KW Economics prepares life care plan costing for medical malpractice cases venued in Wisconsin: what the loss claim consists of, the records that drive it, and a present value built to Wisconsin damages rules and venues. Plaintiff and defense.
In a medical malpractice matter the life care plan often distinguishes the incremental care the injury requires from the care the underlying condition would have required anyway, and the present value must respect that line. The economist values the incremental items only, applies category-specific medical cost growth, and discounts the stream over the life expectancy the medical evidence supports, which may already have been reduced by the condition being treated. Where the physicians disagree on life expectancy or on which items are incremental, the report presents the present value under each scenario so the fact finder can attach the number to its finding.
Reduction of a life care plan's line items to a single present value. The plan's items, frequencies, durations, and unit costs are carried forward with medical cost growth appropriate to each category, then discounted over the applicable life expectancy. Plan authorship stays with the life care planner; our role is the economic translation of the plan into a damages figure that reconciles with the plan and can be examined item by item.
Because the underlying condition often affected work capacity or life expectancy on its own, the apportionment between the injury and the pre-existing condition is usually the most contested assumption and the one that most changes the total. In cases of permanent disability the incremental care costs and the earnings loss are both large and run across a long horizon, and the life expectancy used for each stream is a second point of contention. In delayed-diagnosis cases the loss may be measured as the difference between two outcome paths, each with its own earnings and care profile.
Wisconsin courts screen expert testimony for reliability: the judge asks whether the economist is qualified, whether the opinion rests on sufficient facts and reliable principles and methods, and whether those methods were reliably applied to the case. An economic damages report is written to that inquiry, with each rate and table traced to a published source.
Highest court: Wisconsin Supreme Court. Court system: wicourts.gov.
Federal venues: Eastern District of Wisconsin, Western District of Wisconsin.
Outside the civil courts, wage-loss disputes in workers' compensation matters proceed before the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Worker's Compensation Division.
Wisconsin pairs a wrongful death action for the beneficiaries' pecuniary injury and a limited allowance for loss of society and companionship with a survival action for the decedent's own claims. Recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault exceeds the defendant's, the common-law collateral source rule applies outside medical malpractice where evidence of collateral payments is admissible, statutory limits apply to noneconomic damages in medical malpractice claims, and interest on a verdict that beats a rejected statutory offer of settlement runs from the date of the offer.
We issue the final report and provide deposition and trial testimony, rebuttal of opposing present value opinions, and revaluation when the plan is updated.
In a medical malpractice matter the life care plan often distinguishes the incremental care the injury requires from the care the underlying condition would have required anyway, and the present value must respect that line. The economist values the incremental items only, applies category-specific medical cost growth, and discounts the stream over the life expectancy the medical evidence supports, which may already have been reduced by the condition being treated. Where the physicians disagree on life expectancy or on which items are incremental, the report presents the present value under each scenario so the fact finder can attach the number to its finding.
Wisconsin courts screen expert testimony for reliability: the judge asks whether the economist is qualified, whether the opinion rests on sufficient facts and reliable principles and methods, and whether those methods were reliably applied to the case. An economic damages report is written to that inquiry, with each rate and table traced to a published source. Medical Malpractice cases venued in Wisconsin are heard in the Circuit Court (General jurisdiction; one in each of 72 counties; all civil, criminal, family, and probate matters), with final appeals to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Matters within federal jurisdiction proceed in the Eastern District of Wisconsin and Western District of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin pairs a wrongful death action for the beneficiaries' pecuniary injury and a limited allowance for loss of society and companionship with a survival action for the decedent's own claims. Recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault exceeds the defendant's, the common-law collateral source rule applies outside medical malpractice where evidence of collateral payments is admissible, statutory limits apply to noneconomic damages in medical malpractice claims, and interest on a verdict that beats a rejected statutory offer of settlement runs from the date of the offer. The report presents past and future amounts separately, states every rate and table with its source, and shows the result under the alternatives the other side is likely to argue, so counsel can apply the Wisconsin rules to a documented figure.
Request a consultation on Life Care Plan Costing or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.