What Are the Options for Damages in a Semi-Truck Accident?
When we refer to damages, we are referring to the ultimately quantifiable list of financial and emotional losses. This becomes more complicated than you would think, but in the majority of fatal semi-truck accident claims, there are two possible sets of damages the victim’s family can claim. These are damages for wrongful death and survival damages. When we are talking about wrongful death damages, we are talking about the damages resulting from the suffering that the family and the loved ones have incurred following the death of a family member, and the additional losses that come if that person was a wage earner. When we talk about survival damages we are referring to the emotional and financial losses that come after losing a family member, the hospital bills, the wages lost, et cetera.
Wrongful Death Damages
The damages for wrongful death could include compensation for any medical expenses suffered by the victim while they were in the hospital and the funeral expenses resulting from the accident. These are fairly black and white. They will be clearly marked on bills and can be easily presented to a jury. Wrongful death damages also include the loss of the financial support of the deceased as proved by his or her prior support to the loved ones. In cases where the primary wage-earner was the victim of the accident, the losses are particularly acute, seeing as how not only was all of that income lost, but also some current member of the family will have to find a better job, possibly undertake expensive training, and so forth. The severe emotional trauma and the mental strain caused by the loss of a loved one, as well as the loss of an irreplaceable member of a family, are two damages covered under wrongful death damages, are more likely to be contested by the defense, who could claim that because these are intangible, they are not so easily quantifiable.
Survival Damages
The survival damages include the compensation for any lingering medical bills from the victim’s time in the hospital following the tragedy, as well as the money actually lost by the victim from their lack of work, as well as the lack of work for the family members who might have taken time off to be with the victim, all of this being due to the fatal accident. Survival damages also include some damages for emotional turmoil following the accident, as well as any physical pain and suffering undergone by the family as a result of the accident.
We understand that talk of compensation and remuneration can be unsettling since no sum of money can give you back your deceased loved one or even begin to fully compensate you for the extremity of the loss you have suffered. At the same time, though, we also know that the period following a fatal semi-truck accident can be fraught with severe financial losses that come from the hospital bills, the funeral bills, the loss of wages, the loss of property, and the loss of future opportunity, as well as many other losses. The compensation is an important part of the process since it will help to provide financial security following the accident. It also has the additional and added purpose of holding certain parties accountable for their negligence. Here at our Law Office, we understand that this next step is important for the family and we know how to assist you so that you receive the most possible compensation you deserve for your loss. We will also fight to see that the responsible parties are held accountable for their actions.
Because so many of the damages include less tangible losses that come from emotional suffering and trauma and are therefore extremely subjective, it is vital that you retain the services of a wrongful death lawyer who has a great deal of experience and competence when it comes to accurately and adequately calculating the full range of total losses and damages resulting from the fatal semi-truck accident. The attorneys at our Law Office understand the process for building a complete and comprehensive fatal semi-truck accident wrongful death lawsuit that carefully separates and quantifies both wrongful death damages and survival damages. An issue that creates even more confusion in fatal eighteen-wheeler accidents is that there is often more than one liable party whose negligence could have contributed to the fatal accident. If you want to find all of the responsible parties and hold them justly accountable for their actions, then you need an experienced wrongful death attorney who knows all of the different strategies necessary to bringing a suit against multiple defendants and claiming damages from all of them. Just coming up with the list of damages is complicated enough as it is, but you will also need a competent and experienced lawyer who can either pursue the case in a court trial or force the insurance company to come to an equitable and just settlement.
At our Law Office, we have twenty years of experience in litigating cases like this and we understand the strategies necessary for building comprehensive and strong lawsuits to bring against all of the liable and responsible parties involved and then following through with a strong case for just compensation that the liable parties must pay our clients. Our semi-truck accident lawyers understand what it takes to build and litigate a strong case that will see our clients to their goal of achieving just compensation for the terrible loss they have incurred as a result of the negligent actions that caused a fatal semi-truck accident.