If you’ve recently been in a truck accident that was someone else’s legal fault, you might be thinking about negotiating a settlement with the responsible insurance company. But do you know what factors might affect how much you’re owed?
The answer matters, because the settlement agreement will include a release clause that prevents you from suing the at-fault party. If you accept too little now, you can’t go back for more later.
With that in mind, let’s explore some of the factors that affect truck accident settlement amounts, including the severity of your injuries, the financial and personal effects of the injuries, whether multiple parties are at fault for the accident, how clearly the parties were at fault, and how much insurance coverage is available.
How Georgia Truck Accident Settlements Are Calculated
Settlements aren’t so much calculated as negotiated, though certain figures guide the process. Here’s a basic rundown of how to make an initial calculation for compensation:
- Start by adding up all the specific economic harms you’ve suffered. Examples include the cost of your medical care, lost income because you couldn’t work, and any property damaged in the accident. Your truck accident settlement can cover not only the financial harm you’ve already suffered, but also future costs associated with your injuries.
- Then account for the value of subjective, personal losses like pain and suffering and reduced quality of life. Lawyers do this in a few different ways, including the multiplier method and the per diem method. In the multiplier method, the cost of economic harms is multiplied by a number between 1.5 and 5, with a higher number representing more severe pain and suffering. In the per diem method, a figure is determined that represents the cost of one day’s worth of pain and suffering, which is then multiplied by the number of days the pain and suffering is expected to last.
- Finally, add the two figures together to arrive at a final amount.
Injury-Related Factors That Affect Value
Ultimately, your injuries themselves will most directly affect how much compensation you could be entitled to. Specific injury-related factors might include:
- The type and severity of the injuries you’ve suffered
- What treatment the injuries require, both now and in the future
- Whether you are expected to make a full recovery from your injuries
- How your injuries affect your everyday life
Financial and Personal Losses That Affect Settlement Values
Your truck accident settlement should reflect both the financial costs of your injuries as well as their personal costs:
- Economic damages cover financial losses and can include past and future medical expenses, lost wages and reduced earning potential, and the cost to repair or replace your vehicle and other damaged property.
- Non-economic damages cover the subjective consequences of the accident, including the pain you suffered, the emotional distress you endured, and how any long-term impairments affect your ability to live your life to its fullest.
Liability and Available Insurance Coverage
Trucks in Georgia must carry liability insurance coverage to pay for accidents caused by the trucker driving the vehicle. Per 49 CFR 387, trucks must have at least:
- $750,000 for interstate carriers operating trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating of at least 10,001 pounds and transporting nonhazardous property.
- $1 million for carriers transporting oil, hazardous waste, or certain hazardous materials in trucks weighing at least 10,001 pounds.
- $5 million for carriers transporting especially dangerous materials, including certain explosives, toxic substances, gases, or radioactive materials.
Truck drivers and commercial trucking companies often purchase excess-liability or umbrella policies to provide them with additional protection after an accident that exhausts their liability insurance coverage. Otherwise, they may be personally responsible if a lawsuit goes to trial and a court awards the victim an amount greater than the liability policy limit.
Evidence and Settlement Negotiations
Your attorney can make settlement demands after reviewing evidence like the following:
- Medical records documenting the severe injuries and their treatment
- Prior medical bills
- Expert estimates of future treatment and long-term care costs
- Pay stubs, tax returns, and other records proving your lost income
- Vocational and economic analyses of reduced earning capacity
- Repair estimates or evidence establishing your vehicle’s market value
- Receipts for your out-of-pocket expenses
- A journal recounting the day-to-day discomfort your injuries cause you
- Testimony from people you know about how your life has changed since the accident
However, an insurance adjuster rarely accepts the amount an injured person demands. Instead, the two sides go back and forth with offers and counteroffers until they either reach a number both can live with or an impasse that can’t be resolved through more negotiations.
If the parties cannot agree on a mutually acceptable settlement, your attorney may file a truck accident lawsuit against the at-fault parties and ask a court to decide the case.
Steps to Take to Protect Your Settlement Claim
- Seek medical care as soon after the truck crash as possible, and follow your treatment plan to the letter.
- Save your medical bills, as well as anything that can establish how much income you’ve lost – for example, old pay stubs and past tax returns.
- Avoid discussing the accident or your injuries on social media.
- Do not give the trucking company or its insurer a recorded statement or accept a settlement offer until you’ve discussed it with a lawyer.
- Contact Spiva Law Group as soon as possible and ask for your free legal consultation with a Georgia truck accident attorney at our law firm.
Contact a Georgia Truck Accident Lawyer
Have you been injured in a truck accident in Georgia? If someone else caused the serious crash, they should compensate you for the harm you suffered as a result.
The experienced Georgia truck accident lawyers at Spiva Law Group are ready to negotiate aggressively for a settlement from the liable parties that reflects your losses, from financial costs like medical care and lost income to personal ones like reduced quality of life.
We’re listed in prestigious directories like Avvo and the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. We have recovered life-changing settlements for our clients, including a $1 million, policy-limits win against an unqualified tractor-trailer driver. While past results do not guarantee future outcomes, they demonstrate the level of experience and resources we bring to each truck accident case.
Contact us today for your free consultation with our experienced truck accident attorneys about your potential personal injury claim.
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