When a Spinal Cord Injury Changes How You Work and Earn

Lost earning capacity is the loss of your ability to earn money over the rest of your working life. In a lost earning capacity spinal cord injury New Mexico claim, it is often one of the largest parts of the case. This page explains what it means, how it differs from missed pay, and which records usually support it.

If you’re reading this from a hospital bed, a rehab room, or a kitchen table, you’re not alone with these questions. Many people are still in treatment. Others are trying to protect a family member’s future income. Here is the basic picture, in plain terms.

What Lost Earning Capacity Means in a New Mexico Spinal Cord Injury Claim

Lost earning capacity is the reduction in what you can earn because of your injury. It looks at your whole working life, not only the paychecks you already missed.

The comparison is simple in concept. It asks what you could have earned before the crash, and what you can realistically earn now. The gap between those two pictures sits at the heart of this part of the claim.

A spinal cord injury can change work in many ways. You may lose strength, balance, grip, or stamina. Fatigue, pain, and ongoing treatment can cut into how many hours you can work. Even a person who returns to some work may have fewer jobs open to them than before.

The sections below cover past wages, future capacity, the facts that shape the loss, and the evidence used to prove it.

Past Lost Wages Versus Future Lost Earning Capacity

Past lost wages are income you lost from the day of the crash until today. Future lost earning capacity is income you may not be able to earn in the years ahead.

Past wages are usually the easier part to document. Pay stubs, W-2 forms, tax returns, and a letter from your employer can show what you earned and how much time you missed.

Future loss takes more proof. You need medical records that show lasting limits. Vocational and economic reports often help turn those limits into a work-life estimate.

Not everyone has a steady paycheck. A person who worked part-time, was self-employed, or was between jobs may need other records. Bank deposits, invoices, client lists, and prior tax filings can show earning history.

Both categories can belong to one claim. They are calculated and presented differently, but they answer the same question: what did the injury take from your income?

Factors That Shape the Loss of Earning Capacity

The size of the loss depends on the injury’s level and severity. Age, education, job skills, and work history also matter.

The spinal cord has four main regions: cervical (neck), thoracic (upper and middle back), lumbar (lower back), and sacral. The NINDS spinal cord injury page explains that nerves at each level control different parts of the body. Nerves in the neck control the arms, hands, and diaphragm. Nerves in the lower back control parts of the legs.

That difference matters for work. A job that depends on standing, lifting, or fine hand control may be harder to keep after one kind of injury than another. A desk job may depend less on those abilities, but it may still need stamina and focus.

Your career path counts too. The comparison includes the job you held on the crash day, plus the training you had finished and the path you were on.

The same injury can affect two people in very different ways. Each claim turns on its own facts.

Medical Evidence That Supports a Work-Limitation Claim

Medical records are the core proof of what a spinal cord injury keeps you from doing at work.

Start with notes from your treating doctors. Add imaging such as MRI results, plus hospital and surgical records. Imaging shows the injury, and the doctors’ notes explain what it means for your daily function.

Rehabilitation records matter too. Physical and occupational therapists often record lifting limits, how long you can stand or sit, and grip strength. Those details show what work is hard or impossible for you.

Keep a dated written log. Note symptoms, appointments, missed work, and tasks you can no longer do. Share the log with your treatment team so the details reach the medical record. Consistent records help the people reviewing your claim follow your story.

Vocational and Economic Evidence in These Claims

Vocational and economic reports turn medical limits into work and money terms.

A vocational assessment reviews your education, skills, and work history. It looks at what work remains possible given your limits. The report helps show the gap between your work before and after the injury.

An economist can calculate the present value of future lost income. Present value is the amount of money today that would cover income expected in later years. The economist starts with a work-life estimate and wage data, and explains each assumption in the report.

A life care plan lists future medical and support needs, such as therapy, equipment, and in-home help. Those needs can affect work capacity and the total cost of care.

These reports are common in serious injury cases. Whether your case needs each one depends on your injury, your work history, and the records you already have.

Who May Be Responsible for the Crash That Caused the Injury

Several people or companies may share responsibility, depending on how the crash happened.

In a car accident, the at-fault driver is the usual starting point. A vehicle owner can face a claim if they lent a car to a driver they knew or should have known was incompetent. Under DeMatteo v. Simon, that claim requires proof of entrustment, knowledge, and that the incompetence caused the injury.

Employers face different rules. Under Lessard v. Coronado Paint, the general rule is that an employer is not vicariously liable for an employee’s negligent use of a personal vehicle on the way to or from work.

Trucking crashes can involve the driver, the motor carrier, and others. Federal law directs the Secretary of Transportation to set regulations requiring minimum levels of financial responsibility, sufficient to satisfy liability amounts the Secretary sets, covering public liability, property damage, and environmental restoration for the transportation of property by motor carrier or motor private carrier in the United States between a place in a State and the other places the section lists (49 U.S.C. § 31139). For motor private carriers that must file evidence of financial responsibility, 49 U.S.C. § 31139 reads: “except that the amount of the financial responsibility must be sufficient to pay not more than the amount of the financial responsibility for each final judgment against the motor private carrier for bodily injury to, or death of, an individual resulting from negligent operation, maintenance, or use of the motor vehicle, or for loss or damage to property, or both.”

On a property, an owner or occupant owes visitors a duty of ordinary care to keep the premises safe. Under UJI 13-1318 NMRA, the owner is charged with knowledge of a condition that a reasonable inspection would have revealed, or that was caused by the owner or the owner’s employees.

The injury must also trace back to the negligence. Under Herrera v. Quality Pontiac, a proximate cause produces the injury in a natural and continuous sequence. It need not be the only cause.

How New Mexico Comparative Fault Can Affect the Amount Recovered

If you share some fault, your damages drop by your percentage, but the rule does not bar recovery (Scott v. Rizzo).

In a lost earning capacity spinal cord injury New Mexico claim, the jury works in steps. Under UJI 13-2218 NMRA, it first finds the total damages.

Where several liability applies, Section 41-3A-1 of the New Mexico Statutes provides that any defendant who establishes that someone else’s fault is a proximate cause of a plaintiff’s injury is liable only for that portion of the total dollar amount awarded as damages to the plaintiff equal to the ratio of that defendant’s fault to the total fault attributed to all persons, including plaintiffs, defendants and persons not party to the action. Joint and several liability still applies in some situations, such as intentional wrongdoing and vicarious liability.

Crash reports have limits too. If you are the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident that results in bodily injury to or death of any person, or in total property damage to an apparent extent of five hundred dollars ($500) or more, Section 66-7-207 of the New Mexico Statutes requires you to forward a written report of the accident to the department of transportation within five days after the accident. Under the accident report statute, the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident resulting in bodily injury or death, or total property damage of five hundred dollars ($500) or more, must forward a written report of the accident to the department of transportation within five days after the accident. A report is a starting point, not the whole proof.

Fault is decided on the full evidence, including witness statements, photos, and vehicle or property data.

Other Damages That Can Be Claimed Alongside Earning Capacity

Economic damages and non-economic damages can both be part of a claim that includes lost earning capacity.

Economic damages include past and future medical care, rehabilitation, adaptive equipment, and home modifications. Bills and provider records support these. Household services you can no longer perform, such as yard work or childcare, may also be claimed when documented.

Non-economic damages cover harms that bills do not measure. These include pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and the effect on family relationships.

Family members may have their own claim. Under Thompson v. City of Albuquerque, loss of consortium damages belong to the family member, not the injured person. The family member must show a mutually dependent relationship, as described in UJI 13-1810A NMRA.

Each category rests on the records and facts of your own case.

Talk With El Gringo Law About Your Situation

If you’re adjusting to new limits or caring for someone who is, this is a hard time to sort through options. You may still be in treatment, learning what your work life looks like now, or worried about a family member’s income. You don’t have to work all of that out alone.

Common Questions

Next Step

Our initial consultation is free, confidential, and comes with no obligation to continue (consulta inicial gratuita, confidencial y sin compromiso). If your crash has changed how you work or earn, you may have a claim, and our team can talk it through with you. Reach out through the El Gringo Law contact page or start a chat on elgringolaw.com.

This page is the responsibility of Josh Wood, a lawyer with El Gringo Law who is licensed in New Mexico and Arizona. Website: elgringolaw.com.