There are certain situations that impact mitigation and the following are examples of those situations:
- Alternative income after training exceeds the projected trend in pre-injury wages so there is no loss of future wages after a period of recovery and recuperation. This situation presents itself when the plaintiff was earning minimum wage or employed in an unskilled position prior to the event.
- Return to work date is not known at the date of trial. In some wrongful termination cases, for example, the plaintiff may not have found another job or found one paying a wage much lower than abilities and past experience would suggest. Damages in such a situation are difficult to pinpoint so the forensic expert may wish to offer an array of damages estimates each associated with a different length of time not working or working well-below expected future earnings.
- Return to work may involve transitioning from working for a company to becoming self-employed or starting a new business. In such a situation, the forensic accountant may consider a period of no work compared to a past job and a period of future work in which the future involves a comparison between what would have been earned with a new business versus what could actually have been earned due to the injury.
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