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Lost Wages from Car Accident – Missed Work Due to Car Accident

If you have missed work due to your car accident, you may be entitled to compensation for your lost wages.

lost wages


Free Consultation with a St. Louis Car Accident Lawyer

Don’t talk to an insurance claims adjuster before speaking with The Hoffmann Law Firm, L.L.C. We can help you avoid making statements that may affect the outcome of your case. The consultation is free; you don’t pay unless we get you money!

Free Consultation (314) 361-4242

Medical expenses and damages to your car are not the only financial burdens you may be left with after a car accident. You may miss time and, therefore, wages as you spend time recovering from your accident.

Our team of St. Louis car accident attorneys can help you calculate your lost wages and present them as part of your damages in a car accident lawsuit.

Any lost wages due to missed work after a car accident are generally compensable if you can prove that the other driver was at fault for the accident. Missouri personal injury law allows for economic losses be recovered, and that includes the money you were unable to earn while you were spending time recovering from your injuries.

The most obvious example of this is when an injury is so severe that you are unable to return to work for an extended period of time. The wages you would have normally received during that time should generally be added to your personal injury claim. This even applies when PTSD resulting from the car accident prevents you from getting back to work immediately.

We can help you prove the extent of your injuries, even the psychological ones, to show how the time you missed work due to the car accident was medically necessary due to the injuries incurred from the car accident.

How to Claim Lost Wages From Car Accident

For some victims of car accidents, proving lost wages is relatively straightforward. Most of the time, it is a matter of multiplying the number of days you missed work by the daily or hourly pay rate. Salaried employees will have to be able to break their weekly earnings down into days in some cases.

Defense lawyers will often try and refute the number of days you took off or your exact pay rate. Our team of St. Louis car accident attorneys can prepare all the documentation necessary to ensure that your lost wages are accounted for.

Difficulties may arise if you are self-employed or reliant on tips as part of your income. In these instances, you will need to provide additional proof, such as previous year’s invoices from the same time period or testimony from co-workers regarding the amount of tips they earned during the time that you were out of work. Recovering your lost wages in these examples can be tricky but not impossible.

We can help you gather all of the relevant paperwork you need to account for those additional earnings and look into creative ways of proving lost income when your job circumstances make it difficult to do so.

Determining Future Lost Wages after a Car Accident

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Obtaining compensation for your missed time at work is fairly cut and dry, but trying to determine how much money you are potentially losing in the future can be complicated by many factors. The guidance of an experienced car accident attorney will be extremely helpful in calculating the amount of money you could or would have earned had it not been for the car accident.

The negligent driver in a car crash is generally responsible for your economic losses. These include your medical care, future medical care (if applicable), car repairs or replacement, and lost wages while you are recovering.

If your injuries are debilitating to the point where you may not be able to rejoin the workforce in the same capacity as before the accident, if at all, they can also be held responsible to cover the cost of what you could have earned. We can assist you in determining what your future wages would have been.

Future Lost Wages

Future lost wages or lost earning capacity refers to the victim’s future ability to make money, not the loss of their current job. These are based on the reduction of the value of the victim’s earning capacity and can be applied in a car accident claim even if the victim was unemployed at the time of the accident.

Lost earning capacity differs from lost wages or work. This term is generally applied in cases where you have been left disabled due to a car accident and the disability interferes with your ability to return to the job you held at that time. Lost earning capacity will also apply if an injury has left you in a position where you will not likely be able to advance in your position if there was a viable chance before the accident.

Loss of strength, stamina and endurance can all affect your ability to excel at your job and should not be discounted as a disabling injury. Our law firm ensures that all of your injuries and disabilities are considered when determining future lost wages.

Calculating Lost Earning Capacity

Your future loss of earnings will not be calculated based on your previous or current earnings. These damages are based on what your potential to earn was before the accident compared to what it is after the accident.

Your age, life expectancy, and health will all be scrutinized when making a claim for lost earning capacity, as will your occupation at the time of the accident, your talents, training, and skills. While past earnings may be a basis when considering the quality of life, this type of claim is focused on your future earning potential had it not been for the accident.

When calculating the future lost wages, we include all of the attributes you would have brought to the workforce to determine an amount that will represent the economic loss that the car accident has subjected you to.

St. Louis Car Accident Attorneys

A car accident victim is allowed by law to pursue economic losses if injured by a negligent driver in a car accident. This includes the work you miss while recovering from the accident. Those weeks spent without receiving your regular paycheck may have caused you to go into debt beyond what the medical bills cost you. Call The Hoffmann Law Firm, L.L.C. today and set up a free appointment to find out how to get the compensation you deserve and get your finances back in order.



Free Consultation with a St. Louis Car Accident Lawyer

Don’t talk to an insurance claims adjuster before speaking with The Hoffmann Law Firm, L.L.C. We can help you avoid making statements that may affect the outcome of your case. The consultation is free; you don’t pay unless we get you money!

Free Consultation (314) 361-4242