Serious Injury Motorcycle Accident Cases Are Complex Litigation - Part 2

By: Raymond Henke
Submitted: 2008-04-08 01:37:28
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Similarly, in the ordinary motorcycle accident case, presenting past earnings losses may be as simple as counting the number of days the rider lost from work and multiply it by his daily wage. In the serious injury motorcycle accident case, presenting future lost earning can be extraordinarily complex. In the simplest serious injury case involving the daily wage earner, the qualified and experienced motorcycle accident attorneys will require a number of medical experts, and then perhaps most importantly, a "vocational rehabilitation expert" and an economist to establish the client's "net loss" as defines the measure of future earnings loss damages. The vocational rehab expert speaks with the client, his medical doctors, the medical experts. He will review the clients school record and other information with regard to his clients earning capacity before and after the accident. He will then provide the report to the serious injury motorcycle accident lawyer outlining the occupations for which the client is now disqualified, and for which he may remain qualified. The information from the medical experts will also provide the serious injury lawyer with the critical information with regard to the client's "work life expectancy" before and after the accident. The serious injury motorcycle accident attorney will then provide all the information to the forensic economist, who will employ wage rate increase statistics for the client's occupation before the accident, and those for which he may be still qualified following the accident, for the different work life expectancies, and then, after arriving at the differential will apply general inflation statistics to reduce the amount to present value.

Please understand that these earnings calculations apply only to the simplest case of the hourly wage earner. The serious injury lawyer's task in presenting future loss earnings can be much more complicated as where the client is self employed or employed in an occupation with realistic advancement opportunity. For a more complete discussion of the presentation of damages in serious injury cases, you are invited to consider How Serious Injury Lawyers President Damages in Catastrophic Injury Cases". In that article we go into much more depth in explaining how serious injury attorneys present general damages and special damages, including in particular, future medical expenses and future loss of earnings.

Brain damage and spinal cord injuries, including quadriplegia and paraplegia are commonly sustained in motorcycle accidents, and can be the most catasrtrophic. Perhaps more important than anything else, the qualified serious injury motorcycle accident lawyer must be capable of fully recognizing the devastating changes in his client's life that have resulted. Again, the "general damages" suffered by the brain damaged or paralyzed client are not limited or principally "pain and suffering." For clients who suffer traumatic brain injury, TBI, or who are paralyzed in motorcycle accidents the greatest devastation can be characterized most poignantly as "loss of enjoyment of life" damages, demonstrated, as discussed above, by the juxtaposition of all the activities that brought the most joy to the clients life before the motorcycle accident with the professionally produced Day in the Life film illustrating the courage with which the paralyzed client meets his daily post accident challenges.

Traumatic brain injury, paralysis and other serious injury motorcycle accident cases require the lawyers' compassionate insight into what his client considers his greatest loss, along with his wisdom gained by training and extensive experience to maximize the client's prospect for settlement or jury verdict obtained at trial.

Article source: Expert Articles