When you are injured in an accident, the harm you suffer can be severe. There are far-reaching impacts of being injured in an accident that you might not consider at first or before you have lived this situation for yourself. Harm resulting from an accident, of course, often focuses on the physical, and even mental, injuries, a person sustained. With these injuries, however, can come significant financial implications for the injury victim and his or her family. Consider the medical bills that pile up so a victim can get needed treatment. There are also, however, likely to be other financial impacts caused due to accident injuries. It is common, for instance, for an injury victim to miss work following an accident. Loss of income, or lost wages, can and should be included in a claim for damages stemming from an accident.
How Do You Show Loss of Income?
Loss of income is included under the umbrella category of economic, compensatory damages. Compensatory damages are those damages intended to set the injury victim whole after an accident. They aim to repay the losses the victim incurred. Economic damages are those damages that are fairly easy to calculate as they can be based on numbers found in things such as pay stubs, etc.
With the loss of income, for instance, a personal injury claimant can support such a claim in damages by using evidence in the form of timesheets and pay stubs, as well as W-2 and other tax forms showing how much he or she receives in wages over a period of time and how much time was missed due to the accident. For a person who is self-employed, loss of income can be supported through proof of missed opportunities that passed by in the wake of an accident.
It should be noted that missed days of work do not have to be consecutive to be compensable in your personal injury claim. While you may miss a series of consecutive working days immediately following an accident in order to get immediate medical treatment and recuperate, you are likely to go on to miss even more days of work over the course of your treatment and recovery. There will be follow-up doctor appointments, appointments for lab tests, and procedures to address your injuries followed by more recovery time that are likely to be in your future. This can all result in more missed work.
The loss of wages resulting from accident injuries can be keenly felt during this time. It is common for accident victims to be thrown into financial distress after an accident. This is usually the result of medical expenses and missed work. Know that all of these expenses are compensable. In fact, accident victims who have suffered an injury in an accident caused by the negligence of someone else are legally entitled to compensation for the harm suffered as a result of the accident.
Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorneys
The dedicated team at Cooper Schall & Levy is here to fight for you. We know what clients are up against and provide zealous representation to pursue their best interests and their right to full and fair monetary compensation. Contact us today.
