An injured person claiming compensation from a negligent third party may claim under various headings including pain and suffering, medical expenses, transport expenses, loss of or damage to property.

Another item which can be important is loss of past or future earnings :-

PAST EARNINGS

This relates to a situation where the claimant suffers short term loss of earnings because he has been unable to work, or has had to work on a reduced basis whilst recovering from his injuries. This claim will be assessed by comparing typical pre-accident earnings with actual post accident earnings.

The loss of earnings may be total if the employee receives no income whilst absent from work or partial if the employee receives some pay or sickness/DSS benefit. Where the employee receives only basic pay whilst absent, there may be a possible claim for loss of overtime if it can be established satisfactorily that the opportunity to earn overtime would have existed.

FUTURE EARNINGS

Loss of future earnings would be claimed in more serious cases where the injuries are such that the claimant is unable to work at all in the future, or would have to work in a reduced capacity, or would have to take on a different and less well paid job. Loss of future earnings cannot be assessed in the same way as past earnings and are therefore more difficult to quantify.

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