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Feb 27 2008

Serious Injury Motorcycle Accident Cases Are Complex Litigation

Published by admin at 9:57 pm under Law, Motorcycle Accidents, Paralysis, Paraplegia, Personal Injury, Quadriplegia, Spinal Cord Injury, Triplegia

Motorcycle accidents, unfortunately, often result in serious and catastrophic injuries. Some of the reasons are obvious, such as that motorcycles don’t have the surrounding metal cage, the safety designed interior padding, seat belts and air bags that protect auto drivers. Some of the reasons are less obvious, such as the “inattentional blindness” that impairs many auto drivers’ ability to “see” the oncoming motorcycle often leading auto drivers either to pull out into intersections from side streets or turn left directly into the motorcyclists’ path.

Motorcyclists may suffer quadriplegia, paraplegia, other spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injury, TBI, debilitating internal injuries, catastrophic orthopedic injuries and limb amputations. Our serious injury motorcycle accident lawyers will discuss two of those categories of cases, involving TBI and spinal cord injuries. However, every serious injury motorcycle accident case is “complex litigation,” much more complicated than “who ran the red light,” and so it is very important that the seriously injured client obtain the representation of qualified lawyers, highly experienced in the preparation and presentation of complex litigation, motorcycle accident attorneys capable of competently presenting to the settlement judge and jury the full measure of the motorcyclist’s general and special damages.

We’ll contrast the ordinary and serious injury motorcycle accident case without in any way discounting the importance of the ordinary case, because every motorcycle accident case is important for the client and should likewise be important for the attorney. However, it would be inaccurate to say that the preparation or presentation of “general damages,” “past and future medical expense” or “past and future loss of earnings” is similar.

For many “motorcycle accident lawyers” the term “general damages” means “pain a suffering”; but for the true serious injury motorcycle accident attorney, the most persuasive general damage evidence is what we call “loss of enjoyment of life damages.” This is commonly the way our seriously injured clients see it. And it can be presented poignantly by juxtaposing the evidence of what the client enjoyed most in his life before the accident, through the testimony of friends, family, home videos and photographs, against a professionally produced “Day in the Life” film, demonstrating the courage of the serious or catastrophically injured client as he confronts and overcomes the challenges of his post accident daily life.

In the ordinary motorcycle accident case the lawyers might have to present some evidence of past medical expense, but presenting future medical expenses for the seriously injured motorcyclist is hugely more complex. For a more general discussion of motorcycle accident litigation you may consider “How Motorcycle Accident Lawyers Present Liability Evidence”. The presentation of the motorcyclist’s future medical expenses commonly requires a number of treating doctors as well as medical experts engaged by the serious injury motorcycle attorneys, and then perhaps most importantly, a life care planner and forensic economist. In the briefest summary, the life care planner, under the direction of the lawyer will consult with the treating doctors and other medical experts first to derive the client’s post accident “life expectancy,” and then identify all of the medical expenses, such as additional surgeries, rehabilitation expenses, anticipated convalescent home costs, replacement prostheses, wheel chairs, all the way down to the cost of the medical supplies and sundries that the injured motorcyclist will likely require over the remainder of his anticipated life expectancy. The serious injury motorcycle accident lawyers will then present the life care planner’s report to the forensic economist who will increase the individual medical costs over by the anticipated date they will be required by use of medical cost inflation government statistics, and then with use general inflation statistics to reduce that number to “present value.” There is no other proper way to present future medical expense, and if not properly prepared, the Court will likely not permit the evidence to be presented.

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 lawyer 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.

Raymond L. Henke, Principle trial attorney with the California Accident Attorneys & Medical Malpractice Lawyers Group

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