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Calculating Lost Wages in a Virginia Injury Lawsuit4 min read

Stephen Smith

by | Nov 26, 2019

 

Injuries are painful and traumatic. As well as the pain and discomfort, the victim can suffer a serious loss of income in the form of wages and other benefits. You may not be paid for the time you are at the hospital or you may lose your job. A Virginia personal injury lawyer will calculate lost future and past wages in a Virginia injury lawsuit.

People who were injured due to the negligence of another party can seek lost wages in their personal injury claim. These damages should include money you lose in salary, fringe benefits, bonuses, or any other compensation you can no longer earn due to your injury.

If, for example, you are a private contractor such as a rideshare driver who is injured due to the fault of another motorist, you may no longer be able to go out on the road. The at-fault driver can be held liable for your lost income.

Calculating lost wages in a Virginia injury lawsuit is no straightforward task. If you attempt to do it without the help of a professional, you may lose out.

Our Hampton-based injury lawyers have helped people who lost wages through injuries since the 1940s. Many of the people we represent suffered serious head injuries. Often, they had to relinquish their jobs altogether or take a lesser paying job due to the fault of another person or business. Please contact us today over lost wages.

How to Calculate Lost Wages in a Virginia Injury Lawsuit

An attorney who files a personal injury lawsuit is faced with many complicated considerations. It’s more straightforward to calculate lost wages than other items like pain and suffering. However, calculating future lost earnings is more complicated and may involve input from economic experts.

Lost wages in a personal injury claim cover:

  1. Any earnings the injured party lost due to his or her inability to work in their chosen field.
  2. Any loss of future earnings or decrease in your earning capacity.

What is the Situation When a Virginia Employer Gives You Sick Pay?

Even if your employer gave you sick pay while you were recovering from the injury, you are entitled to seek damages for lost wages. It’s unfair that an injured person should use up their sick pay due to the fault of a party who injured them.

You may claim damages for lost or diminished earning capacity if another person’s negligence left you with a permanent injury that means you can no longer do the type of work your training and education prepared you for.

If, for example, you were training to be an architect but ended up working in a store because of a brain injury, you should be compensated for lost income.

What Other Wage-Related Items Can You Make a Claim For in a Lawsuit?

A claim for lost wages goes over and above a worker’s base salary. It can include:

  • Bonuses
  • Commissions
  • Likely salary increases, raises based on merit, and cost of living increases
  • Retirement fund contributions and money your employer adds to a pension
  • Overtime benefits
  • Additional compensation linked to performance that was available before your accident
  • Compensation for lost advancement opportunities

What To Do If You Require Time Off Work After an Accident

If your doctor tells you time off work is necessary after your injury, ask the medical professional how long you should remain out of work in order to fully heal.  Make sure the doctor puts this information in writing and signs it. Insurance companies will often seek to reduce lost work claims post-injury. Ask the doctor to keep a copy in your medical file. You should keep a copy as well.

Talk to your employer early on about time lost from work. Find out how much money you will lose if you follow the doctor’s recommendation.

Ensure your boss gives you a written indication of how much money you will lose by taking time off work.

Talk to a Virginia Personal Injury Lawyer about Lost Wages

At the Smith Law Center, our experienced team will calculate lost wages as well as all other aspects of an injury claim like pain and suffering. We can also help you to make a workers’ compensation claim. We know how stressful the loss of income, emotional toll and pain of an injury is to an accident victim and we will help you recover as much as possible. Please call us today for a free consultation at (757) 244-7000.

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If you or a relative had a severe reaction to military housing mold, it might be time to talk with a toxic mold lawyer. Mold is everywhere, and can be dangerous. Researchers have linked mold to serious respiratory illnesses in some individuals.

Smith Law Center may be able to help if a property owner failed to keep you safe from mold in your military housing. We are one of Virginia’s oldest and most successful firms. We know how to hold negligent property owners responsible, especially when the military is involved.

Call us at (757) 244-700 or contact us online to set up a free consultation. There’s no fee for learning more about Virginia mold laws, your rights, and your legal options.

Mold in Military Housing

Black mold in military housing became widely known when Reuters published an investigation in 2018. Since then, the Department of Defense and the housing providers were supposed to take steps to improve the situation.

Unfortunately, a 2020 audit by the DoD Office of Inspector General found many issues, including the need for mold remediation, still persist.

Monetary Awards in Military Housing Toxic Mold Cases

If the property owner lets toxic mold run wild and continue to cause you harm, talk with our toxic mold attorneys about filing a lawsuit.

You may receive financial compensation for:

Service members and their families do not receive different types of damages than civilians. These are civil lawsuits in traditional courts of law.

Military Housing Mold Toxicity Symptoms

The Institute of Medicine discovered there was evidence connecting exposure to indoor mold with:

  • Upper respiratory tract symptoms;
  • Coughing;
  • Wheezing;
  • Asthma symptoms in individuals with asthma; and
  • Hypersensitivity pneumonitis in individuals with weak immune systems.

There is also limited evidence that mold causes respiratory illnesses in healthy children or causes people to develop asthma.

Understanding Exposure to Toxic Mold in Military Housing

The topic of toxic mold is complicated. This Is in part because the term “toxic mold” isn’t accurate. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains mold isn’t toxic or poisonous. However, some molds are toxigenic, which means they produce toxins called mycotoxins.

Mold is common in military housing because it’ll grow anywhere there’s moisture. That includes on and inside walls, carpet, upholstery, wallpaper, and heating and air conditioning systems. This is especially pronounced in humid conditions such as those present in Virginia.

Some people have no difficulties around mold, even large infestations in their homes. Other individuals are sensitive to molds, including those that produce mycotoxins. Someone can have a severe reaction when exposed to a large amount of mold indoors.

People may be more likely to experience mold toxicity symptoms if they have:

  • Allergies,
  • An underlying lung disease,
  • Immune suppression,
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder,
  • Asthma, or
  • Another chronic respiratory disease.

Common Types of Military Housing Mold

When you’re trying to learn more from the CDC and other resources, you’ll see the word “fungus” a lot. Mold is a type of fungus, which is something that exists all around us. Fungi are living organisms different from animals, plants, and bacteria. There are over 200,000 types of fungi and over 100,000 types of molds.

If you discovered mold in your military housing, it could be Cladosporium, Penicillium, Stachybotrys chartarum, Aspergillus, or many other types. Stachybotrys is what everyone knows as black mold. Aspergillus is a common indoor fungus, which releases mycotoxins and can cause illness. Your symptoms may resemble common allergy or asthma symptoms.

Who is Liable for Military Housing Mold?

Since 1996, most military housing has come under the management of private companies:

  • Belfour Beatty Communities: Fort Eustis and Fort Story/li>
  • Lincoln Military Housing: Dahlgren, Little Creek, Naval Station Norfolk, Northwest Annex, Oceana, Portsmouth, Quantico, and Yorktown/li>
  • Hunt Military Communities: Fort Lee and Langley AFB

Outside of Virginia, Lendlease and Corvias Military Living are two more housing providers. Together, these five companies formed the Military Housing Association.

Military families living in on-base housing must take their complaints to their private management company — not the military. The company is responsible for providing habitable conditions and making repairs, including mold remediation.

If you’re unsure about your rights, review your state law and local ordinances about mold. In general, it’s the landlord’s responsibility to provide a habitable unit, which means it has to be safe to live in. A unit isn’t safe if it’s causing a tenant health issues due to mold.

The Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act requires landlords to disclose if there’s mold in the written report of the move-in inspection. If a tenant discovers visible mold in the unit, then the Act requires the landlord to remove the mold and relocate the tenant until it’s gone at no additional cost to the tenant.

Unfortunately, many families find their housing providers aren’t receptive to complaints. Attorney Stephen M. Smith has handled many mold lawsuits against military housing providers who fail to abide by their lease terms and the law when it comes to mold remediation and other hazards.

Other Hazards in Military Housing

Many service members and their families deal with uncomfortable, if not hazardous, conditions in privatized military housing, including:

Lead Paint: Lead-based paint can cause headaches, nausea, fatigue, irritability, behavioral problems, learning disabilities, seizures, organ damage, and in extreme cases, death.

Asbestos: Exposure to asbestos harms a person’s lungs, and can lead to lung fibrosis (scarring), lung cancer, and mesothelioma.

Radon: Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking. It naturally forms underground, however cracks and gaps in buildings lead to over-exposure indoors.

Poor Water Quality: Dozens of military sites have water with detectable levels of harmful chemicals.

Other issues involve rodent or insect infestations, pesticides, and faulty electrical wiring.

What Happens When a Lot of People Get Sick?

Sometimes mold exposure impacts a single individual or family. However, when the mold spreads throughout military housing, it can impact hundreds or thousands of people.

Occasionally, a large enough group of people are injured to allow for a class action or mass tort lawsuit. A class action lawsuit is one where a class representative acts as the plaintiff on behalf of the group of hurt individuals. Not every victim participates in the lawsuit. There are rules about when a group is big and similar enough to create a class action.

Mass tort lawsuits are different. When there are fewer plaintiffs who have their own set of circumstances, each person files a lawsuit. For efficiency’s sake, one or a couple of law firms may represent most plaintiffs, and the lawsuits are consolidated in a federal court.

Call the Military Housing Mold Lawyers at Smith Law Center for Help Right Away

Mold cases come about in a few ways. You or a loved one may start getting sick, and after weeks or months of struggling to find answers, you finally realize your military housing has a mold infestation. In other cases, you struggle with visible mold and then become ill.

Once you connect the illness with the mold, it’s time to talk with a toxic mold lawyer. Reaching out to an attorney early helps you build a strong compensation claim. We know how to collect evidence, identify who is liable, and craft a successful argument for a settlement or court award.

Attorney Stephen M. Smith has decades of experience handling injury claims and has been internationally recognized for his work. He has litigated cases involving catastrophic injuries and complex legal and scientific issues. In 2019, he was inducted into the Virginia Lawyers Hall of Fame.

You’re in good hands when you come to Smith Law Center for help. Reach out online or call (757) 244-7000 to schedule your 100% free consultation.

Military Housing Mold Lawsuits: FAQs

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We are one of Virginia’s largest and most successful law firms.

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Use the simple form below to send a message directly to our lawyers. We will respond within 1 hour or less during business hours.

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