When you’ve been in an accident with a commercial motor vehicle, it can leave you with severe injuries and numerous financial consequences. Many individuals want to know the average truck accident settlement in Louisiana so they can know what they can recover. However, each accident is different, and a fair settlement can vary based on many factors. It’s essential to know both the damages you can recover and the factors that influence the amount of compensation you can obtain.
Damages in a Truck Accident Claim
When you file an insurance claim for your injuries, the compensation you can recover is mostly reliant on the damages you suffered. In 2024, there were 3,901 total vehicle crashes involving a commercial motor vehicle in Louisiana. These accidents are much more likely to be fatal or cause serious injury. While nearly 26% of all types of vehicle accidents resulted in injury, almost 52% of commercial motor vehicle crashes caused an injury.
Truck accident cases could recover some of the following damages, depending on your injuries and how they affect your life:
- Medical costs: After a truck accident, you might be facing many medical costs, like transportation to a hospital, surgery, doctor’s visits, medication, medical devices, mobility aids, and rehabilitation. Your claim can recover these costs, and your compensation should also reflect the future costs you can expect related to your injury.
- Income and earning capacity: Injuries can put you out of commission for days or months, losing you income. The wages you should have earned can be included in the claim, along with your earning capacity if your employment is affected in the long term.
- Property damages: Truck collisions often total vehicles and damage other costly property, such as a phone, laptop, or glasses. A claim should consider the costs to fix or replace personal property.
- Pain and suffering: Non-economic damages are different from the above damages because they don’t have a clear financial value. These are intangible losses for harm to your physical or mental health. Damages can include pain and suffering, emotional trauma, loss of enjoyment of life, disability, disfigurement, and loss of consortium.
Some claims can even recover exemplary damages, which are the Louisiana equivalent of punitive damages. These can punish an exceptionally negligent party, like a driver who was impaired by alcohol.
What Impacts the Compensation You Can Recover?
Your damages represent the maximum compensation you could recover, but certain factors can increase or decrease this maximum. Some considerations include:
Comparative Fault
If you are partially to blame for the accident, this can reduce the compensation you recover. For accidents in or after January 2026, it can even prevent you from recovering any compensation.
Insurance Limits
The party who is liable for the accident significantly affects the insurance coverage in truck accidents. While many truck accident claims are filed against a trucking company, not all are. You can hold the trucking company liable if they are vicariously liable for the negligence of their driver, or the trucking company might be directly liable.
In 2024, trucking accidents in Louisiana that resulted in an injury happened because of a violation by a truck driver in 983 crashes and a non-truck driver in 1,047 crashes. This means you might be filing a claim with a non-truck driver’s insurance. Personal insurance coverage has much lower limits compared to commercial insurance.
Legal Representation
The support of a Louisiana truck accident attorney can make it much more likely that you recover the full damages you suffered. Many individuals underestimate the compensation they are owed, or they have their claim undermined by an aggressive insurance company.
Insurance companies may claim that you were partially or fully liable for the accident, preventing you from recovering damages, or they may assert that you were not as seriously injured as you claim. When you hire a truck accident lawyer, they can gather evidence and deal with insurance companies, improving the potential outcome.
FAQs
How Much Are Most Truck Accident Settlements?
Most truck accident settlements are much higher than the average vehicle accident settlement for several reasons. Settlements depend on injuries and other damages, and truck accidents tend to have much more severe injuries. Compensation should be higher as a result. Settlements can also be limited by insurance, but commercial trucking companies have higher insurance limits. When the trucking company can be held liable, you can likely recover more compensation that reflects the damages you suffered.
How Much Compensation Can You Recover for Anxiety After a Truck Accident?
The amount you can recover for anxiety after a truck accident relies on the specifics of your case, like the documentation about that anxiety and the severity of your injuries. Anxiety can be considered an economic damage because it can require medication, but it can also be considered a non-economic damage because most of its consequences are intangible.
When you hire a truck accident attorney, they can prove both types of damages and use medical professional testimony as evidence.
What Is a Typical Amount of Pain and Suffering Damages for a Truck Accident Claim?
There is no set amount of pain and suffering damages you can recover in a truck accident claim. These damages depend on factors like how serious your injuries and economic damages are, along with how long your injuries impact your life. There are several methods for calculating pain and suffering damages, and it is much easier to do so with an attorney. They have experience in assessing these damages and proving them.
How Much of the Settlement Will I Get After a Truck Accident Claim?
After a truck accident claim, you will get a significant portion of your settlement, although it depends on your circumstances. Certain damages might be taxed. If you are awarded lost wages, those would likely be taxed the same way as if you earned the wages from working. Punitive or exemplary damages are also often taxed.
An attorney also receives a portion of the settlement, but it’s important to know that working with an attorney usually greatly increases your compensation.
Hire a Truck Accident Lawyer in Louisiana After a Collision
By getting in contact with an attorney, you can entrust your case to a seasoned advocate. At Gauthier Amedee, we have over 40 years of personal injury experience, and we understand truck accident laws. Contact our firm today.
