Carabin Shaw is a Leading Personal Injury Law Firm in South and Central Texas, Serving Clients in San Antonio, Houston, Laredo, Austin, Corpus Christi and every Town in between.
How Our Austin Car Accident Attorneys Recover Lost Wages for Injured Clients
Your car accident injuries forced you out of work. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and the financial pressure became overwhelming. Bills piled up while paychecks stopped. You know you’re entitled to compensation for lost wages, but the insurance company’s offer doesn’t come close to replacing what you’ve actually lost. Our Austin car accident attorneys understand the full economic impact car accidents have on working people, and we fight to recover every dollar of lost income our clients deserve.
Types of Lost Income Recovery
Lost wages encompass more than just missed paychecks. Our car accident lawyers in Austin pursue all forms of income loss caused by car accident injuries.
Wages and Salary
The most straightforward lost income calculation involves the wages or salary you would have earned but for your injuries. We document your regular pay rate and hours, calculate income lost during recovery, and pursue full reimbursement.
Overtime and Bonuses
Many workers earn significant income beyond base pay through overtime, bonuses, and commissions. When injuries prevent you from working overtime you regularly earned or cause you to miss bonus opportunities, these losses are compensable. Our Austin car accident lawyer team documents historical overtime and bonus patterns to support claims for these earnings.
Self-Employment Income
Self-employed individuals face unique challenges documenting lost income. Business revenue, contracts lost, and opportunities missed all represent compensable damages. Our car accident attorneys Austin work with self-employed clients to document business impacts and calculate losses accurately.
Benefits Lost
Employment benefits have real economic value. Health insurance, retirement contributions, paid time off accrual, and other benefits you lose during disability represent additional compensable damages beyond wages alone.
Sick Leave and Vacation Used
Using accrued sick leave or vacation time for injury recovery represents economic loss—you’ve depleted benefits you earned and would have used for other purposes. Our Austin car accident attorney team includes unused leave time in lost wage calculations.
Calculating Lost Wage Damages
Accurate lost wage calculations require thorough documentation and proper methodology. Our car accident lawyer Austin employs comprehensive approaches.
Documenting Pre-Accident Earnings
We gather pay stubs, tax returns, W-2s, and employer verification to establish your pre-accident earning level. For variable income, we analyze historical patterns to determine average earnings.
Establishing Disability Period
Medical records documenting your inability to work establish the disability period for lost wage calculations. We obtain physician opinions specifying when you couldn’t work and what limitations applied during partial disability periods.
Calculating Total Lost Wages
Multiplying your established earning rate by the documented disability period produces total lost wage figures. We present these calculations clearly, supported by documentation that insurance companies can’t dispute.
Lost Earning Capacity
When injuries permanently affect your ability to earn, damages extend beyond wages already lost to include diminished future earning capacity. Our Austin car accident lawyers pursue these substantial damages in appropriate cases.
What Lost Earning Capacity Means
Lost earning capacity compensates for reduced ability to earn income in the future. If you can no longer perform your previous job, must work reduced hours, or face limited career advancement due to injuries, you’ve lost earning capacity.
Proving Diminished Capacity
Establishing lost earning capacity requires evidence that injuries permanently limit your work ability. Medical opinions regarding permanent restrictions, vocational expert analysis of how restrictions affect employability, and economic expert calculations of future losses all contribute to proving diminished capacity claims.
Our car accident attorneys in Austin work with qualified experts who provide credible testimony supporting lost earning capacity claims.
Calculating Future Losses
Future earning capacity losses are calculated by comparing what you would have earned without injury to what you can now earn with your limitations, projected over your remaining work life. These calculations involve economic analysis, accounting for career progression, inflation, and the present value of future losses.
Challenges in Lost Wage Claims
Insurance companies challenge lost wage claims through various tactics that our Austin car accident lawyer team anticipates and counters.
Disputing Disability Duration
Insurers argue that victims could have returned to work sooner than they did. They point to activities on social media or surveillance showing apparent physical capacity. We document medical restrictions thoroughly and explain that limited activity doesn’t equal work capacity.
Questioning Pre-Accident Earnings
Insurance companies scrutinize earnings claims, looking for inconsistencies or exaggerations. Our car accident lawyer Austin documents earnings through objective sources—tax returns, employer records, bank statements—that withstand scrutiny.
Minimizing Future Losses
Insurers hire vocational experts who testify that injured workers can still earn substantial income despite limitations. We counter with our own experts who accurately assess how restrictions affect real-world employment opportunities.
Arguing Pre-Existing Limitations
When victims had any pre-accident work limitations, insurers argue that current restrictions stem from prior conditions. Our Austin car accident attorneys differentiate accident-related limitations from any pre-existing issues.
Maximizing Lost Wage Recovery
Our car accident attorneys Austin employ strategies that maximize lost wage recovery for our clients.
Early Documentation
We begin documenting lost wages immediately, gathering employment records and medical documentation before evidence becomes difficult to obtain.
Expert Consultation
For cases involving significant lost earning capacity, we retain vocational and economic experts early in the process. Their analysis guides case development and strengthens settlement negotiations.
Comprehensive Presentation
We present lost wage claims comprehensively, including all categories of lost income rather than just base wages. This approach ensures our clients recover full economic losses.
Returning to Work
Our Austin car accident lawyer team supports clients through return-to-work decisions, ensuring they don’t sacrifice claim value by returning prematurely while also not unnecessarily delaying recovery.
Medical Clearance
We coordinate with treating physicians regarding work capacity, ensuring medical opinions support whatever work status our clients maintain.
Documenting Ongoing Limitations
When clients return to work with limitations—reduced hours, modified duties, lower-paying positions—we document these ongoing restrictions to support continued lost wage claims.
Protecting Your Future
Returning to work doesn’t end lost wage claims when permanent limitations remain. We ensure settlements and verdicts account for ongoing and future earning capacity losses.
Your Income Matters
Lost wages represent real financial harm that deserves full compensation. Our Austin car accident attorneys fight to recover every dollar of income our clients lose due to car accident injuries.
If you’ve missed work due to a car accident, contact our car accident lawyers Austin to discuss recovering your lost wages and protecting your future earning capacity.