Four Main Issues Affecting Recovery Of Loss Of Future Earnings
If you are injured in a car accident, you deserve to be compensated not only for your lost earnings but also for the loss of future earnings. Here are four main issues that will determine how much you can recover:
Timeline of Recovery Prospects
The court will require an expert analysis of your injuries and treatment thus far to determine how likely you are to recover. The evaluation will be based on different things such as your medical records, testimony from other doctors (acting as expert witnesses), and comparisons with similar cases. This will give the court a good idea of whether to calculate the future damages assuming that you will recover or not.
An Evaluation of Abilities and Limitations
There are some accidents that leave people permanently disabled and unable to resume their pre-injury job duties fully. In such a case, the court will seek to understand how much you can do and how much you cannot do not only at the moment, but for the future, given the limitations imposed by your injuries. For example, if you crashed on your left arm and it had to be amputated, then you know you are going to lack the limb permanently because body parts don't grow back. This means the court will compute how much the loss of the limb will cost you, in terms of income, for the rest of your life.
An Evaluation of Your Pre-Accident Job and Income
The court also has to consider how much you were earning before the accident, and how much you are now earning, and how much you expect to earn in the future. Expect the opposing side to connect some of your losses to other factors (other than your injury), such as a general economic downturn, to lessen your claims. This means you need to convince the court that any projected deficit is directly attributable to your accident injuries.
How Much Your Injuries Have Affected Future Promotions
Lastly, the court will also be interested in gauging whether you would have benefited from future promotions, and how much your injuries have affected your chances of the same. This is because most people don't maintain the same level of income for the whole of their lives; in most cases, earnings appreciate. This means calculating lost future earnings by basing them on the current earnings would be flawed.
Don't expect the opposing side to believe your claims without putting up a spirited fight. In fact, in addition to a personal injury attorney, you will need the assistance of expert witnesses to maximize your recovery.
