What Damages Can I Recover in a Delivery Truck Accident?

What damages you can recover after a delivery truck accident depends on what you have already lost and what you can reasonably expect to lose in the future. The at-fault party should pay for all losses—whether financial, physical, or mental—related to the crash.

Our Pittsburgh delivery truck accident lawyers can determine what kinds of damages you are eligible for and pursue that compensation on your behalf.

Economic Damages and Your Truck Accident Case

For many accident victims, the main concern is recovering enough money to cover all the bills and additional expenses that come with a motor vehicle collision, including:

• Medical expenses
• Lost wages
• Lost employment or employment opportunities
• Lost earning capacity
• Property damage

To recover these and other economic damages, you must establish a clear connection between the monetary loss and the accident. For example, a doctor can confirm that the delivery truck crash caused your injuries, and correspondence with your employer in which you explain that you cannot work due to truck accident injuries can confirm that you have lost wages.

It is essential that you ask for enough compensation to cover both past and future expenses. You can only sue for damages once, so if you focus only on your current losses without accounting for possible future expenses (e.g., follow-up appointments with your doctor), you could end up having to pay out of pocket.

Our trucking accident attorneys can work closely with you to identify all compensable losses and figure out the best way to fight for the money your family needs.

Non-economic Damages and Your Truck Accident Case

When determining what damages you can recover in a delivery truck accident, your physical and emotional pain is just as important as your financial losses.

Just like with economic damages, you will want to account for both past and future losses when determining how much to ask for your:

• Physical pain and suffering
• Emotional distress and trauma
• Reduced quality or enjoyment of life
• Loss of independence
• Loss of consortium
• Physical disability
• Intellectual disability (e.g., resulting from brain injuries)
• Serious scarring

The insurance company may try to dispute how serious your injuries are and how much you deserve in non-economic damages. For instance, they might blame your injuries on a preexisting condition or another event. If you post a photo of yourself smiling on social media, they might use the photo as “proof” that you are feeling fine and not in pain.

Always be careful about what and how much you share regarding the accident and its effects on your life. You can always talk to your delivery truck accident lawyer for advice before speaking with others.

How to Calculate and Recover Truck Accident Damages

Our Pittsburgh trucking company liability lawyers can determine who is at fault for your truck crash and file a claim or lawsuit against them for fair compensation. Common liable parties in truck accidents include:

• The delivery truck driver
• The delivery truck company
• A vehicle part manufacturer
• A vehicle mechanic or maintenance team
• The delivery truck cargo loaders
• A local government agency responsible for road repair and maintenance

One or more of these parties could owe you damages for causing your truck crash. We can identify the liable party and how much they owe you by taking steps like the following:

• First, we listen closely to your story. We encourage you to tell us every single detail you remember about what happened and how it has changed your life.
• Visiting the accident scene lets us see for ourselves where your injuries happened and examine any evidence that is still there.
• Speaking with witnesses can corroborate and strengthen parts of your story, including the exact sequence of events.
• We might recruit expert witnesses, such as accident reconstructionists or vocational rehabilitation experts, to talk about the ways in which the accident has affected you.
• Documentation is often critical. We can request specific documents, such as medical records from your doctor, the crash report from the local police, and company records from the delivery truck company.
• We can also see if there is any video footage or photographic evidence that might help us prove your case. Cell phones, surveillance cameras, dashcams, and traffic cameras are all common sources of audiovisual evidence in truck accident claims.

You Have a Limited Time to Seek Truck Accident Damages

Every state sets a specific time limit by which accident victims must take legal action against a negligent party. Under Pennsylvania law, for example, the limit is two years.

Once two years have passed from the accident date, you no longer have the right to file a lawsuit, which could hamper your efforts to recover damages.

Because of this statute, and because evidence generally becomes harder to find the more time passes, it is vital that you act fast. If you want to recover damages for your delivery truck accident, you should:

• Get medical treatment immediately after the crash
• Collect whatever evidence you safely can from the accident scene, including the truck driver’s name and insurance information
• Speak to a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible

Insurance companies typically act quickly after an accident, deploying adjusters to investigate what happened and look for ways to minimize payouts to victims. Do not try to engage with the insurance company yourself: let our truck accident law firm work with them to get you and your family the appropriate damages.

We Can Fight for Your Damages After a Delivery Truck Accident

Call Berger and Green today for a free consultation. With over 40 years of experience, our personal injury attorneys know exactly how to determine what damages you can recover in a delivery truck accident and how to fight for that money while you focus on your health.