How Can My Tampa Car Accident Injury Lawyer Help the Jury Determine Future Lost Wages in an Auto Accident Case?

If you are involved in a Tampa car accident you may be entitled to reimbursement for your loss of capacity to earn money in the future. This doesn't necessarily mean that you can't work, but that you have lost the ability to earn the income you otherwise could have but for the injuries caused by the auto accident. You of course would also be entitled to reimbursement if your car accident injuries prevent you from working in the future. You may be entitled to monies so that you can receive retraining in another type of occupation so that you can get back to work and minimize your future lost income.

For example, let’s say you were in an auto accident that injured your lower back. As result you're not able to drive a truck across the country anymore, which has been your occupation for the last thirty years. It would be appropriate for the jury to hear evidence from a vocational rehabilitation expert that because of your injuries you can no longer be a truck driver. The rehab expert may explain that you can be retrained for certain types of other work although it will cost a certain sum of money to do that, or the vocational rehab expert may testify that rather than receiving $15 an hour as a truck driver, you'll be forced to accept positions that pay much less. In any event, you'd be entitled to the cost of retraining and/or the amount of income that you will lose in the future as a result of your car accident injuries.

In order to be able to receive future lost income though, it is necessary as the plaintiff in the case to prove that these losses are reasonably “certain” to occur. Note that this is different than a requirement to prove to an award for past lost wages. For past lost wages, it is only necessary to prove within a reasonable degree of “probability” that these losses actually occurred. But because future wage loss is more speculative, Florida law requires that such losses be proved within a reasonable degree of certainty.

In order to get that evidence in front of the jury for their consideration, an experienced Tampa auto accident lawyer will use several witnesses in addition to documentary evidence. Witness testimony can come from the car accident plaintiff themselves, a vocational rehab expert, an economist and possibly the client who was injured in the auto accident.

Your personal injury attorney in larger cases will likely have an economist explain to the jury the issue of present value. Present value is the value today for dollars that are not needed until some point in the future. Because the jury may be asked to award monies today that wouldn't be used by the client for perhaps 20 years, is necessary for economist to explain what lump sum today is necessary to make sure that the monies are available the future given the current interest rates. That lump sum is going to be less than what would otherwise be awarded.

If your personal injury attorney does not have sufficient courtroom experience in handling car accident cases, it would be very easy for the attorney to fail to elicit the testimony from the witnesses necessary to prove future lost wages. Therefore, when selecting a personal injury law firm to represent you for a car accident, be sure that you are aware of that attorneys trial experience in car accident cases so that a jury can award you the full measure of damages that you deserve. The Tampa car accident lawyers at our law firm would be glad to answer any questions that you have with regard to future lost wages or any other issues. If you have such questions, please feel free to contact Dale Appell.