Accident survivors often need a rapid settlement, but if they do not have a lawyer, settling allows insurance companies to take charge of the process. That is especially true when accidents involve commercial vehicles.
Our truck accident attorneys know that after severe accidents, your injuries can result in medical costs of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. When an accident victim becomes completely disabled or dies, the losses can be in millions. Our lawyers, who know how to handle Houston truck accident settlements, have learned to navigate insurer defenses and secure the help our clients need.
After a truck collision in Houston, a settlement is the total amount of compensation paid to resolve the claim, which often includes both economic and non-economic damages. The costs of medical treatment and property replacement, along with other concrete expenses, add up to a claim for economic damages. Non-economic damages compensate survivors for their suffering, pain, or mental anguish.
To calculate economic damages, our attorneys must review bills for medical treatment, therapy and rehabilitation, wages and income lost due to the accident or estimates for self-employed workers, and property losses, including any items destroyed during the accident.
To estimate non-economic damages, we can multiply the total economic damages by a number reflecting the impact of the injury, up to 5 or 6 for permanent disability. The result is your initial claim. For a client with $25,000 in damages and permanent facial scarring, we can use a multiplier of 5 for a claim value of $125,000.
Alternatively, we can use the per diem or daily method, determining each day’s level of pain and suffering as a kind of wage the claimant earned. This may be more appropriate for a severe injury that a client recovered from in the short or medium term.
Insurance companies take these methods into account, but they have their own techniques, including their own software and algorithms, to determine what they will offer for any given accident. Ultimately, they want to limit their exposure and pay as little as possible.
Under the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 33.001, anyone who was more than 50 percent responsible for an accident cannot claim any damages. The more fault the insurer finds with other drivers in Houston, the less they have to pay in any eventual truck collision settlement.
Insurers send adjusters and investigators to review the crash evidence and research claims to determine who was at fault. Several parties can share the fault in a truck accident: a freight company, a mechanic, and even a manufacturer. This can complicate settlements even further.
Accidents are expensive, and survivors are often under immediate financial pressure. An insurer may offer a quick settlement for a truck accident, but to take it, you must sign away your rights to any further claims. Once you have accepted a settlement, you cannot make further claims, even if your health becomes worse.
Our Houston truck accident attorneys know what claims are worth, and we will not let an insurance company succeed with a low settlement offer. We will investigate the accident evidence and push the insurer into negotiations for an appropriate settlement, even taking the case to court if we must.
Our experienced attorneys will work with you and your family to understand the impact of the accident and the magnitude of your needs. Fighting for fairness in Houston truck accident settlements is what we do, and we want to bring that dedication to your case.
You will not pay Fleming Law Accident & Injury Attorneys until you get your own settlement or award. Contact us at any time to schedule your first appointment.
Fleming Law
N/a
(713) 221-6800 