When you’re hurt in a car accident, you might have many types of losses. Some of the losses you might have after a car accident are financial. Others are emotional including the pain and suffering and the emotional trauma of what you’ve been through.
One of the types of financial loss that you might have is lost wages. If you’re unable to work after a car crash, it can devastate your entire family. Fortunately, there are things that you can do to make up for your lost wages after a car accident. Here’s how to recover lost wages from a car accident:
- Prove the other side’s fault for the car accident
Texas is a traditional fault state for car accidents. That means anyone can bring a claim against another person if they’re hurt in a car accident because of another person’s actions. You don’t have to have extremely serious or permanent injuries. As long as the other person is at fault for what happened, they should pay for your losses including your lost wages.
The first step to recovering for your lost wages is proving the other side is responsible for the accident. Even if you’re partially to blame, as long as you’re not more than 50 percent at fault, you can still win a recovery under Texas law. Our team of car accident attorneyscan help you take the proper steps to gather the evidence that you need to prove the other side’s fault. That might include talking to witnesses, gathering photographs and working with experts.
- Document your lost wages
Once you’ve established the other side’s fault for your accident, the next thing that you need to do is prove your losses. You need to gather the evidence of what you likely would have made if you hadn’t been hurt. If you’re employed for wages or a salary, you need to gather pay stubs, tax records and even the names of people at your place of employment who can verify your earnings.
Your calculations can include overtime hours and bonuses. You’ll need to prove what you were likely to earn based on past performance. If you were likely to have gotten a periodic raise, you can include that too. Even self-employed individuals can recover for lost wages. You need to show the accounting of your past profits and losses in order to demonstrate what you would have earned if you hadn’t gotten hurt.
- Bring a claim for recovery To recover lost wages from a car accident, you must appropriately bring your claim for recovery. Most Texas drivers have at least some car insurance. Texas law requires each driver to carry a minimum amount of insurance that pays in the event that the driver causes an accident. For that reason, you may be able to look directly to the other side’s insurance company for a fair payment of your claims.
Your team of Texas car accident lawyers can help you evaluate an offer from the insurance company in order to determine if it’s a fair settlement amount. In addition to lost wages, there are other types of damages that might be available to you. Often times, the insurance company’s first offer isn’t their best offer. Your team of attorneys can help you weigh your options.
If you don’t get a fair settlement from the insurance company, you can bring your claim to a Texas court. Bringing a case in court allows you to formally build your claim. Your team of attorneys can help you weigh all of your options and make the best plan to pursue a fair recovery.\
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