In Missouri, if you’ve been in a car accident and lost wages from work because of your injuries, you can pursue financial compensation from the at-fault driver’s insurance company. Damages you can pursue includes both wages already lost from work and potential future loss of earning capacity if your injuries prevent you from working.
Here are the steps you need to take to recover lost wages from work after a car accident in Missouri.
Proving Lost Wages Were Because of the Accident
Insurance companies will do whatever they can to avoid paying claims. This means that in order for your case to be successful, you must be able to offer conclusive proof of your lost wages.
To do so, our experienced Missouri car accident attorneys will gather evidence that establishes both of the following:
- The other driver’s responsibility for your injuries
- The dollar value of your lost wages
There are many different types of evidence that can establish the other driver’s fault:
- Surveillance camera or dashcam footage of the accident
- Police reports
- Statements from witnesses
- Photos and videos of the accident scene
- Testimony from accident reconstruction experts
- Medical records
- Testimony from your medical providers
Establishing the other driver’s fault is an important part of the picture. However, even if the insurance company doesn’t dispute the fact that someone else caused your injuries, it’s very likely to challenge the value of your lost wages.
Proving the value of lost wages from work after a car accident in Missouri will depend on how you generate income. If you work for an employer, timecards and W-2 forms could be enough. However, if you are self-employed, you might need more extensive documentation. These are some of the income records personal injury attorneys commonly use:
- W-2s, 1099s, and other tax forms
- Income tax returns
- Employment contracts
- Bank records
- Profit and loss statements
Assembling proof of lost wages can be complex. However, your lawyer will be able to discuss your situation with you and come up with a plan.
Calculating Lost Wages After a Car Accident
To determine how much you’re owed in lost wages, your attorney will calculate the income you would have earned if not for the accident. Your employment records and/or statements from your employer can be helpful.
Calculating lost wages from work after a car accident in Missouri isn’t always complex. However, if your injuries are so catastrophic that they will impact your future ability to earn money, you may also be compensated for lost earning capacity.
Determining the value of future lost wages isn’t always straightforward, so your lawyer will likely hire an economist or labor market expert. The expert will generally use the following factors when making the calculation:
- Your anticipated retirement age
- Your current age and general health
- Your skills and experience
- Your career trajectory up to this point
- Missed opportunities for raises and promotions
- Anticipated inflation rates
- The general economic outlook for your industry
How Lost Earning Capacity Covers Future Financial Losses
Total and Permanent Disability
The amount of compensation you may receive depends on your level of disability. If your injuries prevent you from returning to work at all, your future lost earnings are based on what you likely would have made over the rest of your career.
Future earnings are estimated through retirement age—usually 65 or 67. A jury will consider things like your age, the kind of work you did, and your work history to figure out how long you likely would have stayed on the job.
Partial Disability or Career Change
If your injuries limit your future earning capacity but you are still able to work, you might recover the difference between the two. For example, imagine you make $100,000 per year as an engineer. You suffer a serious traumatic brain injury that impairs your cognitive functioning.
Because you can no longer work as an engineer, you take a job at a grocery store making $40,000 per year. In this case, you may be compensated $60,000 — the difference between those salaries — for each remaining year of your working life.
Missed Opportunities for Advancement
Some injuries don’t stop you from working, but they limit your ability to grow in your career. A person who once had a clear path toward promotions or raises may no longer be viewed as a candidate for advancement—especially if their performance is affected or they require ongoing medical leave.
Over time, this stalled progress can lead to significant financial loss.
How These Claims Are Evaluated
Juries and insurance companies look at the life you were building before the accident. They consider things like your job history, age, skills, and the typical path someone in your field might follow.
While there’s no perfect formula, the goal is to understand how the injury changed not just what you earn now, but what you could have earned in the future.
Self-Employed Individuals
Calculating lost income is frequently more difficult for freelancers, business owners, and independent contractors. Unlike salaried employees, there may not be a steady paycheck to refer to. In most circumstances, you’ll need to rely on previous financial data to determine your average earnings.
Documents such as tax returns, bank statements, and customer invoices can assist you in determining your average income. Once you’ve established a baseline, you can calculate the financial impact by multiplying your average daily or weekly wages by the number of workdays lost due to your injury and rehabilitation.
If your income varies month to month—or if you were in the process of growing your business—there may be added complexities in calculating the full picture. In those situations, it can be helpful to work with a Missouri personal injury attorney who specializes in car accident claims who understands how to value nontraditional income fairly and accurately.
When You Lose Your Job
If you were injured in a Missouri car accident and lost your job as a result, you may have the right to recover the income you’ve missed. Missouri follows a fault-based insurance system, which means you don’t automatically file with your own insurance for lost wages like you would in a no-fault state.
Instead, you seek compensation from the liability coverage of the at-fault driver, which, according to Missouri law, must provide a minimum of $25,000 per person for bodily injury.
Losing your job due to an accident-related injury doesn’t eliminate your right to wage reimbursement. In fact, it strengthens your claim. If your doctor confirms that you were physically unable to return to work—and that’s why you were let go—that income loss is compensable.
To support your claim, you’ll need strong documentation: pay stubs, a letter from your employer, tax records, and medical documentation outlining your restrictions.
If the other driver isn’t insured or doesn’t have enough coverage, your own UM/UIM policy can cover the gap. In Missouri, this type of coverage is required by law. Although you’re using your own policy, you still must prove fault and document your losses as you would in a third-party claim.
Filing a Lawsuit for Lost Wages in Missouri
There are many situations where you can go beyond an insurance claim and file a personal injury lawsuit to recover lost wages—especially if your injury is serious enough to force you out of work permanently or long-term. A civil lawsuit can often result in more complete financial recovery because there is no limit to the amount of lost revenue that can be recovered.
Missouri allows injury victims to file a negligence lawsuit in most motor vehicle cases, unless the injury occurred on the job (in which case workers’ compensation applies). If someone else’s careless or reckless behavior caused your crash and your injury forced you to stop working, a lawsuit may be the most effective way to seek full compensation—not just for missed paychecks, but also for future lost earning capacity.
Missouri, unlike several other states, does not limit court access through a no-fault system. That is, if your losses are considerable and well-documented, you have the right to seek full compensation, either through an insurance settlement or in court.
Schedule a Free Consult With Our Missouri Auto Accident Law Firm
At Beck & Beck Missouri Car Accident Lawyers, we’ve dedicated our practice to helping people across the state recover after serious auto accidents. If your injuries have cost you time at work—or forced you out of a job entirely—we’re here to help you pursue the compensation you deserve.
Losing income after an accident can put everything on hold—your bills, your plans, your peace of mind. That’s why we handle the legal work so you don’t have to. That includes collecting proof of your lost wages, dealing with the insurance company, and going to court if needed.
Our goal is simple: help you recover what the accident took from you and give you the support to move forward.
For 35+ years, our award-winning legal team has helped car accident victims across the state of Missouri in cities including O’Fallon, Jefferson City, St. Louis, Kansas City, Independence, Springfield, Florissant, Pine Lawn, Doniphan, and more. Contact us today for a free consultation.
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