Commercial trucks were involved in more than 10,000 collisions in Kentucky in 2022. People who suffer serious injuries in truck accidents may face months or years of recovery. Some truck accident victims never fully recover, and tragically, many don’t survive the collision.
At Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer, our personal injury attorneys help truck accident victims and families that have lost loved ones seek compensation for their losses. Our law firm stands up to the negligent trucking and insurance companies financially responsible for a truck accident.
Below, we discuss the factors that affect insurance settlements and how an experienced truck accident lawyer can help injured individuals and families demand full financial compensation. If you’ve been injured in a truck accident that was not your fault, contact our Kentucky Courage attorneys now for a free consultation.
A Breakdown of Rear-End Truck Accidents in Kentucky
A rear-end collision often occurs when a large truck fails to stop in time to avoid hitting the vehicle in front of it. Large trucks require more room than passenger cars to stop. That makes following another vehicle too closely very dangerous. Some negligent truck drivers have been known to tailgate vehicles to intimidate drivers into speeding up or changing lanes.
Distracted driving and fatigued or drowsy driving are common causes of rear-end truck accidents, as well. A distracted trucker may not recognize the need to stop or slow down in time to avoid a collision. An investigation may show that the brakes failed on a truck involved in a rear-end accident.
Rear-end collisions caused by trucks often lead to catastrophic injuries. Commercial trucks weigh 10,000 pounds or more, which is transferred as destructive energy when the truck slams into a passenger vehicle weighing 2,500 to 4,200 pounds or even a passenger truck at about 6,000 pounds.
Average Payout Amount of Kentucky-Based Rear-End Truck Collisions
It’s hard to say what the average payout is for a rear-end truck collision in Kentucky. Each case is unique and depends on multiple factors.
If you take ten truck accident payouts we have won for clients, the average is more than $1.2 million, and the median payout is $1 million. But they range from $100,000 to $3.675 million and are some of our most extraordinary cases. Previous case results are not predictive of future outcomes. However, they do reflect our experience handling complex truck accident cases.
A proper payout ensures that you are left with no unpaid present or future accident expenses or medical debt and that you are compensated for your aggravation, pain, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life.
To know what fair compensation should be after a semi-truck accident, our personal injury lawyers must know how your injuries will affect you in the long run and what future medical costs and losses you can expect because of your injuries.
If you receive a quick settlement offer from an insurance company, you should consult an experienced personal injury attorney to evaluate whether the offer represents a fair settlement.
What Affects The Truck Accident Settlement Amount?
The primary factors when calculating an injury claim are the seriousness of your injury and its impact on your life. This affects what a KY personal injury lawyer at Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer would seek for the following expenses and losses:
- Medical expenses. Our attorneys would demand full payment of your medical costs, from emergency care at the accident scene through hospitalization and rehab. We will calculate these expenses from care provider billings and receipts. For a long-term or permanently disabling injury, personal injury attorneys would work with medical and life care consultants to project your future medical and personal care needs and costs and add them to our demands in a personal injury claim.
- Lost wages. The more serious your injury, the longer you will be out of work. We’ll keep track of your lost wages and add them to our demands for you.
- Future lost income. If you cannot return to work or must take a lower-paying job because of your injuries, our personal injury law firm will seek lost income damages for you. Our demands would be based on the wages you earned before being injured plus the value of fringe benefits, your age, and reasonably anticipated raises and promotions you would have earned over the work years.
- Noneconomic damages. To help insurers or a jury understand your “pain and suffering” damages, we will provide detailed information about the severity of your injury, the duration of your recovery, and the types of activities you can no longer pursue, and other ways your quality of life has been diminished. Sometimes, we ask injury victims to maintain journals during their recovery. We may also get statements from family and friends about how the accident has changed you and your life.
When awarding damages in Kentucky, a jury must consider the state’s comparative fault doctrine. Under this rule, a jury that decides to award damages must then decide the amount of fault each party bears for the accident and assign a percentage to each. Then, the damages awarded to the injured party are reduced according to the amount of fault they have been assigned. For example, if an injury victim is found to be 20 percent at fault for an accident, then any compensation they are awarded would be reduced by 20 percent.
Assessing Responsibility for Your Losses in a Rear-End Truck Accident
As your Lexington personal injury lawyers, we will conduct a thorough investigation of the truck accident to identify all parties responsible for your injuries. A claim must show that the negligence or recklessness of a party involved in the accident caused or contributed to the accident and your injuries.
Truck accident cases are more complex than car accident claims in part because there are often multiple potentially liable parties involved. The trucker is often responsible for a rear-end collision, and their employer, such as a trucking company, is responsible for their truck driver. There may also be service vendors, such as mechanics responsible for the truck’s negligent maintenance, who share liability. A truck accident case may require multiple claims.
A benefit of claims against multiple parties is having multiple insurance policies available to provide compensation. Further, Kentucky and federal law require commercial truck drivers to maintain higher amounts of liability insurance than what is required of noncommercial drivers. This includes coverage worth up to $750,00 for general freight haulers, $1 million for trucks hauling oil, and $5 million for trucks carrying hazardous materials (hazmat).
Contact Our Kentucky Truck Accident Lawyers
If you or a loved one has been rear-ended and seriously injured in a semi-truck accident, you need experienced legal representation. Speak to a Kentucky truck accident lawyer who will take the time to understand your personal injuries and discuss your legal options. At Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer, our attorneys have handled many personal injury cases and negotiated many truck accident settlements.
Contact us today for your free consultation. There is no charge to start work on your truck accident claim, and we only get paid when we win money for you.
