I regularly have conversations with clients about the loss they have suffered as a result of their injuries, particularly when opponents raise arguments about their claims for loss of earnings.
Defendants – and this usually means insurance companies – make much of what they usually call a client’s ‘failure to mitigate’ their loss namely that an injured person should have taken reasonable steps to try to minimise their financial losses arising from an accident.
For example, if a person is unable to pursue their normal occupation as a result of the accident, they are expected to try and find an alternative job, even though it is less well paid and a job that they might not want to do. Take the case of a skilled tradesperson who cannot perform heavy manual work due to an injury but is capable of light work. Legally they would be expected to take steps to retrain and find a job that they can reasonably do such as working in an office, a shop, a car park or elsewhere even though they might not want to take such a job. A Court would usually not allow them to remain unemployed and claim for their full lost earnings on the basis of the wages they would have received had they not been injured.
The law requires an injured person to act ‘reasonably’ after an accident, which throws up more questions than answers usually, because it is difficult to define what is and is not reasonable. This is a question I have grappled with on many occasions when explaining the law to clients and I usually advise that an injured person should consider what they physically can do, and not what they cannot. When clients start thinking about how their activities will affect their overall compensation, they often lose sight of the principle of compensation which is to put you back (as closely as possible) to where you would have been had it not been for the accident.
Injured clients should concentrate on getting their lives back as close to pre-accident normality as possible, notwithstanding that they are going to receive compensation for many reasons. If they can’t do the job they did before, then they should take advice about finding another. There are many organisations out there who can help them to decide what the next step in their career might be. As well as trying to support themselves and their dependents via a new job, even though it is less enjoyable and less well paid, working will motivate them, occupy their time and usually make them feel better. They will, of course, receive compensation to cover the difference in wages between the old job and the new one if their claims succeeds.
A Court will never criticise an injured person who does their best to get on with their life, so we always encourage injured clients to do the best they reasonably can to find another job that they can do as soon as they are well enough to start looking for one.
Financial compensation is not the only answer to an injured person’s problems, it is just the law’s way of trying to put them back in the position they were before the accident. It is for them to do the rest.
If you have suffered an injury which is preventing you from doing the job you did before, then speak to our experienced Solicitors on 0114 218 4430 or email us at P.I Dept@tayloremmet.co.uk.
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