Lost earnings analysis applied to traumatic brain injury litigation: methodology, deliverables, and case-specific considerations.
Brain injury claims often present a large lost earnings figure because cognitive and behavioral effects can end a career even when physical function returns, and a young claimant's worklife is long. The economist builds the but-for path from the earnings history or, for a young person, from occupational data for the path they were on, and compares it with a post-injury path that may be no competitive work, work only with supports, or work at a lower level. The neuropsychological and work-capacity opinions in the record define that path; the report shows the loss under each opinion when they differ and states how the total moves with residual capacity.
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, often a total loss when the person cannot return to competitive work or a partial loss when they can work only with supports or at a lower level; lost fringe benefits; the replacement cost of household services, including the supervision and management of daily affairs that family members now provide; and the present value of the care plan, which in serious injury includes attendant care, therapy, medication, and case management over a lifetime. The drivers are the earnings history, the neuropsychological and work-capacity opinions in the record, and a life care plan that specifies each item's frequency and duration.
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.
Yes. Many people return to work at reduced hours, in a lower position, or with supports that may not last. The economist compares the but-for path with the actual post-injury path and measures the gap, including lost advancement and lost benefits, over the remaining worklife, and states the assumption about how long the current arrangement continues.
From the educational path the record supports and occupational earnings data for that path, since there is no work history. The report states the education level assumed and the age at which earnings would have begun, and shows how the result changes if a different attainment level is used.
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