New Jersey Turnpike truck accident leaves people, animals injured

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Victims of commercial trucking accidents can recover compensation for damages they suffer as the result of another's negligence. These damages include not only medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages and repair damages but other, less common types of damages. A 43-year-old man was not only injured in an accident on the New Jersey Turnpike this week, but so were the animals he was transporting at the time. The accident occurred on Monday morning, Feb. 27, 2012. At approximately 5:15 a.m. the accident victim had been driving his pickup truck on the turnpike with a horse trailer in tow. When he approached Robbinsville, just south of Exit 7A, his horse trailer was struck by a much larger type of vehicle. A tractor trailer rear-ended the horse trailer. The impact caused the pickup truck to become pushed further forward into the rear of a second tractor-trailer. Although the large mass of metal helped protect the two commercial truck drivers, the man in the pickup and his animals were not afforded the same protection. The mass of the vehicles trapping his much smaller pickup caused him serious injuries. The man was transported to a nearby hospital. Later that day it was reported that he survived the injuries and was in a stable condition. There were four animals in the man's trailer at the time of the crash. Three horses and one donkey were injured but have since been treated by a veterinarian at no small cost to the injured man. Veterinary bills are exactly the type of damage that may be rare, but could be recovered in a personal injury lawsuit. Source: BND.com, "3 people, 4 animals hurt in NJ Turnpike crash," Feb. 27, 2012