and emotional distress of getting injured in a truck wreck. The category of pain and suffering addresses these items.
Other Non-Economic Losses
Depending on the facts of your situation, you might be able to pursue additional non-economic losses. For example, if you can no longer walk, live independently, or engage in activities you used to do, you could have a claim for loss of enjoyment of life. Also, it is common for people to suffer post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a significant wreck, particularly when there were severe or fatal injuries.
Wrongful Death
If your loved one died because of an accident with a commercial truck, our personal injury law firm can help your family seek additional financial compensation for the loss.
For a free legal consultation with a Truck Accident lawyer serving Covington, call (504) 613-4771
What to Do After a Wreck With a Truck
There are steps we recommend you take right after a truck accident that can have an impact on the value of your personal injury claim.
Get Medical Attention After Being Injured in a Truck Accident
Even if you do not yet realize that you received personal injuries, you should get a medical examination immediately. It is possible to have bodily injuries that you have not yet discovered, even broken bones. Some hidden wounds, like internal bleeding, can become medical emergencies by the time you realize that something is wrong.
Most wounds heal best with prompt treatment. You can avoid some side effects, like infections, by going to the doctor or emergency room right after the accident. Following the doctor’s instructions for treatment and follow-up care is also important.
We will use your medical records to link the harm you suffered to the truck wreck. Without medical records, it is more difficult to establish this link. If you delay in getting medical attention, the at-fault driver might claim that your accident injuries came from some other incident and not the truck crash.
Talk to a Truck Accident Attorney Immediately
You need to know your legal rights and the amount of money you could receive for your losses. The insurance company is not going to give you this information. In fact, they may purposely mislead you by offering a low-ball offer that many people would be tempted to take. A personal injury attorney can protect your rights and negotiate directly with the insurance company on your behalf.
You can call a Covington truck accident lawyer from Morris Bart for a free consultation. We can help navigate through the claims process for you. Call us today at (504) 613-4771 to get started.
Do Not Settle Your Personal Injury Claim Without Talking to Us
You might feel as if your recuperation is going well. You have a few weeks left of physical therapy and then a follow-up appointment with your doctor. Then the insurance company offers you money to settle your personal injury case now. Unless your injuries are healed and your doctor has released you, or you have a good idea about your prognosis and future care needs, this is not a good idea.
Imagine what would happen if you accepted the check from the insurer and found out at the doctor’s appointment that you must undergo an operation to achieve more function, range of motion, or strength. When you settle with an insurance company, you have to sign documents, including a waiver of the right to ever go after more money for losses from that injury accident.
You could end up paying for the surgery out of your pocket. Your health insurance may not help because those policies typically exclude coverage for motor vehicle accidents. While you may have a check that seemed large at the time, the medical bills could quickly cause it all to evaporate, and you will be paying for injuries you suffered through no fault of your own.
Our Lawyers Seek Compensation for Covington Truck Accident Victims
When the Morris Bart law firm accepts a truck accident case and goes to work fighting for compensation for the victim, we generally have two options:
- Filing an insurance claim based on the liable party’s policy
- Suing those who caused the crash and holding them legally responsible
These cases often settle outside of court, but we take them to a jury trial when necessary to get an appropriate payout for our clients. To get the compensation our clients need and deserve based on their crash facts, we must:
- Prove what happened
- Show negligence occurred
- Identify the trucker as the at-fault driver
- Determine who is legally responsible
- File a claim
- Demand appropriate compensation
- Negotiate a settlement or sue
In most cases, we do not file a claim or lawsuit against the individual trucker on their own. Like other states, Louisiana recognizes respondeat superior. This is a legal doctrine that allows crash victims to hold the at-fault drivers’ employers vicariously liable for their negligence.
Under Louisiana Civil Code Article 2320, our insurance claim is usually based on the trucking company’s larger corporate liability policy. We hold the company liable for the injuries their employee—the driver—caused while on the clock and working for them. This may allow us to reach an out-of-court settlement that exceeds the limits of a policy any individual driver would likely carry, even if our client has severe injuries.
Click to contact our Covington Personal Injury Lawyers today
Get Legal Help from a Covington Personal Injury Law Firm
Our clients can devote their attention to getting better because we take care of their legal matters. Louisiana Civil Code Article 3493.1 limits your time to act to two years, and exceptions can shorten that time, so you should not hesitate. If you suffered injuries in a truck accident in Covington, call Morris Bart at (504) 613-4771 for a free, no-obligation consultation today.
Questions?Call (504) 613-4771
to find a Morris Bart office near you.
