If you or someone you love was recently involved in a truck accident that caused significant injury, filing a claim against the at-fault party is a complicated process to handle alone. A dedicated truck accident attorney can help you navigate through these types of claims and determine how much your truck accident claim is worth.
After suffering an injury in a truck accident, you should contact our experienced truck accident lawyers at Schmidt Kramer to help. We are here to answer any questions you may have about obtaining fair compensation and pursuing a legal claim against the at-fault party.
Determining the Value
The possible value of a claim depends on certain factors involved in the accident. The amount of compensation that a victim may receive from a trucking accident depends on the extent of all damages, including:
- Total cost of current and future medical expenses
- Lost wages from lack of work
- Estimated loss of future income
- Property damage from the collision
- Loss of earnings due to temporary or permanent disability
- Physical and mental limitations from the injuries
- Past and future pain and suffering
When a lawyer calculates these factors together, he or she can give the victim a clearer picture of the possible settlement. Medical costs often include prescription drugs, ambulance trips, emergency room visits, surgery or treatments, therapy and rehabilitation bills, and future medical expenses. After significant property damage, calculating the value requires obtaining a professional estimate of costs to repair the vehicle or replace the car if the insurance company considers it totaled.
Loss of income happens through an inability to continue working during the recovery period. This part of the compensation calculation involves current lost income and future loss of income as the victim undergoes treatment and therapy.
Pain and suffering includes mental and physical pain and suffering you experience because of your injuries. Insurance companies often take the value of economic damages like medical bills and lost wages and multiply it by a number between one and a half and five to determine the value of pain and suffering.
Is There a Time Limit to File a Claim?
The statute of limitations in Pennsylvania to file a claim for a truck accident is two years. This time limit applies to cases involving negligence, personal injury and wrongful death. If the trucker or company that hires the employee engages in negligence, intentional wrongdoing or criminal activity that results in harm, the victim must pursue legal action through the civil courts within the two years. If you do not pursue legal action in that time, you lose the right to do so.
If the accident resulted in the death of a family member, the surviving family has two years to file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver. The accident must be linked to the individual’s injuries and cause of death.
Pursuing legal action against the trucking employee or company requires swift action. Hiring a lawyer is often the best chance of starting the process early and seeking a compensation claim to receive damages owed.
Contact Schmidt Kramer for a Free Consultation
If you have been injured in a truck accident, it is important to contact a knowledgeable Harrisburg personal injury lawyer to discuss your legal options. The talented legal team at Schmidt Kramer has decades of experience pursuing maximum compensation from liable parties.
We provide a free, no-obligation consultation to help evaluate your claim and discuss the ways we can assist you. There are no contingency fees or upfront costs to worry about. You only pay us if we help you recover compensation for your claim.
Complete a Free Case Review form today or call us at (717) 888-8888.