20 Dec Future lost earnings- a Chief Justice’s Gavel in Every Brief Case
“Tout soldat français porte dans sa giberne le bâton de maréchal de France—Every private in the French army carries a field-marshal’s baton in his knapsack.” Thus said French Emperor Napoleon I.
An Australian Defence Force recruit was injured in a motor vehicle accident. His earnings at the time were not representative of his future prospects. A model of his future earnings but for the accident involved promotion rates, increments in each rank, resignation and retirement rates as well as allowance for mortality and incapacity was used in his case. The same model has been used for students or recent graduates in professions other than that of arms.
Another example of this technique for future lost earnings was used by Barton Consultancy in the case of Lloyd Rayney vs. the State of Western Australia. Barton Consultancy assisted Mr Rayney’s lawyers in arguing that had Mr Rayney not been defamed, his legal career would have progressed, his fees and billable hours would have increased each year and his career trajectory could have eventually seen him take up the position of a judge. Mr Rayney was ultimately awarded the highest ever sum of damages for defamation in Western Australia.
