In traumatic injury litigation, defense attorneys face the critical task of challenging inflated damages claims and countering them with credible, defensible evidence. When plaintiffs present demands involving future medical care, work restrictions, and post-injury income loss, you need experienced experts who can expose exaggerated financial projections, questionable medical recommendations, and unsupported assumptions about long-term employability. Left unchecked, these claims can shape a damages narrative that distorts settlement leverage and influences trial outcomes.

Equipping your defense with an integrated team of medical experts, certified life care planners, vocational experts, and economists helps ensure every claim is scrutinized, every assumption is tested, and your client’s bottom line is protected.

Four Experts, One Cohesive Defense Strategy

A coordinated team of medical, life care planning, vocational, and economic experts provides defense counsel with the clarity and consistency needed to dismantle inflated damages claims. Each discipline plays a distinct role, but together they deliver a unified strategy that withstands scrutiny at every stage of litigation.

Medical Expert Witness

Medical professionals form the foundation for rebutting plaintiff personal injury claims. Their evaluations focus on whether proposed treatments and ongoing care recommendations are medically necessary, clinically supported, and consistent with accepted standards of practice. By highlighting gaps, speculative interventions, or unsupported medical opinions, medical experts help defense teams challenge the credibility of inflated care projections.

Certified Life Care Planner

Life care plans can drive some of the largest figures in a plaintiff’s damages claim. A comprehensive review by a certified life care planner can reveal excessive frequency of treatments and rehabilitation services, inflated costs, or recommendations unsupported by medical recommendations. Through life care plan rebuttal reports and expert testimony, they present reliable, clinically grounded projections of future medical needs and associated costs.

Vocational Expert

Plaintiffs may present vocational assessments that overstate work restrictions or underestimate employment opportunities. Vocational experts, or Certified Rehabilitation Counselors, critically analyze pre- and post-injury earning capacity, transferable skills, and labor market conditions to test the validity of these claims. Their findings can demonstrate that employability is higher and wage loss lower than presented in the plaintiff’s report.

Economist

Economists take the findings from life care planners and vocational experts and translate them into financial terms. They calculate the present value of future medical costs, lost wages, and earning capacity, ensuring that every projection is backed by reliable methodology and accurate economic data. Their role provides the defense with a credible, bottom-line assessment of true damages exposure.

A Collaborative Impact

This integrated team of experts ensures clear case insights and effective collaboration. Clients are not required to engage every discipline, but when retained early in the litigation lifecycle, these experts can begin evaluating records and data immediately. This gives defense counsel a strategic edge in identifying gaps, refining rebuttals, and preparing for mediation or trial.

Benefits of Early Engagement

Traumatic injury defense gains a significant advantage when expert analysis begins before discovery or trial. Engaging a coordinated team of experts early in the litigation process allows every claim to be examined with precision, every assumption to be tested, and every rebuttal to be built on clear, consistent evidence.

Strengthen Your Case from the Start

Retaining all four expert types during early case development allows for immediate review of medical records, identification of missing documentation, and strategic planning. Early engagement also prevents opposing counsel from securing these key experts first, locking in your advantage.

Streamlined Communication and Coordination

When all experts are retained through the same consulting firm, communication becomes more efficient and consistent. Case managers coordinate across disciplines to ensure collaboration and timely deliverables.

Cost and Time Efficiency

Retaining experts with dual credentials, such as a medical doctor who is also a certified life care planner, or a certified life care planner who doubles as a vocational expert, can reduce the need for multiple engagements, saving both time and resources.

Securing Integrated Expert Witness Support

Litigation outcomes hinge on the credibility, preparedness, and coordination of your experts. Selecting professionals who understand the jurisdiction, the medicine, and the economics at issue can meaningfully influence how damages are framed and evaluated.

IMS Legal Strategies maintains a nationwide expert network with coverage across all 50 states, allowing defense teams to identify experts who meet local court standards and venue-specific expectations. Their medical expert witness panel has supported tens of thousands of matters, giving counsel access to clinicians who are experienced in both record review and testimony.

In 2024, IMS launched a national Life Care Planning & Rebuttals service line that brings life care planners and vocational experts together within one coordinated team. This structure supports:

• Care projections grounded in clinical evidence and medical recommendations
• Vocational assessments that evaluate employability, transferable skills, and earning capacity
• Expert testimony that is prepared to withstand challenges under Daubert, Robinson, and similar standards

IMS is also expanding its analytics capabilities to better address complex damages claims, particularly those involving layered medical, vocational, and economic issues.

As Kacy Turner, MS, CRC, CVE, CLCP, Lead Life Care Planner and Vocational Expert at IMS, explains, an integrated approach allows each discipline to build on the others’ work:

“Our life care planning and vocational team reviews medical records so I can understand, as the testifying expert, what the injuries are and what type of rehabilitation the individual has undergone. I then rely on the medical experts to provide restrictions and limitations. When it comes time to work with the economist, I share my findings with them, and the economist calculates the damages. For example, if the individual is going to have a yearly wage loss due to injury, the economist will calculate the work-life expectancy.”

Applying Integrated Expertise to Defense Strategy

Defense strategy in serious injury cases benefits from more than isolated expert opinions. A coordinated expert team can evaluate, challenge, and present evidence across each dimension of a plaintiff’s damages claim, including:

• Independent medical assessment and recommendations
• Life care plan evaluations and rebuttal reports
• Defensible vocational assessments and rebuttals
• Accurate cost estimates and cost estimate reviews
• Economic damage quantification and present value analysis
• Expert witness testimony that is aligned across disciplines

From early case development through trial, an integrated expert team can provide the clarity, consistency, and collaboration needed to scrutinize inflated injury claims and protect the client’s interests.

About the Contributor
This article was contributed by IMS Legal Strategies.

For more information about integrated medical, life care planning, vocational, and economic expert services, contact:

Susan deHoll, Senior Account Executive 
North Carolina | South Carolina | Georgia

877.919.6846 • 803.748.6767 • sdeholl@imslegal.com