You cannot work for a few days when you get hurt from a car crash. In such a case, you must be worried about your income to meet the ends. According to Florida law, you can seek compensation from the person whose negligence caused an accident that led to your injury.
In a Florida Personal Injury Case, the injured person can seek various compensatory damages. One of the damages is lost income you might face due to an injury caused by an accident. More than 32,000 people die in the U.S. and 2 million people get injured from car crashes every year nationally.
What Does It Mean to Lose Income?
In a personal injury case, the term “losing income/wages” means the money you lose from your job due to an injury caused by an accident. You need to recover two kinds of damages after a personal injury. You probably have to take leaves from work right after you are hurt. A severe injury case might affect your long-term career plans.
Fortunately, the law of Florida enables you to seek compensation because you cannot go to work and ultimately lose wages. Compensation for lost income comes under the category of economic damages. Lost income is calculated based on your actual losses, out-of-pocket losses, and anticipated losses.
Florida Personal Injury Case; Proving Lost Income:
An experienced and knowledgeable attorney can help you prove your lost income claim in your Florida personal injury case. It is important to know that the injured person should provide clear and convincing evidence of lost income through proper documentation to strengthen your case.
However, lost income is comparatively easy to prove by examining the record of the victim’s attendance, payment sheets, and taxes. If your claim includes lost earning capacity, you probably have to work with a medical professional or a physician to explain how your injuries will likely impact your long-term.
How to Distinguish Lost Income From Lost Earning Capacity?
Both terms are often grouped, but these are two different things. Lost wages reimburse you for actually lost work from the day you’re injured to the day you resolve your case. Lost wages compensation is not based on the future.
Instead, they’re based on what you lost in the instant consequence of the accident. On the contrary, lost earning capacity seeks what you’re likely to lose long term. If your career path changes because of your injuries, you can ask for compensation because of a change of plans.
It’s a bit more complicated to determine how much less you’re likely to earn throughout your career. However, you have a right to recover from your long-term earning losses. For example, you are a dental assistant, you had a car crash and put up with a broken wrist. You’re not capable of working for almost ten weeks.
You can calculate your lost income for those ten weeks and include them in your damages for your injury with aiding documents. If it has been proved that your injuries stop you from pursuing your job as a dental assistant, you can include your estimated lost earnings, including promotions that you probably would have received.
How to Calculate Lost Wages and Lost Earning Capacity?
Everything is included while you are calculating lost income. For instance, your hourly wages or salary, annual bonuses, tips, and incentives. You can also include your perks, paid sick leaves, and vacations. While working, anything you get will be calculated in your lost income and lost earning capacity. Your injury lawyer can better guide you in calculating your lost promotion or raises.
In Case of Self-Employment:
Even though you’re self-employed, you can still recover lost wages and lost earning capacity. You should use business accounting or tax records to show your losses. It is important to prepare your documents carefully when you are self-employed.
However, the law of Florida has made things easy for the victims by compensating them with full and fair recovery for their lost wages when they’re self-employed.
How to Collect Lost Wages from Your No-Fault Insurance?
All drivers must have minimum insurance to cover their losses in a car accident in Florida. According to Florida law, no-fault insurance policies must pay 60 percent of lost income and lost earning capacity according to the policy limits.
However, you should still consult with a Florida attorney in a Florida personal injury case because no-fault policy limits are often far too low to compensate you for your lost wages adequately.
