A serious car crash, slip and fall, or any other kind of accident can cause significant physical pain and emotional trauma. In many cases, it can also result in you missing a significant amount of time from work, blowing a car-sized hole in your finances.
After an accident caused by another party’s negligent or wrongful behavior, you may have the right to take legal action to recover your lost wages. Let’s take a look at how you can do just that:
Understanding the Process of Recovering Lost Wages
Although every claim for lost wages has its own unique facts and circumstances, the following steps usually help to preserve and enforce your legal rights:
Hire an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer
The first step to take on your road to recovering lost wages is hiring a knowledgeable attorney. Ideally, you should try to find an Indiana lawyer who specializes in personal injury law and has a long track record of success on behalf of clients injured in accidents. Your choice of a lawyer can have a significant impact on the eventual success or failure of your legal claim.
Finding the right attorney does not have to be difficult. For example, the Doehrman Buba Ring team comes loaded with top-notch attorneys who are ready, willing, and able to fight vigorously to recover wages you lost because of your accident. Just give us a call today to arrange a free consultation.
File Suit Against the Responsible Party
Once you have chosen the right lawyer, the next step on your journey to compensation is, typically, filing suit against the individual or business at fault for your accident. Taking legal action signals your determination to recover lost wages from the party who harmed you.
Filing a lawsuit is nothing more than a formal notice with the appropriate court that you are making a claim for the legal damages you sustained in the collision. It is a relatively simple process. All you need to do is tell your lawyer exactly what happened in the accident. Your attorney then gets to work investigating your accident, identifying the parties with legal liability to you, and filing the necessary paperwork with the court.
Negotiate a Settlement
Filing a lawsuit often (although not always) leads to settlement negotiations with the party you have sued or, typically, the insurance company for that party. Most, but by no means all, Indiana legal claims for lost wages and other “damages” flowing from a car accident ended in a settlement.
Your personal injury attorney will usually attempt to negotiate a settlement on your behalf. If the insurance company and/or the opposing party is reasonable, they will offer to pay you a settlement that reflects, in part, the number of wages you have lost because of the accident.
If Necessary, Take Your Fight to the Courtroom
Sometimes, defendants and their insurance companies refuse to settle for a reasonable sum. When this happens, your attorney may advise you to pursue the case to trial, where the lawyer presents evidence and arguments proving why you should recover your lost wages to a judge and jury. At the conclusion of a trial, the jury decides whether you deserve compensation for your lost wages and other damages and, if so, the appropriate amount.
From start to finish, this entire process could take anywhere from a few months to more than a year – depending on the complexity of your case. Your attorney should be able to give you a more accurate timeline once he or she has reviewed the specifics of your accident.
Other Damages That Can Be Recovered After an Accident
Lost wages are not the only expense that you can recover as compensation for the harm done to you in an Indiana car accident. Depending on the circumstances of your injury, you may also receive payment for the following expenses:
- Medical bills
- Ongoing physical therapy or rehab
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of future wages
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional anguish
An experienced lawyer will be able to give you a full breakdown of the size of the check that you should expect to receive through a settlement or jury verdict.
Knowledgeable Personal Injury Attorneys in Indianapolis
When Indianapolis residents and visitors need a personal injury attorney to fight on their behalf, they know that there is only one law firm to call – Doehrman Buba Ring. Since our founding, we have helped thousands of Hoosiers recover the compensation they deserve for devastating injuries and tragic losses. Give us a call today to set up a free consultation and learn more about our legal services.