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Lost Wages

Claiming Lost Wages After a Car Accident

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Seeking compensation for your losses after a car accident can be overwhelming. When injuries from the accident cause you to miss work, the settlement process can quickly become even more frustrating and potentially disastrous for your financial situation. Fortunately, North Carolina law provides victims the ability to seek compensation for financial, mental, and physical losses related to or arising out of a motor vehicle accident.

In many cases, pursuing reimbursement for your lost wages is just as vital as receiving compensation for your injuries. Generally, if you have missed time from work due to injuries suffered in an accident, you may seek reimbursement for those lost wages. The nature of your employment and the scope of your injuries have the greatest effect on what you will need to present as evidence. However, the process of asserting a strong claim for lost wages is, for the most part, straightforward and relatively simple. This section of the website is designed to assist you in understanding the mechanics and procedures for formulating and presenting a strong claim for your lost wages.

If you would like to speak to one of our Durham car accident lawyers about your particular case, please contact Wallace Pierce Law online or by phone at (919) 887-7892 for a free consultation.

What Types of Losses Can You Claim?

Lost Wages

If your accident-related injuries caused you to miss work, you will most likely be able to seek compensation for your lost wages. Generally, lost wages are measured by the amount of money you would have received in wages if you had not missed work due to the accident. This means that lost wages are very much dependent on your inability to work as a result of the accident and not necessarily on the time you missed from work as an indirect consequence of being in the accident.

When asserting a claim for lost wages, it is essential to support all allegations, contentions, and demands for reimbursement for lost wages with appropriate documentation and evidence. Additionally, documentation and evidence will need to be complete and consistent with the treatment that has been rendered by your medical providers showing your inability to work as a result of the accident.

Furthermore, if your injury causes you to lose your current paying job, and you are then forced to accept a job that pays less, you may be entitled to claim the difference in pay between the two jobs for a period of time depending on the facts and evidence of your claim.

Lost or Diminished Earning Capacity

Loss of earning capacity, or “LCE,” refers to a person’s impaired or diminished ability to earn income in the future. If your injury impairs your ability to work, you may be able to claim loss of earning capacity.

Usually, two things are present when claiming loss of earning capacity:

  • Permanent injury
  • Injury that affects the injured party’s work ability

For instance, if you permanently injure your arm and your job requires heavy lifting, you may be able to claim loss of earning capacity because you are unable to use your arm to perform your work.

Loss of earning capacity is difficult to prove as the evidence and calculations can be somewhat speculative and may require expert opinions. Determining lost earning capacity involves making predictions and comparisons between future work production both before and after the injury took place.

In simple terms, loss of earning capacity is the difference between what you may have been capable of earning before your injury and what you are now capable of earning after your injury. Typically, loss of potential career growth, such as promotions and raises, should also be taken into consideration when presenting your claim. It is important to note that claims for lost or diminished earning capacity typically involve larger personal injury claims in which a qualified medical professional has diagnosed the accident victim with a permanent injury as a result of the accident.

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