One of the benefits of filing a personal injury claim is recovering compensation for any wages you lost due to your injury. This is generally calculated by taking into account your wage statements and tax return information. However, when a plaintiff is self-employed, the process of establishing the money lost becomes more difficult.
Those who are self-employed are entitled to recover the following:
- Lost income for time off from work
- Lost profits if you injury hurt your business
- Loss of good will for any hurt relationships with current clients
- Loss of earning capacity if you lost skills and abilities after your injury
- Lost business opportunities
- Sick leave and vacation pay you may have accumulated
You need documentation as proof of your losses, preferably in the form of tax returns. On the other hand, tax returns will also contain all information relevant to your financial standing—your spouse’s income, investments, charitable donations, and other data you may not want the court to obtain. While your are legally protected from being forced to turn over such records, if you do so willfully, your right to confidentiality will be waived.
What other documentation can you use?
If you’d rather not turn over your tax returns, there are other means at your disposal.
Other resources you can use to establish your losses include:
- Letters from a business associate which verifies your name, position, pay rate, how many hours you typically work, and how much time your accident caused you to miss.
- Letters from any business associates you lost which prove your accident and injuries hindered them from doing business with you.
- Any documents pertaining to how much you were working and earning before your accident such as bills of sale, invoices, appointment calendars, documentation of meetings, and conferences, and payments received.
The court can ask questions relevant to your business such as the type of business and if a replacement manager can be hired to maintain it. The cost of hiring a replacement can be incorporated into your compensation in some cases.
You will need an experienced Los Angeles personal injury attorney who can call in experts who can testify as to your business’ viability and offer a fair estimation of your losses. A forensic accountant can also be called upon to give a projection based on your past income. All this can work together to build a case for your financial compensation with the court.
If you were hurt in an accident caused by the negligence of another and are unable to return to your place of business, call the Law Offices of Jacob Emrani to retain a trusted personal injury attorney in Los Angeles. Our track record speaks for itself—we have recovered millions in compensation and can make the difference in your case.
For help in recovering damages, call us at (888) 981-7732.