Iowa law empowers injured victims to seek damages suffered in any type of accident. Most damages are economic in nature. Medical care is an obvious example, as is the cost of repairing your car.
Our clients can also request lost income or wages if their injuries keep them out of work. Contact Ball, Kirk & Holm, P.C. to discuss your injuries. Too many people are stuck at home recovering from painful injuries, so they cannot work for weeks or months. Our objective is to obtain as much compensation for income loss as is supported by the facts. Reach out to speak with an Iowa personal injury lawyer. From offices in Iowa City and Waterloo, we can travel to meet you in person, when circumstances allow.
Provide Wage Statements or Paystubs
If you work a regular job with an employer, then share your paystubs with your legal team. Most of our clients have worked 40 hours a week as salaried or hourly employees. They are paid a set amount every week, which makes calculating lost income easy.
Generally, an injured victim should receive full compensation for every week they miss from work. If you make $600 a week and miss 10 weeks, you should receive $6,000 in lost income. That is only fair, since the defendant who injured you is responsible for your inability to work.
Remember to share if you earn overtime, bonuses, or commissions, since you might claim that lost income as well. Any income you would have earned qualifies.
Share Information About Gig Work
Iowa workers increasingly are working “gig” jobs. They are independent contractors, so they only get paid when they work, and they do not have standard work weeks. Someone who drives for Uber, for example, could make different amounts each week, depending on their availability.
Fortunately, independent contractors can also receive compensation after an accident. However, you have a tougher job showing with a high degree of certainty how much you likely would have made.
Share the following with your lawyer:
- How much you have earned over the past six months in your gig job.
- Whether you planned to continue to work the gig job.
- Copies of signed contracts which you had to cancel because of your injuries.
Some people do gig work on the side or weekend, while working a full-time position during the week. You can still request compensation for part-time work.
Based on this information, we can calculate how much you probably would have earned but for the accident. We can then argue you should receive this month in lost income.
Gather Bank Records if You Own Your Own Business
Some clients are small business owners. They can also request lost income after an accident if they are prevented from working. For example, an accountant with her own practice might have to shut down during the busy tax season because she is in incredible pain. She should request lost income.
- Gather any information about how much your small business has made over the past year:
- Profit and loss statements
- Bank records
- Contracts with clients
- Cash flow statements
These records give us a detailed look at your business and how much you would have likely earned had you not been hurt. We can then make a claim for compensation.
Future Lost Income (Loss of Earning Capacity)
Some of our clients are fully healed and back to work when we finally negotiate a settlement. We know with certainty how much income they lost while recovering. That makes calculating damages easy.
However, some of our clients are still struggling with lingering disabilities and impairments. Some catastrophic injuries will never heal. Think of severe brain injuries, amputation, or spinal cord damage. Our clients might be unable to ever return to their old job or industry.
Suppose a person stocks shelves at a supermarket overnight. They end up losing a leg in a serious accident. Consequently, this person cannot return to stocking shelves overnight, so they will need to find a new job. And any new job might pay less than what they earned before with overnight stocking.
We can request loss of earning capacity damages for serious injuries. These damages represent income loss in the future. We will work closely with your doctor to fully understand how your injuries have impacted your ability to work.
What Can Reduce the Compensation You Receive?
Not every client will receive 100% of their lost income. There are some common reasons:
- Comparative negligence. Iowa law states your compensation is reduced by your share of fault. So if you were 50% to blame, then you get only half your damages, which means only half of your lost income. (Iowa Code § 668.3.)
- Failure to mitigate damages. Injured victims need to take reasonable steps to get better after a crash or other accident. That means going to the hospital and following a treatment plan. If you refuse, then your failure to return to work is partially your fault. You will receive less.
- Defendant’s lack of resources. Some defendants do not have sufficient funds to pay a fair settlement. For example, a victim could be paralyzed from the waist down and not work for another 30 years. But the defendant has only a small insurance policy to pay a settlement. They cannot pay the $1 million or more a victim deserves.
Speak with an Iowa Personal Injury Lawyer Today
Accidents leave many victims on the verge of bankruptcy. Being unable to work and provide for your family is incredibly frustrating. Thankfully, Iowa law gives many victims the option to seek financial compensation in a personal injury claim.
Call our office to discuss whether you can file a claim against the person responsible for your accident. You might not know who is responsible for your injuries, which is fine. We can investigate and sift through the evidence to assign liability for your accident and injuries. Reach out to a member of our legal team to get started. We are available 24/7 for our clients.