Recovering Nashville Truck Accident Damages

Tractor-trailer collisions can be frightening and have sometimes fatal consequences for individuals. Following a truck accident, you may not know what options are available. If you want to know more about recovering Nashville truck accident damages, speak with a capable truck accident attorney that could help you pursue the damages that you deserve.

Calculating Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages often are difficult to calculate, especially for a lawyer without much experience at trial law. What will be awarded for pain or suffering is up to a jury or a judge and the amount they will award is often unpredictable. A lawyer will attempt to apply some type of formula to help the jury or judge, but each case is different.

Sometimes a lawyer will anchor a pain-and-suffering claim to the amount of the medical bills. If those amount to several hundred thousand dollars, the lawyer may argue that one’s pain and suffering is worth more than the economic losses. Sometimes, the formula may be tied to the days and hours of the pain and suffering, and that it is worth a certain number of dollars a week. If a client is going to suffer pain for the rest of their life, the dollar amount may be calculated accordingly. A lawyer may try to get the jury or judge to understand different ways to put a dollar figure on it. But, before getting to that point, the lawyer will be dealing with an insurance adjuster or a mediator to calculate the damages that will be presented at court.

Pursuing Damages

Once it has been established that the other party was at fault, an attorney could start gathering evidence of the damages incurred. That would involve putting together packages showing current and future economic losses. The lawyer may want to see insurance contracts, what the policies cover. They already know what coverage the trucking company should carry, but it may have a larger umbrella policy than the attorney’s potential client has. That will just be part of an entire settlement the attorney may put together to be presented to the trucking company or its insurance company. The lawyer also has the option of a suit if the other side will not agree to pay the claimed amount. Even then, if the amount at trial is not considered enough, an appeal to a higher court is an option.

Steps to a Truck Accident Attorney Could Take to Recover Damages

The first step an attorney takes when recovering Nashville truck accident damages is to prove that the truck driver was at fault. That means talking to witnesses, getting the accident reconstructed, and having an expert inspect the truck. It means looking at the driver’s logs and the electronic data downloaded from the truck. The attorney is likely to work on why the accident happened. Was it driver fatigue, was the driver under pressure from the company, did something like the brakes on the truck fail because maintenance was not maintained?

Then, the normal procedure is to amass proof of all the damages, get medical experts, take medical depositions, perhaps get an economist if appropriate, to show lost wages and benefits, past and future. The attorney may use life-care planners in cases of a permanent disability that requires future care.

Nashville Truck Accident Attorneys Work on a  Contingency Basis

The attorney is likely to be on the case from the beginning to the very end, and it does not cost any more to hire one early. Often, an attorney will work on a contingency basis, not charging anything until recovering Nashville truck accident damages. Law firms may tell potential clients the sooner they ask to be represented, the more that is likely to be recovered, and it does not cost them anything.A skilled truck accident lawyer could devote the time and resources necessary to help an individual recover the damages that they deserve.