Our experience in providing forensic accountancy services in personal injury and loss claims is extensive. Whilst many of the cases can be relatively straight forward, our team have reported on many of the complex issues which arise in loss of earnings claims, such as:

• The effect on losses for the Claimant, a Partner in a business, where the Claimant’s profit share was variable;
• The effect on losses for the Claimant, a shareholder in a limited company, where dividend income was received in lieu of salary;
• The effect on losses for the Claimant, a shareholder in a limited company, of the loss of value in the Claimant’s shareholding;
• Pension loss;
• Clinical negligence.
  
  

Our team helped a bereaved family to recover loss of profits following the death of a business owner.

A claim had been made on behalf of the estate of a deceased man, a partner in a profitable café/restaurant. The man had committed suicide following an act of clinical negligence and the claim was made on the premise that his death was as a direct consequence of that clinical negligence. Fault had already been accepted by the health authority involved.

It was claimed that the man’s death had caused the business to lose profit, with a resulting loss of income to the bereaved family. 

The experts report addressed two key areas:

• Quantification of the lost profit to the business since the death
• Quantification of the lost profit caused by cessation of daily involvement in the business by the deceased.

Based on a detailed examination of the financial records our team were able to identify the specific elements of loss and report to the legal team looking after the family’s affairs, and, through calculating the past and future loss, to identify the loss on future sale of the business.

A compensatory amount was agreed to the satisfaction of the family. The insurers settled at a figure close to our team’s recommendations.

In this matter Graham Garbett was appointed as single joint expert in a case where the Claimant’s accident at a major steelworks caused his industrial cleaning business to fail. The Claimant’s business was a contractor at the Steelworks. Hours on site were linked to production tonnage and production units therefore the loss calculations included detailed compilation and review of production statistics.

Because of the complexity of the calculations Graham attended conferences at Court in order to liaise with both instructing solicitors and Counsel.

Our experts were instructed by the Claimant’s solicitors to calculate the loss of pension suffered by the Claimant, a medical practitioner, injured in a road traffic accident. The Claimant was a skilled surgeon who had recently been offered a more lucrative contract with another surgery, where his specialist skills would be utilised on a more regular basis.

The Claimant’s injuries prevented him from taking up the offer, resulting in a loss of personal income and pension. 

The report therefore involved the calculation of potential loss of pension. Pension calculations followed the complex rules of the NHS superannuation scheme, as applicable to medical practitioners. A number of scenarios were calculated, to allow for the potential variances in the number of sessions and operations.

The report facilitated a satisfactory settlement.