Can’t Work After a Maryland Car Accident
When you are in a car accident, it can be stressful. That stress only elevates when you cannot work after a Maryland car accident. A car accident can shape the future of your life. As it happens, the same injuries can have the same impact on your career. This is especially true if you work in an industry that requires physical labor. Whether you work at a food bank, in construction, or even a job that requires you to walk around, like in real estate, an injury in a car accident can affect your ability to perform at your best.
There is a legal term to describe this, known as a loss of future earning capacity. Even if you can still work, we can make a compelling argument that you cannot perform your best work. Before your injury, perhaps you could load 75 pallets in a day. However, due to the long-term effects of your back injury, you may only be able to load 60 pallets onto the truck.
This inability to perform at the level you used to can negatively impact your job performance. This can lead to a lesser likelihood of a promotion, raise, and even the possibility of losing your job altogether. As Maryland car accident lawyers, we must anticipate these career troubles before they happen. Unfortunately, even if we settle a case a year or two after your injury, the effects on your career may not manifest until later. Accordingly, it is critical to consult with an experienced and knowledgeable legal team at Gelb & Gelb, who will consider all angles of compensation for your case.
Legal Rights and Protections for Injured Parties
When you are injured, in any context, due to the negligent conduct of a third party, the law entitles you to compensation. Of course, even when you have a legal right to compensation, collecting on a judgment may not be feasible. Fortunately, Maryland law mandates that each driver has auto insurance. That is not to say that every driver has insurance, but enough drivers do, and that is worth investigating. Additionally, even if there is no insurance on the other driver’s vehicle, you may be entitled to file an uninsured motorist claim through your policy. Contrary to what you may read online, this should in no way affect your insurance rates if you were not at fault in the accident.
When your legal rights and protections as an injured party compensate you for your injuries, that includes the economic injury if you can’t work after a Maryland car accident.
Calculating Lost Wages When You Can’t Work

If you cannot work after a Maryland car accident, you should visit a doctor and receive a disability slip. Otherwise, we may not be able to prove during settlement negotiations or at trial that you could not work due to your injuries within a reasonable degree of medical certainty. That is the standard courts use to determine whether you may prevail on a lost wage claim. If you are in a car accident and injure your foot, you can probably still work if you sit at a desk during your shift. However, if you work in retail and have to walk around at work, you may not be able to work due to a foot injury. Once you get your disability slip, assuming your treating physician deems it appropriate to do so, we can calculate the value of your wage claim.
In this calculation, there are a few things to consider. First, the easiest thing to calculate is the number of hours missed. You should track this throughout the legal process. Even if you miss up to three hours per day to attend physical therapy, we will calculate this time as part of your compensation. We then multiply the hours missed by your hourly rate. If you work on commission, drive for Uber, or work in some other profession that does not have a consistent payment structure, we simply take your average weekly wage for the last two months or so. But what if you also lose vacation days? You are entitled to compensation for your vacation days, too.
Evaluating a Loss of Future Wages
After handling car accident cases for over 70 years, we are adept at determining the value of your vacation days. When the average American worker only gets ten days off per year, and you lose five or even all of them due to an injury, we explore every possibility to ensure you obtain compensation for that loss of benefit.
When you can’t work after a Maryland car accident, we must consider past and future lost wages. Remember, the statute of limitations for virtually all car accidents is three years. However, you might not fully recover from your injuries by the time we resolve your case. Thus, we must apply some guesswork in evaluating your case. We can do this by checking your medical records and communicating with your doctors if necessary. If they write into your medical record that you suffer from some permanency for your injury, we can make the argument at trial that you cannot work in your same field again.
This is particularly tough if you only have work experience in that field. For example, you may need help finding another job if you have spent the last 20 years in construction. If you can no longer work in construction because of your injury, we can assist in your job search.
Many employers do not want to invest the time to train an older adult. Instead, they prefer to spend the same resources training a younger adult to do the job. They know they will get more return on their investment with the younger adult. If you are having trouble finding a new job, we will shape that into an argument for compensation.
Role of Personal Injury Protection (PIP) in Maryland
Personal injury protection may be available depending on whether you waived it on your policy. Technically, you have not waived PIP if you do not have your own auto insurance policy. This means you are entitled to make a PIP claim if it is on the car that hit you. Not all Maryland car accident lawyers think to pursue this massive advantage. When you can’t work after a Maryland car accident, personal injury protection (PIP”) becomes incredibly valuable. This is a form of compensation you receive in advance of settlement or judgment at trial. You may receive PIP even if you are at fault for the accident. This is why some people call PIP “no-fault coverage.” But be careful: while Maryland’s PIP is great, PIP in other jurisdictions is less advantageous due to the PIP statutes in those jurisdictions.
Accordingly, speaking to a Maryland car accident attorney immediately after your accident is critical. This will help determine whether you qualify for a PIP claim.
Contact a Maryland Car Accident Lawyer
When you cannot work after a Maryland car accident lawyer, you may have growing bills and plenty of stress. Our attorneys work hard to make this process as stress-free as possible for you from beginning to end. When you work with Gelb & Gelb, you are not put through a maze of paralegals. Instead, you can get in touch with your attorney seven days a week.
Call our office today for a free consultation at (202) 331-7227.
