Lost earnings analysis applied to spinal cord injury litigation: methodology, deliverables, and case-specific considerations.
A spinal cord injury usually ends the prior occupation, so the lost earnings analysis turns on whether the record supports any post-injury earnings at all and, if so, at what level and after what delay. The economist projects the but-for path from the earnings history and occupational data over a worklife expectancy with wage growth, and sets against it a post-injury path of no earnings, reduced earnings, or earnings after retraining as the work-capacity opinions support. Lost fringe benefits are valued from plan documents or published employer cost data, and the full gap is discounted to present value over the remaining worklife.
Past and future lost earnings and fringe benefits for a person whose injury has removed them from work or reduced what they can earn. The analysis builds from the earnings history, projects the but-for path over the person's expected worklife with wage growth, and discounts the future stream to present value. When the person can still work in a reduced capacity, the loss is framed as diminished earning capacity, with the post-injury path drawn from a vocational opinion or the treating record and offset against the but-for projection.
The claim consists of lost earnings and earning capacity, measured as a total loss when the person cannot return to work or as the gap between the prior path and a sedentary or part-time alternative when they can; lost fringe benefits; the replacement value of household services across the person's life; and the present value of the life care plan, which for spinal cord injury is dominated by attendant care, wheelchair and equipment replacement cycles, supplies, home and vehicle modifications, and periodic hospitalization for complications. The drivers are the earnings and benefit history, the work-capacity opinions in the record, and a life care plan with frequencies and replacement intervals stated for each item.
We issue the final report in disclosure-ready form and provide deposition and trial testimony, rebuttal of opposing economic opinions, and updated calculations as new records arrive.
Where the record supports it, yes. The post-injury path can include earnings from sedentary or remote work after a training period, with a delay for the training and a wage level drawn from occupational data. The remaining gap between that path and the but-for path is the loss, and the report shows the result with and without the retraining scenario.
It sets the horizon. The economist applies the worklife and life expectancy the medical evidence supports and, where physicians disagree, presents the loss under each so the fact finder can attach the number to its finding rather than to a population average.
Request a consultation on Lost Earnings or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.