The National Safety Council reports that, across America, crashes involving large trucks like 18-wheelers and big rigs have consistently increased over recent years. Unfortunately, these kinds of car wrecks typically involve serious, life-threatening injuries.
As Fairburn truck accident attorneys, our firm can help injured victims seek justice from at-fault drivers, trucking companies, and other potentially liable parties. The value of your claim depends on the severity of your accident and injuries as well as the level of fault assigned to each party involved in the accident.
The Monetary Value of Your Fairburn Truck Accident Claim
The value of the compensation you receive after a Fairburn truck collision depends on a variety of factors that will be unique to your case. For this reason, we can’t give you a specific dollar amount as to how much your case is worth. However, we can go over the details that will affect your claim’s value.
Your Amount of Damages
The first factor that affects how much you can get in compensation is the numerical value attached to your damages. In legal terms, “damages” refers to all the harms you have suffered as a result of the injury sustained in the truck accident. These are split into two primary categories.
- Economic harms: This category includes all the damages that directly impact your bank account. Examples include medical bills, car repair or replacement costs, lost wages from missing work, ongoing therapy expenses, etc.
- Non-economic harms: This category includes the subjective effects of your injury, such as pain, mental suffering and anguish, loss of enjoyment in life, loss of consortium with a spouse, and the like.
Both categories deserve compensation from the party who caused those harms. In Georgia, there is no cap or limit to how much you can sue for, provided that you can show that all the harms you cite occurred due to the initial injury.
Our office works to catalogue and preserve evidence of all the harms you have suffered. In this way, we can help maximize the value of your claim and get you the compensation you are truly owed.
Your Percentage of Fault
The other major factor in determining the value of your claim is the level of culpability attributed to you and the other parties involved in your Fairburn truck accident. According to Georgia Code §51-12-33, you are only entitled to compensation if you are less than 50% responsible for the accident that caused your injury.
Furthermore, any compensation you get will be reduced by the percentage of fault the court decides to attribute to you. In other words, if you’re 25% responsible for the truck accident in the eyes of the court, your compensation will likewise be reduced by 25%.
Fairburn truck accident lawyers can help lower your percentage of blame (and thereby increase your potential compensation package) by collecting evidence like:
- Eyewitness testimony
- Trucking logs
- Traffic or surveillance camera footage of the wreck
- Testimony from accident reconstructionists
- Evidence of additional responsible parties (such as truck part manufacturing errors)
Negotiating a Fairburn Truck Crash Settlement
Most personal injury claims, including car accident claims, end in a settlement rather than a trial. However, it’s important to remember that the insurance companies and opposing parties are not on your side. They are trying to pay you as little as they can get away with.
Unfortunately, accepting an initial offer from the opposing party likely means that you will be barred from seeking additional compensation. This is why it’s crucial to discuss your case with experienced truck accident attorneys in Fairburn before accepting any offer or even discussing your claim with opposing insurance companies.
Get Help From a Truck Accident Law Firm in Fairburn
If you’ve been in a truck crash in Fairburn, it’s imperative that you get in touch with skilled legal representation as quickly as possible. The statute of limitations for these claims is two years. While that sounds like a long time, it goes by very quickly when you are focused on recovering from injuries.
Ready to get a FREE consultation on how our Fairburn truck accident attorneys can help you get the compensation you deserve? Fill out the form on this page or head over to our contact page to schedule your appointment.
