Can I Recover Damages for Future Loss of Earning Capacity in Florida?
Claiming Loss of Future Earnings Capacity after an Accident in Florida
Being involved in a serious accident is a traumatic experience that can disrupt your life and your future. In addition to the physical pain that you suffer from your injuries, you may experience financial stress from unanticipated medical bills, and emotional ups and downs from coping with the changes that your injury will mean in your ability to work. Your injury may limit your ability to earn income in the future to support yourself.
If you or your loved one has been injured in an accident that was caused by the negligence of another person in Florida, and the injury limits your ability to work, you should consult with an experienced personal injury attorney about your legal options to seek damages for your future loss of earning capacity. The futures losses that a personal injury may cause are just as relevant as the losses to date. Future losses should not be overlooked.
You Deserve to Be Compensated If Your Injuries Will Reduce Your Future Income
In Florida, you are entitled to seek restitution for future loss of wage earning capacity if your injuries resulted from someone else’s negligence. If you are unable to return to work – or if your injuries will require you to take a lower paying, light-duty job or part-time work – then you may have a right to seek compensation for your future lost income capacity as part of the damages sought in a personal injury claim.
If you are making less money because you are working fewer hours or because you have a different type of job due to your injuries, then our attorneys would project the amount of income you would lose over the course of your work life expectancy. A Florida jury may make a damages award that includes restitution for future loss of wage earning capacity.
For example, if you were 45 years old and making $80,000 a year at the time of your accident and it was very likely that over a 20-year period you would be promoted to higher-salaried positions paying $110,000, and there is evidence to prove that likelihood, then you may be able to recover compensation for the higher value of lost wages. If your injury affects your retirement or other benefits – such as the money that you are able to contribute to your pension or IRA – then this will be taken into account as well as part of lost future income.
An award for diminished future earning capacity can be a sizable amount of money as part of a damages award if you had a number of years of work life expectancy remaining at the time of the accident.
Calculating Future Loss of Earning Capacity
Loss of future earning capacity represents the money that you would have been reasonably capable of earning but for the injury.
Florida law requires that the lost future earnings be reasonably related to the victim’s injuries and backed by evidence supporting the computation of future losses. When representing clients who have sustained catastrophic, life-altering injuries, we may work with financial planners to estimate a client’s lost earning capacity.
Among the factors that are used in calculating lost future earnings capacity are your age, education level, work history, severity of your injury, existence of a lasting disability, income earned since the accident and your ability to compete in the labor market.
If you are earning more money after your injury than you were before the accident, it is a harder case to make that your earning capacity has been adversely affected.
Why Do I Need to Work with an Attorney?
It may seem as though the calculation of future loss of earning capacity is relatively straightforward. Unfortunately, while determining your lost earnings should be straightforward, attorneys for the defense will likely look for any way possible to diminish your earnings award. This may include making claims that you would have worked fewer years in the future than you are claiming, or that you would not have received higher wages in the future.
Our law firm has heard many of these defense arguments in the course of representing clients. Our skilled trial attorneys know how to counter these arguments and advocate for your right to seek the full compensation for your future loss of earnings. Our attorneys have experience representing clients in loss of earning claims, and understand how such damages are calculated and what is necessary to recover restitution for future loss of wage earning capacity. We work with economists and financial professionals, and well as medical experts who can testify regarding your inability to work, in order to get you the compensation amount that you need and deserve.
Contact the Holliday Karatinos Law Firm, PLLC Today for a Free Consultation
When you work with our injury attorneys at the offices of the Holliday Karatinos Law Firm, PLLC, you will be working with highly skilled lawyers who care about you and the outcome of your case. We know how disruptive an accident can be, and how stressed you may feel not knowing what you will do to pay your bills in the future. We will investigate the accident carefully, work hard to prove that you deserve to be compensated for your losses, and have the skill set and negotiation experience that your case deserves.
We never charge upfront or hourly fees. Your consultation with our team is completely free, and if your case isn’t successful, we don’t get paid. To schedule your consultation with our law offices today, call us now or contact us online. When you hire our law firm, your case becomes our top priority!
Jim Holliday has recovered millions of dollars for his clients in restitution for their injuries.
