Forensic Economist Assesses Damages Sustained By International Tourists

This case involves a fatality and severe injuries resulting from a tour bus crash. A group of approximately 50 Japanese tourists was participating in a Florida bus tour group. They were traveling from Daytona Beach to Orlando. While en route, the bus driver had a heart attack and crashed the bus into a ditch between the two sides of the highway. The bus flipped on its side from the impact. More than half of the tourists were seriously injured and 2 died from their injuries. The two tourists that died were a husband and his son. The plaintiff, his surviving wife, sought a forensic economist to write a loss of household services report according to Japanese income.

Question(s) For Expert Witness

1. Please briefly describe your experience preparing loss reports from a forensic economics perspective.

2. Are you familiar at all with the statistics that would guide this report for a Chinese family based in China? How would you go about performing this task?

Expert Witness Response E-007564

I have completed more than 3,000 damages reports in the past 30 years. Approximately half of those reports included a loss of services. I would use the accepted methodology for calculating damages in the United States. The loss of services can be determined by questioning survivors. I would also research on wages in Japan for the services provided, life expectancy in Japan, and wage growth in Japan. I have done similar calculations for plaintiffs in an international tour bus accident. I have also testified and prepared reports for personal injury damages in Saipan, Mexico, and South Africa. I have published research papers in professional journals and a chapter in a book last year, on calculating employment damages.