Recovering Lost Wages and Expenses After a Personal Injury: Your Rights and Options

Personal injury cases cover a broad spectrum of accidents. From car and truck accidents to premises and product liability, there are numerous ways that someone else’s negligence can harm you. In the immediate aftermath of an accident, you may not realize the extent to which your injuries will impact your life. Medical treatments and property repair are not the only expenses that injured accident victims face.

Lost Wages and Loss of Earning Capacity

Depending on the extent of your injuries, you may be entitled to a claim for lost wages and loss of earning capacity. While they may sound like different names for the same thing, there is a distinction between these two types of damages.

Lost income is the income that you did not receive because of a personal injury accident. For example, if you missed three weeks of work after a car accident because you were recovering from an accident-related surgery, those three weeks would be used to calculate your lost income. It’s important to note that lost income is not restricted to wages that you would have received had you been at work. It can also include sick days you used to cover your missed days, as well as bonuses or raises you did not receive because of your absence.

Loss of earning capacity looks forward rather than backward in time. It refers to your ability to earn money in the future. It is often more difficult to calculate than lost income because it is highly speculative. If your personal injury accident affects your ability to work in your chosen field or interferes with your overall ability to earn a living, you may be entitled to loss of earning capacity damages.

Expenses Stemming from Your Accident

Severe injuries often involve more expenses than just hospital and medical bills. Depending on the circumstances of your accident and injuries, you may be able to include many other expenses in your claim for compensation, including:

• Childcare
• Transportation
• Assistance with household tasks, like cleaning
• Accommodations, like wheelchair-accessible renovations

Experienced Personal Injury Attorneys in Atlanta, GA

If you have questions about which expenses might be included in your request for damages, we can help. We will provide a comprehensive review of your personal injury accident and claim to ensure nothing gets left out of the calculated value of your case.

If you lost wages, missed promotions, or depleted your paid time off because of an accident, contact The CP Law Group. We are happy to help you determine the full impact of your damages to maximize your chances for fair compensation.

Call us at 844-546-4878 (that’s 844-5-IM-HURT) or reach out on social media to @TheCPLawGroup to schedule a free consultation.