When filing a personal injury claim or reaching a settlement, the damages will include any losses in money that are a result of the injury you have due to the accident you are suing for. You likely already know that people filing a personal injury claim are due to receive compensation for the medical care that was necessary because of the accident. However, have you taken into account the income you are supposed to receive but cannot because of the injury? This is considered lost income.
Lost income is not just the amount of money you didn’t receive from your current job (or, at any rate, the job you held at the time of injury). It is also the money you could have received from opportunities for work that you missed because of the accident and resulting injury. If this has happened to you, don’t be afraid to push for this reimbursement – you may be entitled to it. If so, the person or party who caused the injury due to carelessness or another reason should be the one to pay you for it. Call a personal injury lawyer in San Antonio with any questions you have about your case.
How to calculate lost income
Remember, lost income covers everything you missed out on that would have resulted in you earning more money. Not only is the time missed from the initial injury counted – the time spent with the doctor or another healthcare professional for treatments is counted as well.
No matter what kind of job you have and who employs you (or if you are self-employed), you are entitled to receiving lost income compensation. If you are familiar with the settlement value formula, it is important to note that the lost income is not mixed into this equation, but rather is added on at the end.
Even if you used vacation pay or sick leave for the period you missed while injured or being treated for the injury, you still have lost income. You are entitled to the same amount of lost income compensation as if you hadn’t used those days. The logic here is that you could have used those days for another time, whether it was a vacation for pleasure or an unplanned illness. Instead, you had to use it for this because of the carelessness of the party at fault.
There are two things you need to have a strong idea of before you can claim for lost income. You will need to know the exact amount of time that you weren’t at work when you should have been, and the exact amount of money that amount of work would have brought you. If you have evidence of these two things, you should be reimbursed for the lost income.
Opportunities lost
If you also had lost some potential opportunities for income during the time you were injured or being treated, you are entitled to receiving compensation for it. That being said, it is sometimes trickier to prove that you lost opportunities because of the accident. This could be from needing to cancel a job interview or other meeting (such as a sales meeting), for instance.
The hardest part about opportunities lost due to the injury is that you often won’t be able to calculate or prove that a specific amount of potential money was lost. If you can prove it or at least display that it is a valid claim, it at least will likely help you to reach an increased sum of money in terms of your final compensation. If you are looking for a San Antonio personal injury lawyer, call the attorneys of the Villarreal and Begum Law Firm for a free case review today.
The Villarreal & Begum, LAW GUNS dedicates their time and effort towards helping people in Texas find justice for personal negligence encountered while living their normal, everyday lives.