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Loss of Future Earnings |
By
David Day
One of the factors that an injured person should consider when suing for
damages is the amount of income lost due to an injury. Loss of past income is
easy enough to compute by adding up the amount of work time lost due to the
injury and income it would have generated. As for future income, its losses
due to injury may not be figured in so straightforward a manner. If the
injury resulted in the loss of the injured person's job due to permanent
injury, future earning until retirement maybe taken into account as should
loss of promotion and raises. Those plaintiffs seeking damages for lost wages
should be as concerned with the future as with the past, if not more so. An
injured person, however, has a duty to mitigate, or lessen, his damages due
to loss of earnings, and should take appropriate action to secure new
employment even if he or she lost their job due to the injury. If a new job
pays at a lower rate, the victim may be able to make a claim for the
difference.
Even if a person were unemployed at the time of injury, he or she can be
compensated for any delay the injury caused in entering the job market.
Tennessee law also provides
compensation for loss of earning capacity as a result of injury. Loss of
earning capacity compensates a victim for the loss of the ability to earn.
This allows a victim to be compensated for the types of jobs he or she could have
done but for the injury, even if the victim is employed after the injury.
This type of claim is particularly important in our current economy given the
fact that no one today is secure in their present line of employment due to
corporate downsizing and other economic factors.
In my experience, it is important to keep good records of your employment. If
a victim desires to pursue a claim for loss of earning capacity, accurate
records of past employment should be kept, including the name, address, job description
and earnings from each type of employment. |
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