If you have lost earnings due to an accident through no fault of our own, you can include a claim for loss of earnings as part of the compensation claim you’re making. The claim itself comes in to two parts commonly: General Damages and Special Damages. The latter is what lost earnings is covered under.
The general principle in law is that anything you have reasonably lost or reasonably paid out for as a result of an accident or injury is something you should be able to clam back for as part of a case. As long, the reason for the loss, is attributable to the accident or the injuries, and as long as it’s reasonable, there shouldn’t be any reason why we can’t claim it back.
What’s reasonable? Good question…
It’s common to send you to a medical expert as part of the claim, as they will produce a report that is used to help us value your claim on the injury side of things. The expert should also comment on the reasonableness of any time off work that has resulted in the lost earnings. As an example – if you’re staying off work because you can’t lift anything at work due to a bad back injury you are suffering from and you work in a warehouse lifting heavy boxes all day, I’d say that’s reasonable, and I’d like to think any right minded GP or medical expert would agree.
However, if you’re staying off work because of the none-painful scar on your right arm that isn’t healing as its still quite angry looking and red, but isn’t stopping you from lifting at all, then the expert might say that’s not reasonable…
You have a duty in law to mitigate your losses, which essentially means keep them to a reasonable minimum. The example above is a good one – another is getting to and from appointments by bus as oppose to a limo as part of a travel expenses claim. I appreciate that’s an absurd example, but I’m sure you get my point!
You can also include things like lost overtime or lost bonuses due to being affected by the injury. We can look to calculate your losses by looking at wage slips prior to the accident, and then comparing them with the after months of the accident.
Making sure your losses are recovered is an essential part of maximising your claim for compensation. For that reason, you need a quality expert injury lawyer to represent you for the case. I will say this though – as we can only claim back what is reasonable, we will tell you if we feel the other side might take issue with it. We’re only looking out for your best interests!
Give us a call on 0800 634 75 75 for all the advice you need.
