We calculate economic damages that address lost earnings and benefits for both plaintiffs and defendants.  These damages are common in cases including personal injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death.  These calculations consider economic factors, including (but not limited to) the following:

  1. Future earnings and earnings growth
  2. Value of employment benefits
  3. Expected work life
  4. Present value discounts for future earnings/benefits
  5. Value of lost household services/contributions
  6. Personal consumption factors
  7. Income tax impact (when/if applicable)

It is common in personal injury cases (such as catastrophic injury cases) to have expected future medical costs as part of a damages claim.  These costs may be included in a life care plan.  To properly account for these future costs, they should be reduced to present value.  Fulcrum routinely performs present value calculations of future medical costs (aka present value of life care plan).

Representative Projects

Our personnel have performed hundreds of personal injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death damage calculations.  A sampling of our experience includes:

  • Calculated past and future lost earnings associated with a popular rock star and reality television personality’s severe injuries allegedly resulting from an on-stage accident.  Lost earnings calculations involved (i) identifying and determining concerts the rock singer would have performed, (ii) identifying and determining reality television shows the star would have performed, and (iii) identifying and determining saved costs that were not incurred to appropriately deduct from lost earnings.
  • Determined lost earnings and benefits the plaintiff suffered (and may suffer in the future) from the alleged medical negligence of an eye surgeon.
  • In a wrongful death lawsuit, calculated lost earnings and benefits associated with a prisoner that committed suicide while in prison.
  • Performed a lost earnings calculation involving the wrongful death of an extremely successful entrepreneur who was responsible for a portfolio of business interests. At the time, the claim was one of the largest wrongful death matters ever litigated at over $100 million in alleged damages.

On Numerous Occasions:

  • Calculated economic damages including lost employment earnings and benefits (net of personal consumption), and the value of lost household services the decedent provided.
  • Performed lost earnings calculations involving claimed injuries from a series of allegedly faulty pharmaceuticals and medical products.
  • Calculated the past and future economic damages suffered as a result of residual mold.
  • Calculated lost earnings and benefits using employment and earnings statistics from sources such as government data, industry organizations, and customized survey research when past earnings were either (i) unavailable (usually due to youth with no earnings history), or (ii) not representative of the earnings potential.
  • Calculated the present value of life care plans after determining (i) future medical care cost growth rates, (ii) life expectancies and associated probabilities of survival in each year of life expectancy, and (iii) appropriate discount rates

Related Experience