A Defense Attorney’s Perspective on Life Care Planning

Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 784

Attacking the Plaintiff ’s Life Care Plan ........................................................................... 784 Qualifi cations ...................................................................................................... 784 Qualifi cations as a Life Care Planning Expert Generally ...................................... 784 Qualifi cation to Present the Particular Life Care Plan ...........................................785 Foundational Objections, the Frye Standard, and Other Preclusions ................... 788 Cross-Examination of the Plaintiff ’s Expert ..........................................................789 Financial Bias .......................................................................................................789 Purpose of Retention ........................................................................................... 790 Th e Basis of the Opinions ....................................................................................791 Base Costing and Duplication ..............................................................................791 Licensing Issues ....................................................................................................793

Th e Decision to Retain a Defense Rehabilitation Consultant .................................................. 794 Th e Testifying Defendant Rehabilitation Consultant ............................................................... 795 Practical Considerations: Th e Eff ect on the Jury ...................................................................... 797 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 797

Introduction Counsel defending against serious injuries is likely to confront a life care plan presented by the plaintiff ’s attorney in an eff ort to quantify the various impacts upon the injured party’s activities of daily living and quality of life.* A defendant must prepare early and thoroughly to rebut the plaintiff ’s various claims and identify areas of overreaching or weakness in the plan. Th is chapter will address the defense perspective on life care planning in terms of both attacking the plaintiff ’s life care plan and retaining a defense life care planning expert, either as a nontestifying consultant or to testify at trial.