A commercial truck accident can cause life-changing personal injuries for victims. Common truck accident injuries include brain damage, paralysis and amputations. The intangible losses a victim can suffer in a truck accident, such as physical pain, emotional suffering and mental anguish, can be immense. As a truck accident survivor or loved one, a claim in Arizona could pay you for your pain and suffering as well as other damages.
How Much Do Insurance Companies Pay for Pain and Suffering?
The amount an insurance company might pay in a pain and suffering award will depend on the situation, the opinion of the claims adjuster and the limits of the policy in question. In Arizona, state law only requires drivers to purchase $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident in bodily injury liability coverage. Bodily injury liability pays for your medical bills and lost wages as well as pain and suffering. The amount of insurance available from the at-fault party could limit the amount you receive. It may be necessary to take the responsible party to trial in Arizona for more compensation, especially if your injuries are severe.
What Is the Average Payout for a Truck Accident Claim?
The catastrophic nature of most truck accidents in Phoenix leads to higher-value outcomes than minor car accident cases. When a semi-truck collides with a passenger car, victims can suffer excessive injuries and property damages. Furthermore, trucking companies often have better insurance than individual drivers, increasing the amount of money you could potentially recover for pain and suffering. It is impossible to estimate an accurate average payout due to the variability of claims and clients. Some clients have received $10,000 or less for their truck accident claims while others have recovered several million. Discuss your case in detail with a lawyer for an accurate estimate of what it could be worth.
How Can I Prove My Pain and Suffering?
Pain and suffering can be more difficult to prove than tangible damages such as medical expenses. You will not have a receipt documenting the exact value of your pain and suffering. Obtaining fair compensation for intangible damages will instead take other forms of evidence, such as witnesses taking the stand and talking about the accident and its aftermath. A truck accident lawyer can help you gather evidence of pain and suffering.
- Testimony from witnesses, including family members
- Testimony from therapists, psychologists or physicians
- Medical documents showing the extent of your injuries
- An injury journal documenting how you felt
- Detailed accounts of how the accident impacted you
- Photographs and video footage showing your struggles
- A lawyer depicting pain and suffering in opening and closing statements
Proof of pain and suffering is often not physical, but verbal. It may take statements and descriptions from those closest to you and your attorney to demonstrate to a jury how significantly the truck accident impacted you physically and emotionally. Hiring a lawyer to represent you could help you clearly show your past, present and future emotional injuries and physical pain for maximum compensation.
How Do Lawyers Calculate Pain and Suffering?
Hiring a truck accident lawyer could also enable you to accurately calculate how much your pain and suffering is worth from a legal standpoint. A lawyer can use widely accepted measures to calculate your pain and suffering damages, such as the Multiplier Method. This is a common jury tactic that takes the total amount of your economic damages and multiplies it by a number (typically from two to five) that represents how significantly you were injured. The final number could be the amount of noneconomic damages awarded for your truck accident claim.
It is worthwhile to note that a jury can use any method it wants – or no method at all – to come up with a pain and suffering award. A lawyer’s estimate of what your noneconomic damages are worth might not match your final award. Hiring a truck accident attorney, however, could maximize your odds of obtaining the highest possible compensatory award for pain and suffering. Having a lawyer prove your damages could lead to a better settlement or judgment award than you would have received on your own. Contact a lawyer to find out what your pain and suffering damages might be worth after a truck accident in Phoenix.