I was injured in a big rig accident where the driver was at fault

Can I receive money for time I missed at work?

To put it simply, yes. Compensation for wages lost while recovering for an big rig injury or any other kind of injury or accident are among the various types of compensation you could win in a truck accident lawsuit.

In order to win a personal injury case, you must prove that the other driver was “negligent.” In other words, you must prove that the defendant (i.e. the driver of the truck or even the trucking company) acted carelessly in such a way that could reasonably cause harm. Essentially, you must prove the following three things:

• The defendant owed the plaintiff a duty to exercise a reasonable degree of care to avoid injury. (In car accident cases, all drivers have a legal duty to show reasonable care to fellow drivers and pedestrians.)
• The defendant breached the duty of reasonable care.
• The defendant’s breach of that duty caused harm/injury to the plaintiff.

Once that breach of duty has been established, you must figure out the monetary value of the harm suffered. With the help of an experienced personal injury lawyer, you can add up your medical bills, lost wages, property damage, and other costs associated with the injury to come up with your total amount of damages sought.

If you decide to pursue compensation through a personal injury lawsuit, you could win a number of different types of damages. These may include compensation for:

• Medical treatment: includes hospitalization costs, ongoing treatment expenses, rehabilitation costs, and any expected future medical expenses
• Lost wages: compensation for wages lost while out of work due to the accident, as well as decreased earning capacity in the future if the injuries will continue to affect the victim
• Property damage: compensation for damage to the victim’s car, clothing, or other personal effects as a result of the accident
• Loss of enjoyment of life: covers loss of enjoyment of day-to-day activities, recreation, hobbies, and exercise
• Pain and suffering: the physical and emotional pain caused by the accident, including the pain of the physical injuries and ongoing emotional trauma
• Emotional distress: the psychological effects of an injury, such as anxiety, sleep loss, or fear (typically awarded in severe accidents)
• Wrongful death: compensation for the family or estate of someone killed by a negligent driver

Damage awards can vary widely based on the circumstances of the accident, the extent of the plaintiff’s injuries, and other factors. New Jersey operates under a modified “comparative negligence” system.

Under this system, each party is assigned a certain percentage of fault in the accident, and this percentage dictates the amount of damages at stake.

In the state of New Jersey, the injured person can be partially responsible for the accident and still win damages as long as he or she was not more than 50 percent at fault in the accident. (In other words, as long as the other party was more negligent—or at least just as negligent—the injured person can still collect damages.)