Loss of career potential due to accident

[FlaRiptide]

My daughter's boyfriend is a very talented dancer. He recently moved here to Florida to pursue his career. Two days following his arrival he was involved in a vehicular accident and nearly had his toe amputated. His attorney, on contingency, is abating the medical fees while all the other legal stuff is going on.

He recently had to bow out of the "So You think You Can Dance" competition because of pain due to the auditioning. He had been given the ticket to Vegas, yet he decided it was not in his best interest to continue due to his "non-peak" ability due to the injury.

His foot will never be 100%. He will probably need to learn to deal with the pain and how to overcome this while performing.

He currently teaches dance and has many awards for dance competition.

The attorney is presently working with his insurance company re: medical bills and evidently has spoken about anything else yet.

My question is, when it comes to loss of future earnings, loss of potential, etc., etc. how is this viewed and handled by the legal system?

What may he expect in compensation? Are there limits?

I feel so sorry for this young man at the start of such a rewarding career and then for his untimely setback.

 

[Duranie]

hopefully he has an attorney. They can certaily ask for damages to cover future earnings.

 

[dee_dub]

His insurer, or a court, will assess what he might reasonably have expected to earn had he not been injured, and what he might reasonably expect to make with the injury, and calculate the difference. Naturally he is obliged to mitigate his losses.

There might in fact be no difference in earnings, if he can successfully continue to perform or if a dance teacher makes as much as a dancer. And if aspiring dancers are anything like aspiring musicians, a LOT of his future earnings will come from teaching.

 

[FlaRiptide]

Florida being a no fault state, I understand that his medical costs will be covered by his insurance and then his insurance company will go after the at fault insurance company.

From your answer I assume the same process will apply with "loss of income". I also assume that this is all determined by the what the insurer, attorney, and court view as reasonable based upon the information and documentation.

I also assume that the insurance would have a maximum limit. If expected compensation exceeded this limit a civil action would then be required.

Are my assumptions correct?

Thanks in advance dee_dub