If I was rear-ended by a truck carrying lawn equipment but sustained no real injury, am I entitled to any sort of compensation?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
If I was rear-ended by a truck carrying lawn equipment but sustained no real injury, am I entitled to any sort of compensation?
I sustained minimal injury just some soreness and anxiety.
Asked on November 3, 2014 under Personal Injury, New Hampshire
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 10 years ago | Contributor
You can file a claim with the truck's insurance carrier for the property damage to your vehicle (cost of repairs). If you need a rental car while your car is being repaired, the truck's insurance carrier should pay for that as well.
Property damage is a separate claim from your personal injury claim. You will need to document medical treatment in order to have a viable personal injury claim.
As for the soreness, you could go to a doctor and receive physical therapy. As for the anxiety, you could go to a psychologist or a psychiatrist.
When you complete your medical treatment and are released by the doctors or are declared to be permanent and stationary which means having reached a point in your treatment where no further improvement is anticipated, obtain your medical bills, medical reports and documentation of any wage loss. Your personal injury claim filed with the at-fault party's insurance carrier should include these items.
Compensation for the medical bills is straight reimbursement. The medical reports will document the nature and extent of your injuries and will be used to determine compensation for pain and suffering, which is an amount in addition to your medical bills. Compensation for wage loss is straight reimbursement.
If the case is settled with the at-fault party's insurance carrier, NO lawsuit is filed.
If you are dissatisfied with settlement offers from the at-fault party's insurance carrier, reject the settlement offers and file a lawsuit for negligence against the registered owner of the truck and the driver.
If the case is NOT settled with the at-fault party's insurance carrier, your lawsuit for negligence must be filed prior to the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations or you will lose your rights forever in the matter.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.