How Do You Calculate Future Lost Wages?

Although it may seem like a personal injury lawsuit takes a long time to resolve, it will resolve, be it by trial and verdict, or by a settlement. And when it does, whatever you receive, will be all you receive, as compensation for your injuries–you can’t go back later for more, if it turns out your injuries are worse or more long lasting than you thought it would be.

That’s why, in an injury lawsuit, to some extent, we have to project into the future–not just estimating what your future medical expenses or needs may be, but also, calculating how much or to what extent, you will lose wages in the future.

Making Predictions

Future lost wages can be tough to calculate, because we have to predict the future. We need to ask and answer question such as

• Will the effect of injuries prevent you from working until a normal retirement age, and if so, how many years will you lose?
• Will the effect of your injuries prevent you from advancing in your career, and if so, what will the financial effects of that loss be?
• Will you need to be out of work for periods of time for medical treatment and if so, how much wages or money will you potentially lose?

These can often be unknowable questions–even without any injuries, most of us have no idea whether we’ll get promotions or how long we’ll be working or how much we’ll be making, 10, 20, or 30 years into the future.

It gets even more difficult, when we’re combining these predictions with medicine–specifically, what the medical effects of your injuries will be during those time periods.

Nature of Your Work

Of course, the nature of your specific line of work can affect the analysis as well.

Someone in a more physically demanding job, like construction, may be more at risk for future lost wages after an accident, than a more sedentary job. Some jobs, like teaching, may be more physically demanding than you might think. Of course, that’s with physical injuries–if you have a brain or cognitive injury, it may not matter what work you are in, as mental and cognitive injuries affect anybody in any job about the same.

Basis for Calculations

A jury can’t just speculate on what your future lost wages are or may be. There needs to be some concrete formula or evidence, which the jury can base its verdict on.

You also need to take into account opportunistic disease or illness–these are breakdowns in your body that are indirectly caused by the injuries sustained in your accident, but which may not show until years later. For example, if you need future surgeries, surgeries come at the risk of infections. Many other injuries carry an increased risk of early onset of arthritis.

Getting Experts

All of this means  that you may need to get not just medical, but also vocational experts, to testify what someone in your field can expect to make or what promotions may be available to you and at what salary, and then calculate the losses you can expect to have.

Questions about compensation for your injuries after an accident? Schedule a consultation today to discuss it with our Tampa personal injury attorneys at Barbas, Nunez, Sanders, Butler & Hovsepian.