What damages can I recover in my car or trucking accident?
In this video attorney Curt Runger answers the question of what damages you can recover if you are involved in a car or trucking accident. View the video below or see the transcript to see Curt’s answer to this question.
Transcript: Hi my name is Curt Runger, I’m an attorney in Memphis, Tennessee, and I help my clients recover money damages for personal injuries that they sustained in car and trucking accident cases. One of the most common questions that I’m asked on a weekly basis is what can I recover for in my personal injury claim. And the answer is pretty straightforward. On the most basic level, you’re allowed to recover the medical bills that you incur as a result of the car or trucking accident case so medical bills would include the emergency room bill if you went to the emergency room. The ambulance bill if you are transported by ambulance a physical therapy bill. If you have surgery you know the bill from the surgeon. If you have to get x-rays, the radiologist bill so all of the medical bills that are related to the treatment you receive as a result of the wreck. You can recover for in Tennessee. You may also recover lost wages. So, in the event that you miss work as a result of the treatment that you have to receive to get better. You can recover the lost wages that you would have received in the event that you didn’t have to miss work so the way that that is accomplished is we get your employer to provide documentation as to what your rate of pay is the number of days that you missed, and so on and so forth. You may also recover future medical costs so if you receive medical treatment as a result of a car, truck accident, and your doctor. Let’s say you have surgery for instance and then your doctor states that not only did you have to have this surgery but you would also likely be looking at having a subsequent surgery in the future. You could in certain circumstances recover for those future medical costs and then finally the big one that everybody always wants to know about is pain and suffering and pain and suffering. Unlike the lost wages, which are pretty fairly easy to compute because you know how many days you missed and you know what your rent and pay is unlike the medical bills, which is also easy to compute because we know what a particular doctor’s visit cost you pain and suffering is a lot more cloudy cloudy topic, but basically it is designed for you to be compensated for your physical and emotional pain and suffering. Now how do we determine what you should recover for that well it varies on a case by case basis so a lot of the times it just depends on the type of injuries you sustained you know how painful the recovery process was how extensive was the treatment that you received and then other factors like you know what, are there any pre existing conditions that you had. They may have made the treatment worse, or you know what is your overall health like so that varies pain and suffering varies on a case by case basis, and we really have to dive deep into each of our clients case and analysis and and review all the medical records and treatment notes and all that to be able to come up with what we deemed to be fair compensation. If you have additional questions about car or trucking accident cases in Tennessee, please give me a call and I’d be happy to talk to you about your case. Thank you. If you have any further questions do not hesitate to call Curt or his team at Douglass & Runger, PLLC at (901) 388-5805 relating to other questions you may have about the personal injury law.