Personal injury economic damages analysis applied to personal injury litigation: methodology, deliverables, and case-specific considerations.
The integrated economic damages report brings every component of a personal injury claim into one document: past and future lost earnings, lost fringe benefits, the replacement cost of household services, and the present value of future medical and care costs from a life care plan or treating recommendations. The economist builds each component from its own records, then carries all of them to a single present value with the same worklife, life expectancy, growth, and discount assumptions, so the pieces reconcile and counsel can present the damages as a whole or by component. Contested assumptions are shown as sensitivity ranges.
An integrated economic damages report for an injured person: lost earnings and fringe benefits, lost household services, and the present value of future medical and care costs supplied by treating providers or a life care plan. One report carries every economic component to a single present value with consistent growth, discount, and life expectancy assumptions, so counsel can present the damages as a whole and the jury sees one set of numbers.
The claim typically consists of past lost earnings from the date of injury to the date of analysis, future lost earnings or reduced earning capacity across the person's expected worklife, lost fringe benefits such as employer retirement contributions and health insurance, the replacement cost of household services the person can no longer perform, and the present value of future medical and care costs when a life care plan or treating recommendations exist. The records that drive the number are tax returns, W-2s and pay stubs, personnel and union files, benefit plan documents, and the medical or work-capacity opinions that define what the person can do after the injury.
We issue the final report and provide deposition and trial testimony, rebuttal of opposing economic reports, and recalculation when the life care plan or the medical record is updated.
When the claim has more than one economic component. Household services, fringe benefits, and future care each rest on assumptions that also appear in the earnings analysis, and one report keeps those assumptions consistent. A claim limited to lost pay can be handled as a stand-alone lost earnings analysis.
The treating providers' and retained experts' opinions on work capacity and on future care. The economist prices the consequences of those opinions and does not decide what the person can do or what care is needed, and the report states which opinion each component rests on.
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