KW Economics prepares life care plan costing for traumatic brain injury cases venued in New Mexico: what the loss claim consists of, the records that drive it, and a present value built to New Mexico damages rules and venues. Plaintiff and defense.
A brain injury life care plan is dominated by attendant care and supervision, therapy, medication, and case management over a lifetime, and its present value is highly sensitive to the daily hours of paid help the plan specifies and the life expectancy applied. The economist carries each item forward with the medical cost growth appropriate to its category, discounts the stream over the life expectancy the medical evidence supports, and presents the total under alternative supervision levels when the plan or the record offers more than one. Every valued item ties back to the plan so counsel and the plan's author can confirm that the valuation reconciles.
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.
Two components usually dominate: future lost earnings across a long worklife for a young person, and the present value of attendant care and supervision when the plan calls for daily hours of paid help. Because the level of supervision and the person's residual work capacity are both matters of expert opinion, the report's total is highly sensitive to those inputs, and the life expectancy used for the care stream is a second source of dispute. Mild injury with persistent symptoms presents a narrower claim built on reduced hours, lost advancement, and periodic treatment.
New Mexico courts ask the trial judge to act as gatekeeper for expert testimony, examining whether the economist is qualified, whether the method is reliable and accepted in the profession, and whether it was applied reliably to the facts of the case. A damages report answers those questions by stating its assumptions and citing its sources.
Highest court: New Mexico Supreme Court. Court system: nmcourts.gov.
Federal venues: District of New Mexico.
Outside the civil courts, wage-loss disputes in workers' compensation matters proceed before the New Mexico Workers' Compensation Administration.
New Mexico measures wrongful death by the worth of the decedent's life from the decedent's own standpoint, a recovery that belongs to the estate and includes lost earnings, the value of the decedent's life apart from earnings, and the decedent's own pre-death damages, with loss of consortium brought separately by close family. Pure comparative fault reduces the award in proportion, the common-law collateral source rule applies, and prejudgment interest is discretionary and weighs each party's settlement conduct.
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 brain injury life care plan is dominated by attendant care and supervision, therapy, medication, and case management over a lifetime, and its present value is highly sensitive to the daily hours of paid help the plan specifies and the life expectancy applied. The economist carries each item forward with the medical cost growth appropriate to its category, discounts the stream over the life expectancy the medical evidence supports, and presents the total under alternative supervision levels when the plan or the record offers more than one. Every valued item ties back to the plan so counsel and the plan's author can confirm that the valuation reconciles.
New Mexico courts ask the trial judge to act as gatekeeper for expert testimony, examining whether the economist is qualified, whether the method is reliable and accepted in the profession, and whether it was applied reliably to the facts of the case. A damages report answers those questions by stating its assumptions and citing its sources. Traumatic Brain Injury cases venued in New Mexico are heard in the District Court (General jurisdiction; 13 judicial districts; all civil, criminal, and domestic matters) and the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court (Largest limited jurisdiction court; covers Albuquerque), with final appeals to the New Mexico Supreme Court. Matters within federal jurisdiction proceed in the District of New Mexico.
New Mexico measures wrongful death by the worth of the decedent's life from the decedent's own standpoint, a recovery that belongs to the estate and includes lost earnings, the value of the decedent's life apart from earnings, and the decedent's own pre-death damages, with loss of consortium brought separately by close family. Pure comparative fault reduces the award in proportion, the common-law collateral source rule applies, and prejudgment interest is discretionary and weighs each party's settlement conduct. 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 Mexico rules to a documented figure.
Request a consultation on Life Care Plan Costing or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.