Under South Carolina law, the person or entity that caused your harm must make you whole. In other words, they must compensate you for every loss their negligence caused. One of these losses may be income. Whether the accident forced you to miss 2 days or 2 months of work, the wrongdoer's insurance company is required to account for your lost earnings. Likewise, if your injuries affect your ability to make the same amount of money in the future as you did before the accident, you should be compensated for the difference.
Determining Lost Earnings After an Injury
Insurance adjusters occasionally tell people that the portion of the settlement that accounts for lost income is based on post-tax earnings. If an insurance person makes such a statement about a South Carolina claim, please know they are lying. For example, if you earn $800 per week and miss 5 weeks of work due to your injuries, you would be owed $4,000, not your net earnings.
When it comes to lifelong injuries that impact your lifetime earnings, experts are often needed to perform the calculation. A vocational evaluator will assess what jobs are available to someone with your injuries, education, and skill set. An economist will then project how much income the accident will cause you to lose over the course of your life. Your injury lawyer can use this information to help calculate how much compensation to "demand" from the insurance company.
Get Back What's Rightfully Yours
No matter the degree of lost earnings, South Carolina law requires that responsibility for all losses falls on the shoulder of the negligent party, not the innocent victim. If you have questions about any aspect of a personal injury case, including how to calculate lost wages, I am here to help. Call our South Carolina personal injury attorney team at 803-790-2800 (Columbia, SC) / 843-427-2800 (Myrtle Beach, SC), or start a live chat 24/7 with a real, live person to arrange a free and confidential consultation.