My car was parked in a parking lot at work and was backed into and damaged by a co-worker?
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My car was parked in a parking lot at work and was backed into and damaged by a co-worker?
The accident happened at 1:30am and was reported to his insurance company before 2:30am and they told me there wasn’t anything they could do until he reported it, which he did almost 14 hours later and I couldn’t get a rental car until almost 2 days later and missed 2 days of work because my car isn’t drivable. What can I do for lost wages?
Asked on December 31, 2013 under Accident Law, Pennsylvania
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 10 years ago | Contributor
You cannot recover lost wages, because they are insufficiently caused by the car accident, the other party's delay, or the insurer's action. That is, regardless of whether the insurer was arranging for, approving, paying for, etc. a rental car, you could have done any of the following: 1) borrowed a car; 2) rented a car on your own, then looked for reimbursement later; 3) gotten a ride from family member or cowork; 4) taken mass transit (e.g. a bus); 5) taken a cab. That is, there were a number of options to get into work, and you missed work because you chose to not avail yourself of any of them. That choise breaks the causal chain, and so other parties are not responsible for your lost wages.
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