If you were involved in a car accident in Santa Ana, CA, due to the negligence of another driver, you could seek financial compensation for your losses. Along with medical bills and other losses, lost wages are an important cost that can be recovered in a personal injury claim. When an accident causes you to miss work, lose income, and experience reduced future earnings, a Santa Ana car accident lawyer can help you recover damages.
Look no further than Robles Babaee Personal Injury Lawyers. Our attorneys have years of experience in the field and have won millions of dollars for our deserving clients. We’ll work just as hard on your case to get you the results you need and deserve. Contact us online or call (714) 263-3700 today to schedule a free consultation and learn about your legal rights and options.
How Robles Babaee Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help You Recover Lost Wages After a Crash in Santa Ana, CA
Recovering damages for lost wages after a vehicle accident in Santa Ana is not an easy task to handle on your own. Attorneys with experience in this area can help you navigate the path toward maximum compensation for lost wages.
When you hire our Santa Ana car accident attorneys, we will:
- Investigate the cause of the accident
- Determine who was at fault
- Evaluate your damages
- Negotiate with insurance companies
- Fight for a fair settlement
- File a lawsuit and take your case to trial if necessary
Contact our legal team today to schedule a free consultation. We work on a contingency fee basis, so we only receive attorney’s fees if we win or settle your claim.
What Damages Can a Car Accident Victim Recover?
Damages available after a car accident typically fall within two categories: economic damages and non-economic damages.
Economic damages are provable costs that can be calculated from bills, pay stubs, and other forms of documentation.
Economic damages might include:
- Medical bills
- Vehicle damage and repairs
- Costs for prescriptions and medical equipment
- Lost wages
- Lost potential income
- Reduced future income due to the accident
Non-economic damages can include emotional trauma, pain and suffering, loss of companionship, reduced quality of life, and other factors that have long-term effects.
Calculating Lost Income in a Santa Ana Car Accident Case
Calculating lost income can be straightforward in many cases. If you are paid regularly by your employer, pay stubs can prove your normal hours and pay rate. From there, you’d estimate hours and wages lost due to your accident and recovery. If you are paid a salary, you will tally up the days and hours missed and prorate your salary for that time.
Some types of income that might require additional steps to calculate lost wages include:
Tips
If you work at a restaurant, bar, venue, or elsewhere in the service industry, most of your income might be through tips. How do you calculate lost wages in this situation? This is usually done by figuring your average tips per shift, then multiplying that by the number of shifts you missed.
Experienced car accident lawyers can go through your earnings and know how to calculate missed tips caused by an accident.
Commissions
If your income is commission-based, you’ll need to calculate an average amount in commissions earned per day while working. A car accident lawyer will then work to arrive at a dollar amount based on your total days and commissions missed due to the other driver’s negligence.
Bonuses
Some employers offer bonuses every month or even every pay period. Bonuses are often tied to hours worked or certain performance goals. If an accident keeps you from working your normal hours and meeting your bonus-driven goals, you will lose not only wages but bonuses as well.
You can be paid for bonuses you should have earned, based on your track record and history of bonus payments. Remember to ask your lawyer about compensation for bonus payments you should have earned were it not for the car accident.
Household Services
If an accident victim does not have a standard wage-based job, but maintains their home, household services and contributions can be included among damages. Reimbursement for transportation, childcare, cleaning, preparing meals, nursing, and personal help could be included among damages.
When someone’s ability to perform tasks around the house are limited by someone’s negligent conduct, they can seek damages for those losses as well.
These are just a few examples of what might be included in your lost wages claim. You may also include things like PTO time you had to use while recovering from your injuries. In some cases, you might also be entitled to compensation for future lost wages as well. Contact our attorneys for a free consultation today t
Proving Liability To Collect Lost Income
To be paid for lost income in a car accident case, claimants must show that the other driver was negligent and liable for damages.
Four essential elements of negligence will need to be proven to collect damages:
- Duty: Drivers have a duty of care to follow traffic rules and drive safely to avoid accidents.
- Breach of duty: If another driver fails to follow traffic laws or drive with reasonable caution, they could have breached their duty of care.
- Causation: The other driver must have been at least partially responsible for the accident and your damages, under California’s pure comparative negligence law.
- Damages: The claimant must prove that they suffered actual damages due to the negligent act. Damages can include medical bills and lost wages.
Each element must be proven “by a preponderance of the evidence,” which is about a 51% or higher likelihood.
Contact a Santa Ana Car Accident Lawyer for a Free Consultation
If you were injured in a car accident in Santa Ana, CA, and lost income due to the accident and your recovery, you could be entitled to compensation. Through a personal injury claim, you can claim damages for lost wages and many other losses as well. A Santa Ana car accident lawyer with our team can help. Contact Robles Babaee Personal Injury Lawyers today to schedule your free case evaluation.