Who Pays for a Truck Accident?
The shipping, transportation, or other company that owned the truck and/or cargo is financially responsible for victim compensation, at least in most cases. This compensation usually includes money for medical bills and other economic losses, and emotional distress and other noneconomic losses.
Frequently, medical bills are the largest component of economic damages in a truck accident case. These expenses usually total at least $40,000. If the victim’s car was totaled, and it probably was, property damage is usually a close second. Determining the amount of noneconomic damages in a truck accident case is not quite as straightforward. More on that below.
A Leesburg personal injury lawyer helps ensure that responsible parties pay fair compensation to accident victims. Victims need this compensation to pay the aforementioned medical bills and other accident-related expenses. They also need money to put their lives back together, and that money shouldn’t come from their own pockets.
First Party Liability
Before a Leesburg personal injury attorney determines who pays for a truck accident, the legal team must determine accident responsibility and prove negligence, or a lack of care, by a preponderance of the evidence, or more likely than not. Evidence in a truck crash case includes:
- Police Accident Report: As an official document, a police accident report is usually admissible at trial. The police report usually includes an accident summary that determines fault. However, there’s a difference between fault and liability, like there’s a difference between a halftime score and a final score.
- Witness Statements: The police accident report usually also includes witness names and contact information. This witness list is nearly always incomplete. For various reasons, most people don’t loiter at accident scenes and voluntarily give statements to police officers.
- Medical Bills: These documents usually include clinical information, like diagnosis, treatment, and cost. Unfortunately for a Leesburg personal injury lawyer, medical bills often don’t include treatment notes that indicate the victim’s pain level.
Because the Big Three evidence sources are often inadequate, attorneys usually supplement this evidence with expert testimony and/or electronic evidence.
Frequently, attorneys partner with medical experts and accident reconstruction professionals in these cases. Medical experts flesh out the medical bills and accident reconstruction professionals confirm or deny preliminary fault findings.
These partnerships increase litigation costs. But when the amount of compensation is on the line, almost any investment pays off.
An Event Data Recorder, which resembles a commercial jet’s black box flight data recorder, may be the most common electronic evidence in truck crash cases. These gadgets measure and store information like steering angle, engine RPM, vehicle speed, and brake application. So, in court, an EDR is essentially an eyewitness who’s never incorrect or biased.
Third Party Liability
The respondeat superior rule applies if a negligent employee causes damage during the course and scope of employment. We looked at two of these elements (negligence and damages) above. Now, let’s examine the other two.
Frequently, truck drivers are non-employees, like independent contractors, for most purposes. However, since their employers control them (at least to an extent), these individuals are employees for negligence purposes.
Virginia law also broadly defines course and scope of employment to include any act that benefits the employer in any way.
Reach Out to a Diligent Loudoun County Lawyer
Truck accidents are very complex negligence cases. For a confidential consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney in Leesburg, contact Simms Showers, LLP, Attorneys at Law. Virtual, home, and after-hours visits are available.
Disclaimer: This memorandum is provided for general information purposes only and is not a substitute for legal advice particular to your situation. No recipients of this memo should act or refrain from acting solely on the basis of this memorandum without seeking professional legal counsel. Simms Showers LLP expressly disclaims all liability relating to actions taken or not taken based solely on the content of this memorandum.
Source:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31888976/
