Loss of Future Earnings Due to a Car Crash in Madison County

Car accidents can leave people involved with serious injuries and temporarily or permanently unable to work. Involved people can have their capacity to earn may be reduced. Adding to that, medical bills from injuries inflicted during the car crash may be enormous. In such cases, the victims are eligible for both economic and non-economic damages.

Non-economic damages compensate for the pain, suffering, and emotional trauma you may have endured due to the accident.

Economic damages compensate for the losses the plaintiff has suffered. These losses can include lost wages, lost earnings, medical bills, vehicle repairs, and other expenses. Before you can receive compensation for lost wages, you must first show the difference between how much you earned before and your earnings now. An experienced attorney could help you recover loss of future earnings due to a car crash in Madison County.

Recovering Lost Future Earnings Capacity

For you to recover lost income, you must file a claim with the at-fault driver’s insurance company and one with your injury personal protection coverage. Before you can file a claim for lost future earnings in Madison County, you need to provide:

• An accident report from the police department as proof of the accident
• A letter from your doctor describing your injuries, along with photographs of the injuries and past medical records. These records are called proof of injury and show how your ability to work has been affected.
• A letter from your employer confirming you have missed work and how much money you lost due to the injury. Check stubs and copies of your tax returns should also accompany the letter from your employer. Together, these are documents of wage loss.

Proving Lost Earnings Capacity

Earnings capacity is calculated based on your maximized potential earnings. Depending on your career choice, your lost earning capacity could be in the millions. The final figure considers your age, education, occupation, talents, health, habits, skills, experience, probable increase in skill or ability, and the average earnings of other people doing the same job. If you can prove that you trained in a specialized field but have not started working, these factors help determine your lost earning capacity.

Self-employed individuals have a much harder time proving loss of earning capacity. The court can consider the profits from their business as proof of monetary damages if the plaintiff actively works in their business.

You may need an experienced expert to testify on your behalf and outline the more complex features of lost earning capacity.

Who is Eligible for Lost Future Wages?

If you are permanently incapacitated and unable to return to work, you are eligible for compensation.

You should also be aware that you can claim future earnings if your injury requires you to take more time off in the future to deal with the effects. Some injuries can prevent further career advancement, and this can also make you eligible for compensation.

Economic damages compensation is supposed to leave you in the same position you could have been in if not for the accident. Thus, if you can prove that the injury you got in a car accident results in lower wages, you may qualify for lost earning capacity compensation.

Do You Need a Lawyer?

Insurance companies contest any lost income claims. Insurance companies can raise several defenses against your case. They can claim that you can still work or you can still return to work in the future, thereby limiting how much they will give you. They can also argue that you can change your career to another one not affected by your injury.

Defendants can bring in experts who will testify that you do not deserve as much as you are requesting.

A personal injury attorney can improve your chances of being paid. A lawyer experienced in recovering loss of future earnings due to car crashes in Madison County can negotiate the best possible recovery and get you maximum compensation. Call today.