Traumatic Brain Injury Economic Damages Expert in Florida

By Christopher Skerritt, M.Ed., MBA, Chief of Economic Services · Published · Reviewed

KW Economics prepares economic damages analyses for traumatic brain injury cases venued in Florida: the components the loss claim consists of, the records that drive them, and a present value built to Florida's damages rules and venues. Plaintiff and defense.

A traumatic brain injury economic claim measures the earnings, benefits, and household contributions the injury has taken away and reduces the care plan to present value, with the supervision hours and the residual work capacity stated so they can be tested. Read the full traumatic brain injury analysis guide.

Florida courts and expert standards

Florida courts apply a reliability inquiry to expert testimony: the judge asks whether the economist is qualified, whether the opinion rests on sufficient facts and on reliable principles and methods, and whether those methods were applied reliably to the facts of the case. A damages report is written to that standard, with each rate and table traced to a published source.

Where these cases are heard

Highest court: Florida Supreme Court. Federal venues: N.D. Fla., M.D. Fla., S.D. Fla. Court system: flcourts.gov.

Outside the civil courts, wage-loss disputes in workers' compensation matters proceed before the Florida Division of Workers' Compensation.

Damages framework

Florida's Wrongful Death Act gives each survivor a claim for lost support and services and gives the estate a claim for the decedent's lost net accumulations, an expressly economic concept that the economist projects from the decedent's earnings, consumption, and savings pattern. Awards are reduced by collateral-source payments unless the source holds a subrogation right, recovery is barred in most negligence actions once the plaintiff is found more at fault than the defendants, and prejudgment interest is generally not awarded on personal injury or wrongful death damages.

How the analysis is built

The same four steps apply to a traumatic brain injury case venued in Florida; the damages framework above decides which components enter the total.

  1. Establish the but-for earnings path from the person's history or, for a young person, from occupational data for the path they were on.
  2. Draw the post-injury path from actual earnings and the work-capacity opinions in the record, and measure the earnings gap over the remaining worklife.
  3. Value household services and family supervision from time-use data and local rates, and price the care plan item by item with medical cost growth.
  4. Discount every future stream to present value at a stated rate and show the total under each supervision and work-capacity scenario.

Attorney guides for traumatic brain injury cases

Other case types in Florida

Frequently asked: traumatic brain injury cases in Florida

Which Florida courts hear traumatic brain injury cases?

Traumatic Brain Injury cases venued in Florida are heard in the Circuit Court (General jurisdiction; larger civil cases, felonies, family law, probate). Final appeals run to the Florida Supreme Court. Matters within federal jurisdiction proceed in the United States District Courts for the Northern District of Florida, Middle District of Florida, and Southern District of Florida.

How does Florida's damages framework shape the economic analysis?

Florida's Wrongful Death Act gives each survivor a claim for lost support and services and gives the estate a claim for the decedent's lost net accumulations, an expressly economic concept that the economist projects from the decedent's earnings, consumption, and savings pattern. Awards are reduced by collateral-source payments unless the source holds a subrogation right, recovery is barred in most negligence actions once the plaintiff is found more at fault than the defendants, and prejudgment interest is generally not awarded on personal injury or wrongful death damages. Florida courts apply a reliability inquiry to expert testimony: the judge asks whether the economist is qualified, whether the opinion rests on sufficient facts and on reliable principles and methods, and whether those methods were applied reliably to the facts of the case. A damages report is written to that standard, with each rate and table traced to a published source.

More questions about traumatic brain injury analysis

References

Request a consultation on traumatic brain injury cases in Florida or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.