Loss of Earnings/Diminished Earning Capacity
If you were injured in an accident in Denver, CO, you can seek compensation for your injuries in a personal injury claim. You will need to prove who was at fault, how they caused your injuries, and the amount of your damages. In many personal injury cases, victims experience lost earnings and diminished earning capacity in the future. If someone else’s negligence caused you to lose past, present, and future income, a Colorado personal injury lawyer can help.
Even if you know you’ve lost income and will have diminished earning capacity in the future due to injuroes after your car accident or any accident, proving these losses can be complex. Trying to prove it on your own will almost always leave you shorthanded. Trust an experienced Denver personal injury lawyer to help you navigate the path to financial recovery after an accident. A dedicated legal team can fight for the lost earnings and lost future earnings you are entitled to in your claim.
What Types of Lost Income Can I Recover In a Personal Injury Claim?
In a personal injury claim, you can pursue compensation from an at-fault party or their insurance company for:
- Lost income from the date of the accident onward, caused by the accident and your resulting injuries;
- Lost income related to your medical treatment for injuries caused by the other person’s negligence;
- Lost or reduced future earnings due to injuries and impairment caused by the accident.
Whether you worked full-time, part-time, salary, or hourly before the accident, you can still be paid for missed work related to your injuries. This is also true for those who are self-employed or own their own businesses.
No matter what your work situation was prior to the accident, you must document your lost income in whichever way possible so lost earnings can factor into your personal injury claim. If you are regularly employed, this can be as simple as turning in past pay stubs and W-2s. In other situations, such as for business owners and independent contractors, proving lost wages can require a few extra steps.
How Do I Prove Lost Income in a Colorado Personal Injury Case?
If you are regularly employed through another company or proprietor, you can obtain documentation of your lost income directly from your employer. You’ll need proof of your job title, rate of pay, regular hours, and work missed following the date of your accident.
If you work for yourself or have any type of irregular employment, proving your lost income and earning ability can take extra work. You’ll need to document the work you’ve missed and what your earnings should have been were you able to work your regular hours. If you are a contractor, for example, you could show jobs you had to decline due to your injuries or scheduled projects you had to take off your calendar while you recovered from the accident.
Business owners can show impacts on billing and invoices, canceled appointments, lost profits, missed work opportunities, and other impacts of the accident. If the accident continues to impair your ability to run your business or perform self-employed work, that could be considered diminished earning capacity.
If you work for someone else, you’d normally use your regular pay rate multiplied by the time missed to estimate your lost earnings. Insurance companies might request pay stubs going as far back as 2-3 months. If you are self-employed, insurers could look at your year-to-date revenue or tax returns for previous years to get an idea of your lost earnings and reduced earning potential.
Many jobs are seasonal or sporadic in nature, with peaks in the summer or winter. In these cases, your total annual earnings from previous years could be reviewed. Generally, you’d divide a yearly average by the weeks or months you lost due to the accident. Your earning patterns and work history would be critical in this regard.
Keep in mind that insurance companies will seek to minimize your lost income in any way they can, which is why it helps to have a personal injury lawyer at your side.
What Is Diminished Earning Capacity in a Personal Injury Case?
Diminished earning capacity is similar to lost wages but asks an insurance company or the court to look into the future and estimate the full range of your economic losses. If injuries from your accident cause long-term loss of function or even permanent disability, your expected future income will be diminished.
Some factors that are considered in calculating diminished earning capacity include:
- Examination of your injuries, prognosis, and projected recovery timeframe;
- Analysis of your work history, education, training, and marketable skills;
- Need for rehabilitation and continued therapy;
- Review of pre-accident work duties, ability to return to work, and alternative positions available;
- Expert analysis of income you’d be expected to earn if not for the accident;
- Missed opportunities for career advancement due to your injuries
Through the use of tax returns, business records, medical records, occupational expert analysis, and other tools, your personal injury attorney will work hard to prove your diminished earning capacity after a serious accident. In many personal injury cases, the long-term impacts on an accident victim’s career can affect their entire family. Diminished earning capacity must be addressed for anybody injured due to someone else’s negligence.
A Denver Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help With a Claim for Loss of Earnings/Diminished Earning Capacity
If you were hurt in an accident in Denver, CO, the impacts can extend beyond your physical and mental health. Most accident victims will suffer a loss of income and potentially diminished future earnings. An experienced Denver personal injury lawyer will understand the financial struggles that victims face after an accident and will fight hard for just compensation. Contact one of our Zaner Law Personal Injury Lawyers attorneys at (720) 613-9706 today to schedule your free consultation.
