Pursuing legal action after a serious truck collision can be stressful. After all, coping with the pain and suffering that’s been thrust upon you is enough considering you also have to navigate your medical treatment and rehabilitative care. Group that together with your lost wages, the costs of your medical care and the psychological toll taken on you, and it’s easy to see how you can quickly become overwhelmed. But even though it might be hard to function normally in the aftermath of your crash, there are certain steps that should be taken to protect the viability of your case and your ability to recover compensation.
We’ve discussed some of these previously on the blog. They can include following your doctor’s recommendations to ensure you’re building a record of your care and prognosis, speaking to witnesses, identifying experts who can testify and preparing for a deposition. But there’s something else that you have to be prepared to do, too: mitigate your damages.
What does it mean to mitigate your damages?
To mitigate your damages means to reduce them as much as possible. The theory here is that a defendant should only be required to pay you for the harm that they’re actually responsible for causing. If you’re able to eliminate certain damages on your own, then the defendant shouldn’t be responsible for paying for them. Therefore, if a court finds that you haven’t acted reasonably in trying to mitigate your damages, then you could be denied compensation for them, which can leave you in a difficult position.
There are several. Here are some of the most common that sometimes become an issue in personal injury cases:
- Seeking appropriate medical treatment: If you’ve suffered serious injuries in a truck accident, then your doctor will probably prescribe a whole host of medical interventions. If you fail to adhere to them and suffer additional harm as a result, then the defense may be successful in arguing that you failed to mitigate your damages by not following the doctor’s recommendations.
- Pursuing rehabilitative care: Rehabilitative care can speed your recovery, getting you back to your normal life and employment. If you choose to forego rehabilitative care, then an argument could be made that you’ve chosen to stall your recovery and have thereby failed to mitigate your damages. This can lead to a reduction in your ultimate compensatory award.
- Seeking employment: While your collision injuries might prevent you from working in your pre-accident position, you might be able to perform some sort of compensatory work. But if you sit idly by and refuse to work despite an ability to do so, then the defense will argue that you’ve failed to mitigate your damages, and that you should be denied compensation related to an unwillingness to secure gainful employment.
As you can see, there’s a lot to consider as you navigate your personal injury claim. If you sit back and expect your damages to accumulate without exercising any proactiveness on your part, then you could end up losing out on compensation to which you’d otherwise be entitled. So, think carefully about the best way to approach your truck accident personal injury case.
Enter your truck crash personal injury case with a solid legal strategy
We know that there’s a lot on your mind after you’ve been injured in a collision with a truck. But you can’t let the pressure of it all overwhelm you. Instead, you need to formulate a sound legal strategy that protects your interest throughout the process, thereby positioning you for a successful recovery and financial stability. If you’d like to learn more about how to do that, then please continue to read our blog and educate yourself as much as possible on how to effectively navigate a personal injury lawsuit.