How to Recover Lost Wages Following a Motorcycle Accident

Being injured or, even worse, losing a loved one due to the actions of a negligent driver, puts your family in an emotionally draining situation. When you add to the mix, now a wage earner is unable to work for their paycheck to pay their bills, the toll becomes insurmountable. Our attorneys have been fighting for compensation for motorcycle accident victims for 25 years, so you don't have to be weary of checking the mail after someone you love is unable to work following a motorcycle accident: We're here to help.

In this article we'll explain to get compensation for lost wages after a motorcycle accident.

Questions answered in this article:

• How does the court measure my lost wages?
• How will my attorneys prove lost wages?
• Why do I need an experienced attorney?

How do the courts determine lost wages?

Even in minor motorcycle accidents due to the actions of a negligent driver, the victim is likely to suffer pretty significant injuries. These injuries will also likely result in either, the victim missing work due to medical reasons for a significant period of time, or being totally unable to work ever again in their lifetime.

• Measuring loss of past wages:

  The loss of past wages are the wages lost from the second the injury occurred, and the start date of the trial. So, for example if you were injured in July of 2015, but your trial date wasn't until February of 2016, then you are able to sue for wages in that time in which you missed work due to your injuries prior to your court date.

  To prove this, you must introduce sufficient evidence to allow the jury to measure how much earnings you missed out on during this time frame. This can come in the form of tax paperwork and/or pay stubs that indicate how much money you would have earned if you were able-bodied enough to work in the time leading up to the trial. If you operated your own business, this could be indicated in demonstrating for the jury your loss in profits after the accident because you were unable to oversee the day to day operation of your business.

• Measuring loss of future wages:

  This is a little bit of a more complex monetary value to determine due to your claim not being backed by paperwork from your employer, or place of business. Future earnings are how much you would have earned after the trial takes place. For example, if your trial was complete on March 15th, 2016, the jury would then estimate the amount of lost future wages from then, until you are able-bodied enough to work again, or, in the case of a death, what the wage earner's lifetime earnings would have been.

  To prove this, the jury will take several factors into consideration: The past earnings of the wage earner, the wage earner's stamina and ability to work with pain, the challenges that the earner has to consider when working with their injury, and the wage earner's work-life expectancy. For example, if you were injured when you were 25-years-old and were unable to work for the rest of your life, the jury would likely subtract your age from the typical retirement age of someone your age. So if the average retirement age was to be determined to be 65, there would be 40 more years of working life that you would need to be compensated for.

  The jury may also take factors such as promotions in your career field, and economic inflation into consideration when determining future earnings.

We'll fight to get you compensation for your lost wages after a motorcycle accident.

Our attorneys understand that losing one's means to put food on the table makes an already stressful situation much, much worse. We're here to make sure that while you're dealing with your injuries, or the loss of a loved one, that you don't have worry about the city shutting the water off because you're unable to pay your bills. We'll fight for your lost wages so that we can, at the very least, ease the financial toll that a motorcycle accident caused by a negligent driver can put on your family. Give us a call: (855) 326-0000. If we don't win your case, you don't owe us a cent.

Related Articles For Further Reading:

• How a UIM Claim Can Increase the Amount of Recoverable Money after an Accident
• Helmets Save Lives: Here's the Data
• 10 Helpful Tips About Car Accident Cases (They Work for Motorcycles, too)