Live Webinar | May 1, 2024 | To calculate these damages accurately, a vocational or economic expert needs data on the plaintiff’s past employment and earnings that is as complete as possible. In this webinar, we will discuss the documents defendants should demand from the plaintiff and why it is not an undue burden on the plaintiff to produce them
What limits does Texas law set on the opinion testimony of a Physician Life Care Planners? In this blog, we discuss those limits, review appellate cases that provide general guidance that an expert’s medical qualifications must relate to the specific medical issue at hand, and further development of Texas laws.
Certificate of Need (CON) requirements vary by state, but most applications must address three main topics: (1) need, (2) financial feasibility, and (3) impact on existing providers. This blog will discuss the data sources RPC finds useful when preparing a CON application. In this blog, we will dive into each component.
On March 24, 2023, Florida House Bill 837, became law. It has an impact on the valuation and recovery of damages for past and future medical care in personal injury cases. HB 837 allows defendants to discover and introduce evidence regarding allowable amounts for commercial insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid which the jury can consider in awarding medical damages.
A Look Back at RPC in 2023 and Forward to 2024 - From RPC President, Ronald T. Luke, JD, PhD
Loss of earning capacity is often a major element of economic damages. In personal cases when the plaintiff alleges a significant loss of earning capacity due to physical or cognitive impairments from an injury, a vocational expert can reliably determine what, if any, post-injury jobs the plaintiff can perform and the earnings from those jobs.
Medical cost estimates (MCEs) and life care plans (LCPs) are reports prepared for a plaintiff or defendant in a personal injury case to estimate reasonable costs of future medical care. The difference in the cost of the two reports justifies careful consideration whether a full LCP is needed or an MCE will suffice. In this blog, we discuss what an MCE is and whether it is best to prepare an MCE or an LCP, depending on the facts of the case.
Loss of earning capacity can be a major element of damages requiring the plaintiff and the defendant to retain vocational experts. By asking vocational experts the right questions, attorneys can expose weaknesses in their reports and opinions. Here are six key questions to ask your vocational expert or an opposing vocational expert, and what you may learn from the answers.
Support for repealing CON laws has gained momentum in recent years. During the COVID-19 pandemic 25 states loosened CON laws. Since then, legislation has been introduced in several states to partially or completing repeal CON requirements. Some of these bills passed, and others inspired legislators in other states to introduce similar bills in 2024. This blog post summarizes recent legislative efforts in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
RPC has a Louisiana team of damages experts for personal injury cases including vocational consultants, life care planners, legal nurse consultants, a certified coder, and economists. RPC also has on-going relationships with board-certified physicians in multiple specialties.