KW Economics prepares life care plan costing for spinal cord injury cases venued in Guam: what the loss claim consists of, the records that drive it, and a present value built to Guam damages rules and venues. Plaintiff and defense.
A spinal cord injury life care plan carries attendant care, wheelchair and equipment replacement cycles, supplies, home and vehicle modifications, and periodic hospitalization for complications, each with its own frequency, replacement interval, and cost category. The economist schedules each replacement at the interval the plan specifies, grows each item at the rate appropriate to its category, discounts the stream over the life expectancy the medical evidence supports, and presents home-based and facility-based care scenarios when the plan offers both. The report lists the replacement schedule so counsel can see how many cycles the horizon contains.
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 present value of attendant care over a lifetime is usually the largest figure, followed by future lost earnings for a person injured early in a working life. Equipment costs recur on replacement cycles and are sensitive to the cost growth rate applied, and home and vehicle modifications add one-time and recurring items. Because the level of injury determines attendant care hours and the person's capacity for alternative work, the report's total moves with those inputs, and the life expectancy the medical evidence supports sets the horizon for every stream.
Guam's rules of evidence follow the federal model for expert testimony: the court 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 answers that inquiry by naming its data sources and tying each input to the record.
Highest court: Supreme Court of Guam.
Federal venues: District Court of Guam.
Outside the civil courts, wage-loss disputes in workers' compensation matters proceed before the Guam Department of Labor, Workers' Compensation Commission.
Guam's wrongful death action, patterned on California's, is brought for the heirs' losses, and the decedent's own pre-death claims survive to the estate; claims against the government proceed under a separate claims act with its own procedures. Comparative fault reduces recovery in proportion, and the treatment of collateral-source payments and prejudgment interest follows Guam's own statutes and case law, which counsel should confirm for the specific claim.
We issue the final report and provide deposition and trial testimony, rebuttal of opposing present value opinions, and revaluation when the plan is updated.
A spinal cord injury life care plan carries attendant care, wheelchair and equipment replacement cycles, supplies, home and vehicle modifications, and periodic hospitalization for complications, each with its own frequency, replacement interval, and cost category. The economist schedules each replacement at the interval the plan specifies, grows each item at the rate appropriate to its category, discounts the stream over the life expectancy the medical evidence supports, and presents home-based and facility-based care scenarios when the plan offers both. The report lists the replacement schedule so counsel can see how many cycles the horizon contains.
Guam's rules of evidence follow the federal model for expert testimony: the court 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 answers that inquiry by naming its data sources and tying each input to the record. Spinal Cord Injury cases venued in Guam are heard in the Superior Court of Guam (General jurisdiction trial court for local civil and criminal matters), with final appeals to the Supreme Court of Guam. Matters within federal jurisdiction proceed in the District Court of Guam.
Guam's wrongful death action, patterned on California's, is brought for the heirs' losses, and the decedent's own pre-death claims survive to the estate; claims against the government proceed under a separate claims act with its own procedures. Comparative fault reduces recovery in proportion, and the treatment of collateral-source payments and prejudgment interest follows Guam's own statutes and case law, which counsel should confirm for the specific claim. 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 Guam rules to a documented figure.
Request a consultation on Life Care Plan Costing or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.