People can incur serious injuries in a variety of ways. They might get hurt in a car crash or fall down the stairs at a poorly-maintained apartment complex. When an outside party is responsible for the incident that left someone with life-altering injuries, the injured party may have a right to pursue compensation.
In some scenarios, they can seek insurance coverage to pay for their medical bills and other financial losses. Occasionally, they may also need to consider filing a personal injury lawsuit. If injuries are severe enough to prevent someone from maintaining gainful employment, then a lawsuit might be necessary.
Those pursuing a personal injury lawsuit typically need to request a specific amount of compensation based on their overall economic losses. Lost wages can be a major component of a personal injury lawsuit.
How can someone whose career ended prematurely due to harm caused by another’s conduct determine the financial impact of their injuries?
Realize that wages don’t remain stagnant
One of the most common mistakes people make when calculating lost wages is to simply take their current salary and calculate what they could have earned if they worked until the current standard retirement age. That approach often results in an inappropriately low figure. After all, those who pride themselves on their careers often look for better jobs at other companies or promotions with their current employers.
Successful professionals can significantly increase their income in the last years of their careers. They may earn far more when they have experience than they do early in their careers. Looking at the trajectory of the injured professional’s career and the opportunities for raises and advancement they could have secured can help them calculate their lost income.
Consider the value of benefits
Most professionals with solid careers have benefits packages that they receive in addition to their base wages. Employers provide them with paid leave, various forms of insurance and possibly even company stock. Those benefits can be quite valuable. Many times, they are worth as much as a third of someone’s overall income. Those calculating lost wages have to take the value of their benefits into consideration. The possibility of better benefits packages later in a career is also an important consideration.
Professionals coping with career-ending injuries often need assistance calculating the financial impacts of their injuries. Determining the full economic impact of serious injuries can make it easier to hold the party at fault for an incident accountable for the harm at issue.
