How Do I Prove Lost Wages After Being a Victim in a Car Accident?
If you had to miss work because of an injury in a car accident that was not your fault, you need to know how you can try to get your lost wages repaid.
What are Lost Wages?
Lost wages are the wages or income that you would have earned if not for the at-fault party’s negligence causing your injury.
Injury Prevents You from Earning Your Normal Wage
If you were injured in a car crash, for example, that was not your fault, you may have a personal injury claim against the at-fault driver. In your personal injury case, you will seek compensation for the costs you must pay because of the injury that the other person’s negligence caused you.
Many times, this compensation comes from the at-fault driver’s insurance company. That insurance company usually expects the documentation to back up the dollar amount that you are claiming for your compensation.
You may ask for noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering. The economic damages are easier to measure because these damages are an objectively verifiable monetary loss. Many of the economic damages are measured in your medical bills that you must pay after the crash. In many cases your injuries also prevented you from returning to work. If this is the case, you will also claim lost wages.
What Are Examples of Lost Wages?
Wages you were earning before the injury but cannot earn now because you cannot work due to the injuries
PTO you had to use up to provide for your family while you could not work because of the injuries, and other benefits like PTO
Overtime pay that you normally earn but cannot earn after the injury
Lower earning capacity at work because you had to modify your productivity due to the injuries
Missing out on commission or bonuses that you usually earn for the high performance you can no longer achieve after the injuries
Promotions or raises that you are no longer eligible for
The most common instance of lost wages comes from the injured party not being able to go to work because of the injuries. The victim could be missing work because of all the time she had to take off work because of her medical appointments.
She could claim lost wages when she had to use up her benefits, such as PTO and vacation, to get a regular income and provide for her family when she took time off.
Even when she could still go to work but could not work at the pace or capacity she worked before the injury and it hurts her income, she could use this loss to claim lost wages. As you can see, the list goes on.
What Do You Need to Prove Lost Wages?
Lost wages can only be recovered when you can prove what you lost.
Documentation of Missing Work
First, you must prove that you were justified to take off work. if you take time off work, it is best to get your doctor to sign off on it. many times, your doctor will recommend it. Talk to your doctor about your situation. In some cases, you can go back to work but your doctor might recommend you work less hours or perform less strenuous tasks than you normally would. Every case is different and ever job is different, so talk to your doctor about modified duty and proper documentation.
Documentation of Lost Income
Prove lost wages by providing documentation that proves your wages and hours before the crash and injury. Often this documentation includes tax forms, paystubs, or wage verification form from your employer.
If you are self-employed, your attorney will help you gather your documentation that you need to make your case as strong as possible, such as your tax returns, checks you rendered, your company’s banking records, etc.
Call Grover Law Firm
Just because you must stop going to work, does not mean the bills stop piling up. Hiring an experience personal injury attorney can help you get your life back on track and put you back in the position you were in before the crash. Your attorney will handle the headache so you can recover. Your attorney will work hard to get you a fair compensation. Call Mark Grover with the Grover Law Firm at 913-432-1000 to set up your free consultation today.
The information on this website is for general information purposes only. Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.