KW Economics prepares life care plan costing for spinal cord injury cases venued in New Hampshire: what the loss claim consists of, the records that drive it, and a present value built to New Hampshire 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.
New Hampshire courts screen expert testimony for reliability under a statutory standard: 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. A damages report is written to that inquiry, with every rate and table traced to a published source.
Highest court: New Hampshire Supreme Court. Court system: courts.state.nh.us.
Federal venues: District of New Hampshire.
Outside the civil courts, wage-loss disputes in workers' compensation matters proceed before the New Hampshire Department of Labor, Workers' Compensation Division.
New Hampshire treats a death claim as the decedent's own action carried on by the estate: recovery includes the decedent's pain and suffering, medical and funeral expenses, and the probable duration of life and the capacity to earn money lost by the death, with limited separate allowances for a surviving spouse's and children's loss of comfort and society. Recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault exceeds the combined fault of the defendants, the common-law collateral source rule applies, and interest on the award runs from the filing of the writ.
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.
New Hampshire courts screen expert testimony for reliability under a statutory standard: 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. A damages report is written to that inquiry, with every rate and table traced to a published source. Spinal Cord Injury cases venued in New Hampshire are heard in the Superior Court (General jurisdiction; civil cases with jury trials, felonies), with final appeals to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Matters within federal jurisdiction proceed in the District of New Hampshire.
New Hampshire treats a death claim as the decedent's own action carried on by the estate: recovery includes the decedent's pain and suffering, medical and funeral expenses, and the probable duration of life and the capacity to earn money lost by the death, with limited separate allowances for a surviving spouse's and children's loss of comfort and society. Recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault exceeds the combined fault of the defendants, the common-law collateral source rule applies, and interest on the award runs from the filing of the writ. 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 New Hampshire rules to a documented figure.
Request a consultation on Life Care Plan Costing or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.