KW Economics prepares life care plan costing for traumatic brain injury cases venued in Vermont: what the loss claim consists of, the records that drive it, and a present value built to Vermont 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.
Vermont trial judges act as gatekeepers for expert testimony and ask 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 that inquiry by tying each input to the record and naming its published sources.
Highest court: Vermont Supreme Court. Court system: vermontjudiciary.org.
Federal venues: District of Vermont.
Outside the civil courts, wage-loss disputes in workers' compensation matters proceed before the Vermont Department of Labor, Workers' Compensation Division.
Vermont provides a wrongful death action, brought by the personal representative for the pecuniary injuries to the spouse and next of kin, which the courts read to include the loss of the decedent's companionship and care, alongside a survival action for the decedent's own claims. Recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault exceeds the combined fault of the defendants, the common-law collateral source rule applies, and prejudgment interest is generally awarded only on liquidated sums or in the court's discretion.
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.
Vermont trial judges act as gatekeepers for expert testimony and ask 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 that inquiry by tying each input to the record and naming its published sources. Traumatic Brain Injury cases venued in Vermont are heard in the Superior Court (General jurisdiction; civil, criminal, family, and probate divisions in each county), with final appeals to the Vermont Supreme Court. Matters within federal jurisdiction proceed in the District of Vermont.
Vermont provides a wrongful death action, brought by the personal representative for the pecuniary injuries to the spouse and next of kin, which the courts read to include the loss of the decedent's companionship and care, alongside a survival action for the decedent's own claims. Recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault exceeds the combined fault of the defendants, the common-law collateral source rule applies, and prejudgment interest is generally awarded only on liquidated sums or in the court's discretion. 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 Vermont rules to a documented figure.
Request a consultation on Life Care Plan Costing or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.