Introduction
If you have to miss work due to sustaining injuries in an accident not caused by you, you are entitled to pursue a lost wage claim against any at-fault party. You work hard for your money, so you should seek every penny you’re owed due to your injuries. Let me tell you the story of my past client, Derek. Remember if you have been injured you should consider hiring a personal injury lawyer.
Derek’s Story
Derek was driving a tractor-trailer truck when he was involved in a motor vehicle accident. The lesson I will teach you in this video applies not only to car accident cases, but also to slip and fall injury cases, dog attack injury cases, or any other type of personal injury claim. Derek’s accident occurred on the expressway just a couple of days before Christmas. The at-fault party was driving a tractor-trailer south on the expressway when he hit an icy patch at a high rate of speed, causing him to lose control of his vehicle. He struck the concrete barrier that separated the northbound and southbound lanes, losing some of the cargo he was carrying in his truck.
Derek was traveling northbound on the expressway when the cargo flew across the barrier into the northbound lanes, striking his truck. Derek sustained so much damage to his truck that it had to be towed from the scene. He complained of a chest injury at the scene and was transported by ambulance to the hospital. An X-ray confirmed he fractured one of his ribs in the accident. His only other medical treatment visits were a couple of follow-up visits with his doctor.
Proving Lost Wages
Due to his injuries, Derek was not able to work for almost 11 weeks. However, Derek was an independent contractor as a truck driver at the time of the accident, so he was not eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. His recourse for his lost wages was only against the at-fault truck driver’s insurance company. Derek had less than $6,000 in accident-related medical expenses, so to get a good-sized settlement, we needed to prove a significant amount in lost wages and/or pain and suffering damages.
Documentation of Lost Wages
To prove lost wages, we needed documentation. An off-work note from a doctor is good evidence, but for someone like Derek, who is an independent contractor, it was crucial to have other documentation to show the amount of his lost wages. For an employee, a lost wage verification form from the employer is sufficient, but Derek was not an employee. Thankfully, Derek only did contract work for one trucking company, and he was able to gather extensive records in the form of pay stubs from the company, evidencing all the payments he received for jobs for several months prior to the accident.
Calculating Lost Wages
With this evidence, we were able to show that Derek averaged about $2,650.90 in weekly pay for the year of the accident. Since he missed almost 11 weeks of work, we calculated his lost wages to be $28,391.14. We included this evidence in our demand package to the insurance company and demanded that they pay Derek in full for his lost wages. The insurance company did not dispute the amount, and we were able to settle Derek’s case for a total of $70,000.
The Impact of Lost Wages
Derek’s lost wage claim was a significant portion of his injury claim. His injury was painful but didn’t require much medical treatment, so there wasn’t much compensation we could pursue in the form of medical bills. Recovering lost wages in Derek’s case was a game-changer. Compensation for lost wages helps ensure financial stability when you are unable to work, significantly affecting your quality of life and helping you maintain a reasonable standard of living during recovery, reducing stress and anxiety.
Conclusion
Overall, getting compensation for lost wages can be crucial in an injury case to alleviate the financial and emotional burdens caused by your injury. The thing is, just because you know that lost wages can be a significant portion of your injury claim, what if your insurance company denies liability in your case? If that happens and you believe another party was at fault for your accident, you should not give up on your injury case. In this video about to pop up here, I will tell you how I helped one client who refused to give up on his injury case secure a significant policy limits settlement.
Final Advice
Lastly, if you’ve been injured in a car accident, slip or trip and fall incident, or dog attack incident in Kentucky, remember: don’t wait, call Tate.
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