Taking time off from work to treat your injuries only adds to your stress after a car accident. You are already injured, hurt, and frustrated from dealing with the insurance company. Now you have to miss work so you can get treatment for your injuries. Can you recover lost wages after a car accident in Texas?

If you were injured in a car, truck, or other type of vehicle accident, you may be able to recover the reasonable value of the working time you lost while treating your injuries. If you were not paid or will not be paid because of your absence from your job, your car accident claim may include compensation for:

• wages;

• commissions;

• bonuses;

• tips;

• overtime pay; and

• other earnings that you lost because of your injuries.

How do you prove lost wages after a car accident?

So, how do you prove your lost wages to the insurance company after a car accident?

While you can testify about the earnings you received before the wreck and how much time you lost from work afterward, if possible, you should also verify your testimony with payroll records, pay stubs, tax records, or other documentation from your employer.

Keeping good documentation of your missed work and lost income can help support your Texas car accident claim for lost wages when dealing with the at-fault driver’s insurance company.

Can you recover lost wages if you were not injured in the car accident?

What if you were not injured but still had to take time off work to deal with the damage to your vehicle?

You must have sustained personal injuries to be entitled to lost wages as personal injury damages. You cannot recover lost wages if you only sustained property damage to your vehicle.

Can you recover future lost income after a car accident?

If your ability to earn a living has been reduced as a result of injuries you sustained in a car accident, truck accident, or commercial vehicle accident, you may be able to recover damages for your diminished or lost earning capacity.

Loss of earning capacity is different from simply calculating the amount of wages you have already lost. It is not based solely on the actual amount of money that you earned before the accident. Instead, it is an evaluation of your ability to earn a living before the wreck and the extent to which that ability was decreased by your injuries.

If you can demonstrate that pain, physical limitations, or another diminished ability caused by your car accident injuries has affected your ability to get or hold a job, you may be entitled to recover damages for your diminished earning capacity.

How do you prove diminished earning capacity after a car accident?

To support a claim for diminished earning capacity in Texas, you can introduce evidence of:

• past earnings;

• your endurance, productivity, and ability to work with pain;

• the difficulties and degenerative changes that will result from your injury; and

• your work-life expectancy.

Depending on the nature and severity of your injuries, additional evidence or expert testimony may also be useful in establishing how the accident has affected your future ability to work and earn income.

Can you recover lost earning capacity if you were unemployed when the accident happened?

An unemployed person may still be able to recover damages for lost earning capacity after a car accident. Although the clearest proof of loss of earning capacity is often the lost earnings themselves, you are not necessarily required to show an actual loss of earnings to be entitled to damages for loss of earning capacity.

The focus is on whether your injuries reduced your ability to earn income in the future, rather than simply whether you were receiving a paycheck on the date of the accident.

How can a car accident attorney help you recover lost wages or diminished earning capacity?

A Texas car accident attorney can review your testimony and documentation to determine whether they sufficiently support your claim before submitting them to the insurance company. An attorney can also help identify and secure the evidence necessary to prove your lost wages, lost income, or diminished earning capacity.

For more serious injuries that affect your long-term ability to work, an attorney may also work with appropriate experts to evaluate and support a claim for future lost earning capacity.

Talk to a Houston car accident attorney about your lost wages

If you were injured in a car accident, truck accident, or commercial vehicle accident in Houston or anywhere in Texas and your injuries caused you to miss work or affected your ability to earn a living, Mostyn Law can help you understand what compensation may be available.

Our Texas car accident attorneys can review your lost wages, employment records, injuries, and available insurance coverage and help you pursue compensation from the responsible parties and insurance companies. Contact Mostyn Law today for a free consultation about your car accident claim.