A crash between a commercial truck and a passenger vehicle might result in major losses for the parties in the smaller vehicle. Insurance claims after commercial crashes tend to focus primarily on economic damages.
The people involved in the wreck worry about the cost of repairing or replacing a vehicle and also the financial impact of any injuries they may have incurred. They may have medical bills to cover and they also lose out on income because of the injuries that resulted from the wreck. Either an insurance claim or a personal injury lawsuit may be necessary for those seeking to recover their losses after a crash with an 18-wheeler.
Both the people injured by a crash and those who lose loved ones in collisions can request compensation after a crash involving a commercial vehicle. While economic losses often account for a substantial portion of the value sought in such claims, people can also pursue non-economic damages.
What are non-economic damages?
Non-economic damages are consequences of an incident that can negatively affect people without necessarily causing direct financial harm. The claim relates to the impact the crash has, even if there aren’t direct costs associated with these consequences.
Pain and suffering claims are a common form of non-economic loss that people can seek to recover after an incident leaves them injured. Mental anguish can also constitute a non-economic loss that people can potentially recover when the aftermath of a collision with an 18-wheeler includes significant suffering, possibly because they cannot work or have significant functional limitations because of their injuries.
In wrongful death cases where the crash led to someone dying, surviving family members could also potentially seek pain and suffering damages based on their loved one’s experiences before their passing. They can also request compensation for their emotional distress related to grief, as well as the loss of companionship, support or care they could have received from the deceased party.
It can be very difficult to quantify non-economic losses. There are several different ways that people try to calculate the financial value of non-economic losses after a crash. Most people need support when calculating those losses. Non-economic losses can drastically increase the overall value of an insurance claim or lawsuit.
Reviewing the information about a truck collision and its aftermath with a skilled legal team can help those hoping to limit their losses determine if they are eligible for non-economic losses and how to value them. Those who pursue the maximum amount of compensation possible can potentially minimize the harm caused by a collision involving a semi-truck.