A personal injury incident, such as a car, bicycle, or slip and fall accident, can cause severe injuries that prevent you from working for an extended period of time. You can pursue compensation for lost wages caused by your injuries by filing a claim with your own insurance or a personal injury claim with the at-fault party’s insurance company. Each state has its own set of rules for how much you can earn when attempting to recover compensation for this economic damage.
A personal injury lawyer with experience handling personal injury claims in the state your accident occurred can help you understand how much compensation you can pursue for lost wages and how the process works. They can also help you collect evidence to prove your case, negotiate with the at-fault party’s insurance company, and represent you in court. The personal injury attorneys at The Russo Firm have decades of experience helping personal injury victims recover compensation for lost wages and can use that experience to help you as well.
Personal Injury Incidents Can Prevent a Victim From Working
Lost wages refer to the money a personal injury victim lost due to not being able to work because they suffered severe injuries. For example, a bus driver gets rear-ended on his commute home from work by a reckless driver, leading to a severe knee injury. The complications of their car accident injury prevent them from driving for an extended period of time, meaning they will not be able to work. In this case, the bus driver can file a claim with their insurance company or the at-fault party’s insurance company to replace the wages lost due to their severe knee injury.
Injuries That Can Prevent Someone From Being Able to Work
There are several types of severe injuries that can prevent someone from working. This does not only apply to workers that have hard labor jobs, as some severe injuries can prevent someone with a sedentary job from adequately performing work tasks. For example, if someone works at a call center, they will not be able to perform their job with an ear injury or traumatic brain injury (TBI).
The following are some of the severe injuries that can prevent a personal injury victim from working:
- Spinal cord injury
- Knee injury
- Chest injury
- Broken bones
- Shoulder injury
- Broken leg
- Broken arm
- Facial injury
How Can You Pursue Compensation for Lost Wages?
Your first avenue for pursuing compensation for lost wages is through your own insurance company. If you were involved in an automobile accident, you might have insurance coverage that can cover a percentage of lost wages caused by the car accident. However, if you do not have insurance coverage that includes lost wages coverage, you will not be able to recover compensation for lost wages.
In that case, you can file a personal injury claim with the at-fault party’s insurance provider. This requires the at-fault party to have acted negligently or intentionally recklessly, causing the personal injury incident as a result. You can file the personal injury claim with their insurance company and include lost wages as one of the damages you are pursuing, along with other damages like medical bills, lost earning potential, and pain and suffering.
Each State Has Its Own Laws for Pursuing Compensation for Lost Wages
Each state has its own laws and rules that govern both what insurance you are required to purchase and how much you can pursue for lost wages. For example, some no-fault states require drivers to purchase personal injury protection (PIP) insurance. This PIP insurance covers economic damages up to $10,000, with lost wages included in the compensation you could receive following a car accident. The percentage of compensation for lost wages you can receive depends on the state.
Laws specific to each state also govern how much you can receive for lost wages if you file a personal injury claim with the at-fault party’s insurance company. In most cases, a court will take an average of your salary over a chunk of time and determine how much you should recover. Normally, you will only receive a percentage of the wages you lost due to your severe injury. A personal injury lawyer can help walk you through the rules for lost wages in your state.
Proving You Lost Wages Because of a Personal Injury Incident
To recover compensation from the at-fault party for lost wages, you will need to prove they breached a duty of care. This is the acceptable standard of behavior expected from a person to keep others around them safe. For example, a driver is expected to follow the road rules and pay attention to the road to prevent a car accident from occurring.
You will need to prove that their breach of duty of care caused the personal injury incident and the severe injury that prevented you from working. You can provide evidence proving the incident occurred, you received a severe injury, and you couldn’t work. Some evidence used to prove your case include a doctor’s note to take time off of work, pay stubs, medical records, police reports, witness statements, etc.
How Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Help You Recover Compensation for Lost Wages
Handling a personal injury claim independently can lead to a mistake that can affect the level of compensation you can receive. An experienced personal injury attorney will have knowledge of the claims process and the laws governing the pursuit of lost wage damages. They will know how much you can receive for lost wages and the best way to pursue compensation.
If you file a personal injury claim with the at-fault party’s insurer, it will involve settlement negotiations for you to receive compensation for lost wages. An insurance company will do whatever it can to deny, devalue, or delay your claim to keep its profits. A personal injury attorney will have the experience in settlement negotiations to see through these attempts and put you in the best position to recover compensation for your lost wages.
Contact The Russo Firm for Help in Seeking Lost Wage Damages
At The Russo Firm, our personal injury lawyers understand the financial pressure applied by being unable to work. Recovering compensation from lost wages can help you get back on your feet, and we can use our experience to accomplish that. Our personal injury lawyers help with the claims process by constantly communicating with our clients, updating them on how the claims process is progressing, and hearing about their thoughts and concerns. Our personalized approach to legal counsel has a proven track record of earning fair compensation for our clients and can also help you.
We offer free consultations to potential clients, so they can see how our experience and approach can help them recover fair compensation for their lost wages. If you are interested in legal representation from The Russo Firm, contact us at (561) 270-0913 or leave a message on our online contact page.
