Truck Accident Damages: What Is Recoverable in Texas
Damages in a truck case are the same legal categories as any injury claim, but the proportions are different. The elements that dominate are the ones bills never record, and they are the ones most often left undocumented.
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Medical cost, past and future
Past treatment is documented by bills and records and is rarely the fight. Future medical cost is, and in truck cases it is frequently the largest single element.
Revision surgery, hardware removal, attendant care, equipment replacement cycles and long-term pain management are all recoverable, but each has to be established by medical opinion. Likelihood alone does not put them in a claim.
Lost earning capacity, not just lost wages
Lost wages are the income actually missed, proved by payroll records. Lost earning capacity is the reduction in what a person can earn going forward, and it is the element that separates a serious truck claim from a moderate one.
Someone who returns to work at the same pay may still have lost decades of capacity if the injury has closed off physical trades or shortened a working life. Establishing it requires vocational and economic evidence, not assertion.
Pain, mental anguish, impairment and disfigurement
Texas treats these as separate categories, and truck cases routinely involve all four. There is no multiplier and no formula that a Texas court applies.
What moves them is specific evidenced consequence: not that there was pain, which is assumed, but what it prevented. Physical impairment covers lost ability independent of income, and disfigurement covers permanent scarring in its own right.
Household services and the cost of substitution
A commonly missed element. Where an injury prevents childcare, yard work, home maintenance or driving, the cost of paying someone else to do it is a real loss.
It is recoverable to the extent it can be evidenced, which means keeping receipts and recording what help was needed rather than reconstructing it afterward.
Wrongful death and survival damages
Where someone dies, two claims arise. The wrongful death claim compensates the surviving spouse, children and parents for their own losses, including loss of companionship and financial support.
The survival claim belongs to the estate and covers what the person could have claimed themselves: conscious pain and suffering before death, medical costs and funeral expenses. They are distributed differently, which is why they are pleaded separately.
Exemplary damages, and why truck cases raise them more often
Where conduct amounted to gross negligence, Texas permits exemplary damages on clear and convincing evidence, subject to statutory caps.
Truck cases raise the question more often than car cases because carrier conduct is documented. A pattern of hours-of-service falsification, a driver retained after repeated violations, or maintenance deferred despite known defects is evidence of a kind that rarely exists in an ordinary collision.
Summary
| Category | Covers | Proved by |
|---|---|---|
| Past medical | Treatment to date | Bills and records |
| Future medical | Surgery, care, equipment | Medical opinion and life care plan |
| Lost wages | Income actually missed | Payroll records |
| Lost earning capacity | Reduction in future earning | Vocational and economic evidence |
| Pain and mental anguish | Past and future | Specific evidenced consequence |
| Physical impairment | Lost ability, separate from income | Treating and lay evidence |
| Disfigurement | Permanent scarring | Photographs over time |
| Household services | Paying others to do what you cannot | Receipts and records |
| Exemplary | Gross negligence only | Clear and convincing evidence, capped |
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Frequently asked questions
Past and future medical costs, lost wages, lost earning capacity, physical pain and mental anguish, physical impairment, disfigurement, household services and property damage. Exemplary damages are available only where conduct amounted to gross negligence.
Lost wages are the income actually missed, proved by payroll records. Lost earning capacity is the reduction in what you can earn in future, which can be large even if you return to work at the same pay.
More often raised than in car cases, because carrier conduct is documented. Falsified hours of service, a driver retained after repeated violations, or deferred maintenance can support the argument. The standard is high and statutory caps apply.
Yes, where the injury prevents tasks you previously did and someone has to be paid to do them. It is recoverable to the extent it is evidenced, so keep receipts and a record of what help was needed.
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