If you have been injured in a car accident in Mississippi and will need to miss work to recover, you will likely worry about how you will provide for yourself and your family if you are unable to earn an income.
Fortunately, victims can claim their lost wages from the driver responsible for causing the accident. First, though, you must determine what you are entitled to claim in lost wages. This usually includes past losses and future missed earnings, as well as the loss of any future earning potential. In some cases, insurance might be sufficient to cover your damages if you only missed a short time from work. However, a lawsuit will often be necessary to recover all the lost wages and employment opportunities you have suffered.
If you were injured in a car accident, our Mississippi car accident lawyers can help you recover the income you have lost because of your injuries. For a free case review, contact Howe Law today at (844) 876-4357.
How to Recover Lost Wages After a Car Accident in Mississippi
If you are injured in a car accident in Mississippi, you might be forced to miss days, weeks, or even months from work. In serious cases, your injuries might prevent you from returning to the work you once did at all, forcing you to take on other work at less pay. This can cause an extreme amount of stress on victims and their families at a time when they can least afford it.
Fortunately, you can claim lost wages as part of your damages for the injuries you sustained in your accident. In most cases, you will have the option to pursue lost income either by filing a claim through the negligent driver’s car insurance or a lawsuit. Our Mississippi personal injury lawyers can help you determine the value of your lost wages and manage your case no matter the path you choose to recovery.
What are Lost Wages?
“Lost wages” is a broad term that includes several types of lost income you might have sustained from your car accident. Lost wages can typically be broken down into your past lost income, future lost wages, and the loss of future earning capacity. The first two categories are not too difficult to establish, especially if you have medical records detailing the time when you can return to work and in what capacity. Proving loss of future earning potential can be much more challenging.
Identifying the lost wages that you have already sustained and the income you stand to lose is only the first step on the long road to recovery. Once our attorneys have reviewed your case, we will be able to help you recover compensation in an insurance claim or lawsuit.
Recovering Lost Wages in an Insurance Claim or Lawsuit
In Mississippi, there are two ways to recover lost wages after being injured in a car accident. The first option is to file a third-party claim against the other driver’s car insurance. Mississippi is an at-fault state, which requires drivers to recover compensation directly from the parties responsible. This is a much different process than the one used in no-fault insurance states. In a no-fault state, you would have to file a claim with your own insurance for damages. To successfully recover your lost income in an insurance claim, you will need to convince the insurance company that the other driver’s negligence caused your lost wages.
While insurance might be sufficient to cover your lost wages if you only missed a little time from work, it might come far short of compensating a victim that has suffered serious injuries. If a victim’s injuries bar them from continuing to do the work they were capable of before being injured, the amount of compensation they will require could be massive. If so, filing a lawsuit will almost always be preferable to going through insurance. Our Biloxi personal injury attorneys have years of experience assessing victims’ lost wages claim and can bring these skills to your case to help ensure you recover every dollar your injuries have caused you to lose.
Records Commonly Used to Prove Lost Wages After a Car Accident in Mississippi
Numerous records could be used to prove your lost wage damages depending on the type of work you do. If you are like most typical employees, you receive a normal salary or pay rate for the time you spend at work, which is recorded on the pay stubs your employer issues with every paycheck. This can be used to calculate the income you would have made had you been able to work your normal schedule at your typical rate.
If you work in a less traditional setting or are self-employed, proving lost wages can be more challenging. However, there are a number of ways to establish what your income was prior to being injured. Any evidence showing the professional harm you suffered can be presented to the court as proof of your lost earnings. The following are common types of records used to prove lost wages:
- Pre-injury pay stubs
- Tax returns
- Bank statements
- Employer’s note on a company letterhead
- Human Resources records showing lost wages
- Expert testimony
The last type of evidence, expert testimony, is often needed to recover all the lost wages listed above. If you claim loss of future earning capacity, you will likely need a medical expert to testify about your injuries and how they will impact your future employment opportunities. Our Biloxi car accident lawyers can work with experts and arrange for any necessary medical exams so that an accurate assessment of your lost wages can be made and aggressively pursued in a lawsuit.
Our Tennessee Car Accident Lawyers Can Help
If you have missed work because of injuries you sustained in a car accident, our Gulfport car accident lawyers can help you recover the income you have lost from the party responsible. Call Howe Law at (844) 876-4357 for a free evaluation of your case.
Related Articles
