Can’t Work after DC Pedestrian Accident
A personal injury claim may be available whenever a victim is injured due to a third party’s negligence, and you can’t work after a DC pedestrian accident. Many times, injuries resulting from these accidents can cause debilitating pain. Due to the sheer size and weight difference between a pedestrian and a vehicle, these accidents frequently lead to some of the worst injuries we handle. Many pedestrian victims are unable to work for weeks or even months after their accidents. This is not due to an unwillingness. Instead, their injuries prohibit them from doing so despite an eagerness to return to everyday life. This is particularly applicable to those working in jobs involving manual labor. Whether the job involves physical cleaning, lifting heavy objects, or even having to walk around, doctors will advise patients not to perform these tasks for fear of straining and aggravating the injury.
There is also the possibility that you can never return to the same job. While this is a separate aspect of your claim, a loss of future earning capacity is a compensable damage. When this happens, you receive compensation as part of your settlement. However, the difference between what you would have earned and what you can now earn will be discounted to present value so as not to provide an excessive award. For example, while it may sound reasonable to recover $100,000 if you lose $100,000 due to a loss of earning capacity, that is not how courts view it. Instead, they will discount the $100,000 to $70,000 or whatever sum would later bring your recovery to $100,000 if invested prudently.
Understanding the Impact of Pedestrian Accidents
Whether you are hit by a car, truck, motorcycle, or bicycle, the impact of a DC pedestrian accident can be devastating. As it relates to your work, the effect can set you back financially and in your career. Not many employers can afford to lose their employees for months. On the other hand, your injuries may not allow you to work. Unfortunately, this can cause your employer to release you from employment. Or, while not as extreme, you may lose favor or miss a promotion you have been working for. While more challenging to prove, these are compensable in theory.
The impact of pedestrian accidents can cause immense pain and suffering. If you suffer a brain injury, you will suffer in more ways than one. Of course, migraine symptoms can cause you to suffer your entire day. It may be more challenging to get up to travel to work with bright lights in your eyes, and it can be distracting when going to sleep. But with more severe brain injuries, you may lose the ability to perform everyday tasks by yourself. You may require help from a full-time nurse. Naturally, because you did not cause your injury, this is compensable.
Pedestrian injuries can impact a victim beyond their career. However, symptoms that stem from pedestrian accidents, like brain injuries, affect your ability to find a new job, even if you work in an industry that does not require physical labor, like construction or delivery.
Seeking Compensation for Lost Wages
Seeking compensation when you can’t work after a DC pedestrian accident is made simple with help from a personal injury attorney. Many elements go into making this claim.
- First, we must establish that the defendant is liable for your injuries. This is typically done via a negligence cause of action. If we can prove that the defendant owed you a duty, he breached that duty, and that breach was the proximate cause of the damages you suffered, there is a liability. Naturally, each element is far more nuanced than that, but this is the basic structure of a negligence claim. For any questions on negligence, please contact our office for more information and a free consultation.
- Then, we establish that you were injured and the accident caused the injuries. You may have gone to the hospital or doctor and claimed the injury was related to your injury. However, we must actually prove this is the case to recover compensation. This happens via testimony from your treating physician. They must be willing to testify that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the injuries you suffered are related to your pedestrian accident.
- Third, we prove that you could not work because of the injuries and thus are entitled to compensation. We do this in settlement negotiations by mailing a copy of your disability slip from your treating physician stating that you are under that doctor’s care and unable to work due to the injuries suffered from the pedestrian accident you were in. This is sufficient for settlement purposes. However, we may need that doctor to testify before the jury in litigation. The defense may introduce their own witness to testify that you could work despite your injuries because there was no risk of aggravation. Of course, this tends to be less credible to a jury because that doctor should not know more about your injuries and treatment than your doctor.
All three steps are required to recover lost wages in a DC pedestrian accident claim.
Rehabilitation and Returning to Work
Doctors are not quick to excuse you from work. They will do so if they think there is an unreasonable risk of aggravation of your injury or if it will inhibit your recovery. But if they do excuse you from work, it is unlikely that it will be for longer than a couple of weeks unless it is a very severe injury. In our experience, doctors will mark you as “partially incapacitated.” Thus, your employer may be able to find you a less physically demanding task to do so you can still perform at work, get paid, and not risk aggravation of your injury.
Rehabilitation after a pedestrian accident depends on the extent and severity of the injuries. For less severe injuries, two to three months are the norm. It is normal to have soreness in the neck and back region following a blunt force injury; physical therapy and electrotherapy aid physical therapy many victims in their recovery. For worse injuries like fractures, surgery may be advisable.
Legal Assistance: Finding the Right Representation
Finding the right representation when you can’t work after a DC pedestrian accident is imperative. You should seek counsel that understands pedestrian law in Washington, D.C., while also taking a compassionate approach and understanding the difficulty of being unable to earn a salary due to an injury. When you have a family to feed and bills to pay, missing time from work for weeks can put a family in a dangerous financial situation. Fortunately, you can sometimes take steps to get these bills paid in advance of settlement. While insurance options like PIP are not always advisable in Washington, D.C., there are viable loopholes that experienced personal injury attorneys are aware of.
Ensure your legal counsel has experience. At Gelb & Gelb, P.C., our attorneys have over 70 years of experience and have handled over 10,000 personal injury cases since our founding. Contact our office today for a free, no-obligation case consultation at (202) 331-7227.