Those who suffer injuries often want to seek compensation for lost wages. It’s not just that they have to pay the medical bills for the care that they receive. They may have missed a substantial amount of time at work due to their injuries, and they believe they deserve compensation for all the money they would have earned otherwise.
For example, say someone who earns $2,000 a week gets involved in a car accident caused by another driver. They spend a month in the hospital and recovering at home before they can return to work. In addition to their medical bills, they may want to seek compensation for the approximately $8,000 they should have earned that month.
Reduced earning capacity
But it’s important to go beyond lost wages and also consider any diminished earning capacity after the accident. This can be a long-term form of financial loss that may be more substantial than lost wages themselves.
Perhaps you work in a highly technical trade as a medical professional, such as a brain surgeon. Your job requires fine motor skills, but you’re paid very well, earning over $600,000 a year.
But then you suffer a brain injury in a car accident. Although you do physically recover, your fine motor skills are never again precise enough to return to your work as a surgeon. You’re forced to take another job where you only earn $50,000 per year – meaning that you are essentially losing $550,000 annually for the rest of your career.
This helps to show why you want to consider all costs after an accident and why you need to know what legal steps to take to seek compensation.