Life care plan costing applied to motor vehicle accident litigation: methodology, deliverables, and case-specific considerations.
After a catastrophic crash the present value of the life care plan can exceed the earnings loss, and the attendant care, equipment, and future surgery items in the plan drive the total. The economist reduces the plan to present value with category-specific medical cost growth over the life expectancy the medical evidence supports, presents the total under alternative care scenarios where the plan offers them, and states every assumption so the valuation can be examined item by item. Because policy limits often frame the practical range, the report shows the plan's present value by category so counsel can evaluate settlement against the components that carry the most weight.
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.
The claim is made up of past lost earnings while the person was out of work, future lost earnings or reduced earning capacity where the injury limits the work the person can return to, lost fringe benefits, the replacement cost of household services during recovery and afterward, and the present value of future care costs when a life care plan or treating recommendations exist. For a fatal crash the analysis becomes a wrongful death loss to the survivors. The drivers are the earnings and benefit history, the employer's records on the period out of work and any accommodation, and the medical and work-capacity opinions in the record.
We issue the final report and provide deposition and trial testimony, rebuttal of opposing present value opinions, and revaluation when the plan is updated.
Attendant care where the plan specifies daily hours, equipment on replacement cycles, and any future surgeries or hospitalizations with their associated therapy. The report shows the present value by category so the drivers are visible.
From yields on low-risk instruments matched to the horizon of the care stream, applied consistently with the medical cost growth rates so the net relationship between growth and discounting is stated. Where the venue applies a convention, the report follows it and says so.
Request a consultation on Life Care Plan Costing or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.