Whenever a person has an accident or loss, and is injured in that loss, it follows that there may be a claim for the loss of earnings. This is a bit of a misnomer, as it is really a claim for the loss of earning capacity. In this way, it is necessary to point out that what is attempting to be recovered is more than the person’s paycheck from this past week that he or she was off work as a result of the accident. It is more than likely an attempt to recover damages for the loss of the ability to earn income. Therefore, it is not a literally translated loss of an actual income itself.
For this reason, a person need not have been employed at the time of the accident, to be able to possibly get money on a claim to recover for the loss. This means that if someone is injured in a loss, and was able to have worked in a certain capacity, but was not employed at that time, there might be the possibility of recovering for the capacity to work. Often it is necessary to prove the earning capacity that a person has had in the past. Or, it might be necessary even to prove the partial loss of earning capacity for the same individual.
If the person has a permanent partial medical disability there could be other issues to consider after an accideng. In the example of a veteran, if the person is impaired from earning a living in a civil job, then there are certain rules that may need to be consulted to determine the earning capacity for the veteran making a claim. There is a schedule that is consulted to determine how certain injures will reduce a person’s earning capacity. If a medical expert establishes that the person has suffered a medical loss, then an economic consultant or expert can use the schedule to predict the veteran’s anticipated future economic loss as a result of the accident.
What does the schedule consist of then? The schedule includes several descriptions of diseases and injuries and offers percentage ratings to represent the average determined impairment in earning capacity that results from the diseases or injuries listed. These are compared with the residual conditions and will make the determination whether there is a limitation of activity imposed on the person because of the disabling condition noted.
This schedule comes from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and is considered a better tool to measure loss of earning capacity than the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, which is used by doctors as a rule of course. The VA rates are determined on the demand for a certain skill or ability to work in the workplace, and the AMA ratings lean to describing an evaluation of the patient’s health status. The doctors do not routinely describe the loss of use, economic or monetary loss or other losses as a result of a person having to accept disability payments (in lieu of being able to continue working at a paying job for a living).
If you have been injured in an accident, and are unable to continue working, call us at Ledger & Associates at 1-800-300-0001 or email us at www.ledgerlaw.com.
