Lost Earnings in Personal Injury Cases

An injury may affect income immediately, over time, or both. Someone may miss work while recovering, reduce hours, lose a business opportunity, change jobs, or face a lasting limitation on earning capacity.

Past losses and future losses are different questions

Past lost earnings often begin with practical documentation: pay records, tax returns, employment records, work schedules, and medical evidence concerning the period of disability. Self-employed people may need business records that show how the injury affected work actually performed or opportunities reasonably expected.

Future loss is more complex. It may require evidence about the person’s work history, skills, education, pre-injury earnings, medical prognosis, and the practical effect of the injury on future employment. In an appropriate case, vocational or economic experts may help analyze those issues.

The claim must reflect the individual

There is no generic formula that captures the impact of an injury on a career. A missed shift, an inability to return to a physically demanding occupation, and a loss of professional advancement can each involve different proof.

The central task is to connect the claimed economic loss to reliable evidence. Medical evidence explains the limitation; employment and financial evidence explain its economic consequences. A careful presentation needs both.