Langley Loss of Employment Income Lawyer

A personal injury case usually involves life-altering injuries that impact your work life. Many of our clients can’t pursue the same careers after their accidents. Many others can no longer work full-time, or at all.

If you have been seriously injured as a result of someone else’s negligence then you have the right to pursue compensation for these losses. The team at Merchant Law is full of seasoned lawyers who are adept at pursuing these awards.

These award amounts are only available if it can be determined that you were not at fault for the accident. You will only get the full amount if we can prove you were not partially at-fault and that you took steps to mitigate your losses. Finally we must prove the extent to which this accident has impacted your work life.

As you can expect, these cases can grow quite complex.

Loss of Earnings

This is the straightforward part of your case. It deals with simple numbers: the amount you make in a normal week, and the number of weeks you are put out of work as the result of your accident, whether because you were forced to take time off to heal or because you lost your job as a result of the accident.

If you earn $1000 a week and are out of work for 6 weeks, then you’re entitled to get $6000 back.

Examination of your pay stubs is usually all it takes to set this number. In cases where you lose your job there may be some argument about how many weeks you should be compensated for, but the numbers are still pretty easy to work with.

Loss of Earnings Capacity

Loss of earnings capacity is where case arguments tend to get heated. This is because you’re trying to prove you can’t work in the future, and you’re trying to make estimations about how long you would have worked and how much you would have made while doing so.

The defense will argue you can work at some kind of job if you say you are completely disabled. If you say you can work part time they’ll try to prove you can work full time. The arguments can get messy.

As your lawyers we’ll be attempting to prove four things.

Your accident left you less capable of earning money from any job at all.
Your accident has made it harder for you to secure employment because you are less marketable to employers.
You have lost your ability to pursue the same career opportunities or work the same job as a direct result of the accident.
You are less valuable to yourself as a person capable of earning a living, and this is, again, the direct result of the accident and the defendant’s negligence.

Setting exact amounts requires us to call on expert witnesses like physicians and forensic economists. It also requires a clear, cognizant argument in court.

Starting Your Case

You don’t have to pay anything out of pocket to start your personal injury case. We work on contingency, which means we don’t get paid until you do. Your loss of earnings and earnings capacity is just going to be one part of the case we present, which will also include compensation for your medical bills, pain, and suffering.

Start by scheduling a free consultation. Just call (604) 535-7777, or visit our office at 6337 198 St. #101, Langley City, BC.