Loss of Competitive Advantage (LOCA)

Sustained an injury?  Work performance affected?  Lost future career opportunities as a result?  If so, you deserve some good news.  You may be entitled to claim damages for your loss of competitive advantage (LOCA).

What is the Loss of Competitive Advantage (LOCA)?

The loss of competitive advantage (LOCA) is also known as the loss of future earning capacity.  Obviously, injuries may cause you lots of pain.  Yet not so obvious is the suffering that continues as you watch yourself being replaced by other equally capable candidates, or even by people with lower levels of skill, education, or qualifications than you, all because of your injury!  Fortunately, LOCA damages may be available to compensate you for the loss of your ability to compete in the work field.

How Much Would I Receive from a Successful LOCA Claim?

To claim damages for your loss of competitive advantage (LOCA), you must provide relevant evidence (medical results, past income tax return, employment profile, etc.) to prove there is a reasonable chance that you will incur future income loss.[1]  If your claim is successful, you will be entitled to LOCA damages.

The LOCA damages can be calculated with two methods: the ballpark approach and the annualized income loss approach.  The ballpark approach provides you a lump sum amount after considering how your ability to compete for employment is impaired.[2]  It considers all the evidence specific to your circumstance.[3]  Generally, the LOCA damages under this approach is awarded within the range of $50,000 to $100,000.[4]  In Ontario, the highest LOCA damages awarded amounted to $400,000 in the St. Prix-Alexander case in 2007.[5]

Alternatively, the annualized income loss approach compensates you for the total loss of your future income until your expected recovery time or expected retirement year.[6]  This approach bases its calculation on your current annual income; it assumes that the annual income you earn now equals the annual income you will lose in the future.[7]  For example, Landscaper A was injured in a car accident today.  Her current annual income is $35,000.  She expects to retire in 10 years.  She resumed work despite her injury, but her reduced work performance would continue until her retirement.  Also, she could no longer compete for similar landscaper positions in the future.  Landscaper A’s LOCA damages would be $350,000 ($35,000 current annual income x 10 years of loss in future earning capacity).  This approach is especially favourable for high wage-earners who lost future career opportunities because of their injury.[8]

Injuries occur everyday.  Possible damages are also not limited to the LOCA.  If you or anyone you know sustained injury, no need to burden yourself with more legal complexities, simply leave the law to Shafouri Law Firm.  We take your case, you take a breath, and always remember this:

 

“If you were deceived by life, don’t be dismal, don’t be wild!

In the day of grief, be mild: the better days will arrive, believe!”[9]

 

If your life is affected by personal injury,

don’t give up on your entitled benefits, don’t lose your chance to seek damages!

Hesitate no more, contact Shafouri Law:

We will help you to claim all the benefits and damages you deserve!

 

[1] Schrump et al. v. Koot et al., 1977 CanLII 1332 (ON CA)

[2] Earl v. Lang, 1999 CanLII 18660 (ON CA)

[3] Ibid.

[4]  Thomson Rogers Personal Injury Lawyers, Your Advantage – Loss of Competitive Advantage (Ontario Trial Lawyers Association’s 2017 Spring Conference, 2017)

< https://www.thomsonrogers.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/wmm-your-advantage-loss-of-competitive-advantage-april-2017.pdf> accessed September 27, 2018.

[5] St-Prix-Alexander v. Home Depot of Canada Inc., 2008 CanLII 115 (ON SC)

[6] Thomson Rogers Personal Injury Lawyers, supra.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Alexander Pushkin, If by life you were deceived, (1825) accessed, and modified September 27, 2018.

 

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  • Written by our Student-at-Law, Cynthia Yan

 

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