If you are not able to work because of injuries that you suffered as a result of someone else’s negligence, New Jersey law allows you to recover your lost wages as part of your damages claim in a negligence lawsuit against that person. Your ability to collect those damages depends on your ability to show that your injuries prevent you from working and your proof of how much of your salary and wages you could not earn.
For more than 40 years, the injury and car accident lawyers at Kantrowitz, Goldhamer & Graifman have helped victims of someone else’s negligence to recover the largest available amount of their lost wages. We make it our business to help accident victims replace their lost income and recover other damages and to keep their families from falling into poverty when a wage earner is disabled due to negligently-inflicted injuries.
How can you prove that injuries prevent you from working?
A knowledgeable and experienced accident and injury attorney will use all available proof of an accident-inflicted disability, including:
- Hospital and other medical records that document your injuries
- Reports from therapists showing your physical and occupational limitations
- Statements from employers verifying your time away from your job
- Personal statements attesting to your disabilities.
Negligent parties and their insurance carriers might make generic or statistical arguments that your injuries are not severe enough to prevent you from performing the regular tasks of your job. We rebut those arguments by showing the personal toll of your injuries and how your specific circumstances are not adequately reflected by general statistics.
How can you prove the amount of wages that you have lost or will lose?
Again, your lawyer will use all available evidence to show the regularwages that you were earning before a disabling accident, including your pay stubs, income tax returns, and social security earnings statements. Your lost wages damages award will be based on your net income after taxes and deductions are taken from your regular pay.
In cases where an accident leaves a victim permanently disabled and completely unable to work, your lawyer will argue for replacement income, salary increases, lost promotional opportunities, and lost benefits that extend through the entire period that you might have worked until your retirement. Depending on your age, work history, and the nature of your employment, you may be entitled to recover a substantial lost wages damages award on account of a permanent disability.
Recover Lost Wages after an Accident
When you suffer serious injuries in a car accident, a slip-and-fall incident, or some other event that is caused by another person’s negligence, you will naturally be concerned over how you and your family might handle a loss of income if your injuries keep you away from your regular job. Your concerns can make your recovery from your injuries that much more stressful.
Rather than worrying about how you and your family can make ends meet while you recover from your injuries, you should call the New Jersey car accident and injury attorneys at Kantrowitz, Goldhamer & Graifman. We represent accident victims in negligence lawsuits in Bergen County and throughout New Jersey, and we can help you to get the largest possible damages compensation to replace your lost wages and reimburse all of the losses you experienced as a result of your disabling accident. Contact us today for a free consultation!