Jeff Opp Personal Injury, Wrongful Death and Employment Jeff Opp Jeff Opp Jeff Opp

Our approach to Personal Injury, Wrongful Death and Employment matters focuses on the specific vocational situation of the injured person on pre-injury versus post-injury basis.  We have served as experts in over 4,000 such matters, testifying over 500 times in numerous different venues across the country.  We find that in most all cases, the injured person's actual experiences are a better determinant of their loss than some national statistic that has nothing in common with that person other than age, gender and possibly educational attainment.  We have employed this straightforward, simple methodology highly successfully against 'statistical experts' time and time again. Jeff Opp Expert Testimony

Damages for a personal injury matter are the comparison of two discreet computations: 1) what could the injured person have earned barring injury; and 2) what can the injured person expect to earn, if anything, subsequent to their injury.  While this concept is, and should be, inherently simple, the key to a successful analysis is a thorough exploration of the variables.  Some examples of variables that bear consideration on a pre-injury basis are: 1) was the injured person in a union or other position where their pay raises were based upon a defined formula; 2) how long had the injured person been employed at their pre-injury position; and 3) what fringe benefits were offered by the pre-injury employer.   These are just a few of the myriad of specific variables that must be considered in each and every personal injury matter.  Obviously, a damage calculation based upon national statistics cannot even come close to addressing all, or even a few, of the specific issues that make every personal injury client unique. 

Damages for a wrongful death matter incorporate many of the same analyses of personal injury cases but also need to address additional issues such as the personal consumption of the decedent (when venue appropriate), household services provided by the decedent and age and relationship of the survivors to the decedent.  In these matters, some use of statistical data is both appropriate and, in many ways, more reliable.  This is particularly true given that it is often very difficult for survivors to appreciate the concept of personal consumption (generally just subsistence items).  Further, survivors will often understate or overstate the amount of household services that the decedent performed due to a number of different factors.  Of course, each case and each set of clients are different and the use of such statistics must be evaluated on a case by case basis. Jeff Opp Expert Testimony

Damages for employment cases are perhaps the most difficult to calculate exactly.  Unlike personal injury cases, in employment matters, generally the terminated individual does not have a condition that will limit the type or amount of work they can do.  Rather, the terminated individual presents as a snapshot in time: this is what they earned pre-injury, and this is what they currently are earning.  While it may be appealing, and in some cases valid, to assume that this differential will continue for the duration of the individual's work-life expectancy, the potential for a better post-termination employment situation should be considered.  Absent a crystal ball, we have found that the best way to present damages in these situations is to provide the trier of fact a range of calculations for their consideration. Jeff Opp Expert Testimony