Unfortunately, truck collisions can lead to devastating damages and injuries. If you or a loved one were injured in a truck wreck due to the negligence of another party, you might be eligible for compensation. An accomplished lawyer could help you with recovering Columbia, MO truck accident damages. Call an experienced truck accident attorney today and set up a consultation.
Columbia truck accident damages include economic, non-economic, and punitive damages. Economic damages are damages that can be financially calculated. Economic damages include:
These damages can be proven in court through documentation and testimony, whether it be lost wages, medical care, or other expenses. Documentation may reflect a loss of personal property, whether it be the actual motor vehicle involved or perhaps mere luggage or personal artifacts that were lost as a result of the collision. In a wrongful death action, economic damages are damages incurred because a spouse, a parent, or a child is no longer able to financially support the surviving heirs.
Conversely to the economic damages, non-economic damages are damages that cannot be defined or cannot be readily ascertainable through documentation and testimony. Non-economic damages include pain and suffering, loss of companionship, loss of society, and punitive damages. The jury will use their common sense and try to ascertain a monetary amount to those damages. An attorney could help a jury see how much non-economic damages should be awarded by explaining how the wreck has impacted the victim’s life.
It is challenging to calculate non-economic damages such as pain and suffering. This is basically done through testimony and an attorney who tries to convey the losses and the damages in a formulaic or mathematical way. How does one quantify pain? How does one quantify suffering? How does one quantify emotional, physical, spiritual, and mental loss? A skilled attorney can often present a narrative to a jury that will maximize and hopefully fully compensate the injured individual for non-economic damages.
If willful misconduct was involved, then punitive damages may be available. For example, punitive damages may be awarded if the at-fault party was driving while intoxicated.
The calculation of economic and non-economic damages is involved in awarding punitive damages. According to Missouri law, a jury can award up to five times the amount of the original award for punitive damages. Therefore, if one were to find out that a person incurred $5,000 in economic plus non-economic damages, they can then be awarded up to five times that amount, which will be $25,000 in punitive damages.
The sheer physics of a collision involving a tractor-trailer often leads to severe and extreme injuries. Unfortunately, fatalities are common in truck crashes. Some of the common injuries seen in truck crashes include broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and lacerations.
To recover truck collision damages in Columbia, an attorney will look at the initial investigation. They will see if there were any photographs taken at the scene and contact witnesses who were at the scene who may have seen the collision or arrived shortly thereafter. The attorney will also be able to thoroughly research the company that employed the driver and research the training of the driver. They could research and review the applicable insurance policies in order to maximize the recovery for the injured party.
A lawyer will able to give a preliminary overview of the medical records and medical bills in order to assess and evaluate the injuries to give proper and reasonable recovery estimation to the injured victim. On top of that, an attorney has experience with tractor-trailer cases and will be able to communicate with the company and the insurance carrier in an effective manner, which can sometimes alleviate stress and inconvenience from the injured party as they heal. For help with recovering Columbia truck accident damages, contact a seasoned lawyer today.
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