Damages After a Toledo Truck Accident

Damages after a Toledo truck accident can be severe. A person can be entitled to compensation. Economic damages, under Toledo law (and Ohio law), would include past lost wages, future lost wages, and economic loss in an individual’s lifetime. Those would be examples of economic damages under Ohio and Toledo law. Common injuries after a truck accident could be anything from a whiplash, a neck injury or a lower neck injury, few broken bones, arms, legs, pelvis, hips, and could also include brain injuries and even death. A Toledo truck accident lawyer can provide more information if you are experiencing injuries after a Toledo truck accident.

Types of Damages

Economic and noneconomic damages are considered compensatory damages. This means that the goal of the legal system is to put the person in as good a place after receiving those damages as the person would be before the accident.

Non-economic damages under Toledo and Ohio Law would include past and future pain, suffering and inconvenience. It will also include permanent injuries, emotional distress, and loss of consortium. Loss of consortium would be a husband’s loss of services or family relationship with his spouse, with his wife, or with his children. All of those would be considered economic damages that the person is able to collect under Ohio law. If a person is involved in a truck accident, the person can collect for medical bills, past and future lost wages, permanent injuries, loss of consortium, and pain and suffering.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages are damages to punish the wrong doer. Examples of punitive damages would be if someone was hit by a drunk driver, or if somebody intentionally injured a person by assaulting him, by hitting the person in the mouth or breaking their nose intentionally. Punitive damages would be awarded subject to the trial judge, and typically it can only be a percentage of the compensatory damages awarded.

How Non-Economic Damages Are Calculated

Non-economic damages are for pain, suffering, inconvenience, emotional distress and the permanency of the injury, e.g., the impact on somebody’s life as a result of the accident. Those are typically determined by a judge or a jury. A jury or a judge will award those damage based on the strength of the evidence, the amount of the medical bills, and the long-term impact of those damages on somebody’s lifestyle.

One individual might determine that the pain and suffering number should be $50,000 and somebody else could determine that the amount of damages would be $5,000,000. That is why most cases settle because both sides have the risk of what an unknown jury would award for noneconomic damages after a Toledo truck accident.

Damages Covered by Auto Insurance

The auto insurance of an at-fault individual typically will include property damage to the injured person’s or the passenger’s vehicle, money for medical bills, pain and suffering, and inconvenience up to the limits of the insurance policy. Most insurance policies do not cover punitive damages because that is usually the result of an intentional outrageous act.

Role of an Attorney

The attorney is crucial in recovering optimal damages. An experienced attorney will help the injured person understand the process, obtain evidence, use expert witnesses, private investigators, accident reconstructionists, and economists. They will prepare a factual story for the insurance company and, if necessary, a jury for damages after a Toledo truck accident.

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