Economics: Hedonics - Quality of Life Expert Witnesses: 5

Ann L. Adair, PhD, specializes in Economics and has been an undergraduate and graduate professor for more than 25 years teaching micro and macroeconomics, finance, international trade, money and banking, financial markets, health care economics, and agricultural economics. She is well-versed in economic theory and the practical application of such.

Education / Training - Dr. Adair earned a BS in Agricultural Economics, an MS in Applied Economics, and a PhD in Agricultural Economics with fields in Finance and Policy. She has provided economic modeling and analysis for the USDA, Bureau of Land Management, Montana Petroleum Association, and the Montana Association of Home Builders. Her thorough understanding of economics and finance allows her to evaluate a wide variety of businesses and industries.

 Dr. Adair served as an Assistant Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and as a Research Economist at the Montana Center for Applied Economic Research. Both of these positions provided results widely to the general public and others in the field.

Litigation Support - Dr. Adair has served as a Forensic Economic Expert for over 18 years and as a research analyst for a similar time period. She has been qualified as an expert in state and federal court in Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota. She has evaluated more than 300 cases working for both defense and plaintiff, and has provided testimony to Governor's Task Forces on the economic impact of policy modifications and the importance of various industries with Montana.

Areas of Expertise:

Dr. Stan V. Smith is a nationally renowned Economist and Financial Consultant providing analysis in simple terms that any trier-of-fact can understand. As an expert consultant to plaintiff and defense attorneys representing clients in Federal State courts, he provides testimony and litigation support services in evaluating damages. 

Dr. Smith provides Analysis, Testimony, and Litigation Support Services in Evaluating Damages for plaintiff and defense attorneys representing clients in federal and state courts nationwide. His concept of Hedonic Damages is acknowledged by judges, attorneys, and legal journalists as one of the most innovative tort concepts in the last 30 years. He has been interviewed and published in dozens of respected professional journals. Dr. Smith has assisted in the successful resolution of thousands of lawsuits on behalf of clients that include many dozens of the nation's largest law firms, the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as thousands of other prominent plaintiff and defense law firms in almost every state. 

Areas of Expertise:

Research & Planning Consultants, LP (RPC) has been assisting clients with expert services for over 45 years, including consulting and expert witness testimony for personal injury, healthcare litigation, commercial litigation and Certificate of Need matters. RPC also offers a wide selection of health data. They have served clients across the U.S, from Alaska to Florida and from New England to California. 

A Complete Team of Damages Experts for Personal Injury Litigation

Research & Planning Consultants, LP provides the following services: 

• PERSONAL INJURY - RPC provides comprehensive damages analysis in personal injury litigation. Their expert team has life care planners, vocational evaluators, board-certified physicians, economists and neuropsychologists. 

Areas of Expertise include: Life Care Plans, Loss of Earning Capacity or Support, Present Value of Damages, Medical Bill Analysis, Chargemaster Analysis, Neuropsychological Testing & Traumatic Brain Injury, Vocational Evaluations, IMEs, Section 18.001, Prestanding ED Chargemaster Analysis

• COMMERCIAL LITIGATION- RPC has provided expert analysis on commercial litigation concerning many industries: chemicals, refining, forestry, waste management, pipelines, water resources, oil and gas EDP, fisheries, agriculture, electrical generating plants, transmission lines, telecommunications, and real estate development. Our special expertise in the healthcare industry has proven valuable to business litigators unfamiliar with this complex industry.

Areas of Expertise: Breach of Contract / Commercial Economic Damages, Construction Disputes, Litigation over Non-Competitive Agreements, Environmental Torts and Toxic Torts, Commercial Disparagement, Wrongful Termination

• HEALTHCARE LITIGATION - RPC offers economic, statistical, data and clinical analysis in a wide range of healthcare litigation. They have experience with payment disputes, qui tam litigation, physician-hospital disputes, practice valuations and construction litigation. 

Areas of Expertise: Qui Tam Healthcare Litigation, Medical Staff Disputes, Professional Liability, Payment Disputes, Health Facility Construction Disputes, Freestanding ED Chargemester Analysis

• CERTIFICATE OF NEED - RPC provides Certificate of Need (CON) planning services nationwide. We have over 35 years of experience developing regulatory strategy, preparing applications and testifying in public and administrative hearings.

Areas of Expertise: Satellite Hospitals, New Hospitals, Relocation and Transfer of Beds, Observation Beds, Geriatric Psychiatric Units, Children’s Hospitals, Comprehensive Inpatient Rehabilitation Units, Neonatal Intensive Care Units, Open Heart Surgery Services, Long Term Acute Care Units, Projects that exceed CON Capital Threshold Limits, Projects for Specifically Listed Services, Programs Requiring CON, Hospices, Senior Living Facilities

Ronald T. Luke, JD, PhD, is a principal consultant and President of RPC, LP. Ron joined RPC in 1976 and became its president and principal owner in 1979. He has consulted on projects for health care providers, managed care plans and public agencies in more than 25 states. He also serves as an expert witness in trials, administrative proceedings and legislative hearings.

Active in the Health Policy Arena, Dr. Luke has been accepted as an expert in Economics, Socioeconomic Impact Analysis, and Policy Analysis by state and federal courts, and state administrative agencies. The types of cases in which he has provided expert testimony include personal injury, contractual disputes, health care payment disputes, construction defects, utility construction permitting, and certificate of need. He has testified on health care matters including market structure, billing fraud and abuse, reasonableness of charges, medical staff credentialing, workers’ compensation fee guidelines, utilization review, physician contracts, and managed care contracts.

Kacy L. Turner, MS, CRC, CVE, CLCP, is a Certified Life Care Planner and Vocational Consultant with RPC. She has over 20 years of experience in Rehabilitation. Ms. Turner has experience writing life care plans for both plaintiff and defense clients. She has experience as a rehabilitation consultant in three states and has been qualified as a testifying expert in state and federal court.  

Ms. Turner has worked on cases in several states as well as the country of Trinidad. To determine the pre-injury and post-injury employability in personal injury cases, she provides vocational testing, transferable skills analysis, job requirements analysis, rehabilitation plans, and definition of reasonable accommodations under the American with Disabilities Act. She is a member of the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals, the Texas Association of Rehabilitation Professionals and Providers of Services, and Vocational Evaluation and Career Assessment Professionals.

Brian Piper, PhD,  is an Economist with RPC specializing in Quantitative Analysis and Modelling. He works on a variety of cases including personal injury and certificate of need. He is experienced in data extraction, management, simulation, and analysis using STATA, SQL, ARC GIS and a variety of other programs. Dr. Piper has taught graduate classes in statistics and econometrics in both MBA and Ph.D. programs.

Dr. Piper is an experienced expert, providing testimony, reports, and affidavits on the issues of economic damages in personal injury litigation, healthcare litigation, False Claims Act litigation, and other commercial litigation. He has testified on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants. 

Dr. Piper specializes in the economics of healthcare. He has been retained by healthcare providers and insurers in payment disputes. He has analyzed the reasonableness of charges and expected payment for past and future medical services for providers, insurers, plaintiffs, and defendants. Besides work in litigation, Dr. Piper has provided analysis of Certificate of Need applications and the economic impacts of proposed legislation.

• Legal Nurse Consulting
• Medical Record Review / Summary
• Case Merit Evaluation/Standards of Care
• Life Care Planning
• Mini / Preliminary Life Plans
• Medicare Set-Aside Allocations
• Expert Fact and Opinion Testimony
• Attendance at Independent Medical Exams
• Litigation Support - Formulation of Discovery Plans, Preparation of Deposition/Cross Examination Questions, Conducting Medical Expert/Opposing Life Care Planner Depositions

Diane L. Damos, PhD, is an international expert with over 40 years of experience involving general Aviation Human Factors issues and Commercial Pilot Hiring. She is a fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, the Royal Aeronautical Society, and an associate fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association As an expert in Aviation Human Factors and as an Aviation Psychologist, Dr. Damos promotes safety in the National Airspace by working to reduce the occurrence and impact of human error in aviation systems and improve human performance. She has been involved with pilot selection since 1970.  Dr. Damos has assisted in the development of computer-based tests of information processing and cognition for pilot selection for both the United States Navy and Air Force. She has consulted with numerous domestic and foreign air carriers and training schools on both ab initio and experienced pilot selection.

Dr. Damos has also been involved with cabin crew staffing. She has conducted studies on both narrow- and wide-body aircraft to determine the number of cabin crew needed to meet an airline’s service standards. Dr. Damos was appointed to the United States National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council Panel of Human Factors in Air Traffic Control Automation.

Litigation Support - Dr. Damos has worked as an expert witness for both plaintiff and defense attorneys. She specializes in calculating lost earnings for professional pilots whose flying careers have ended prematurely. She has also been involved in several mediations involving the staffing and workload of cabin crew.

Those in need of her services include attorneys litigating cases involving the death or disability of young pilots who have not yet begun their career as a Part 121 or Part 135 pilot, the death or loss of license of current Part 121 or Part 135 pilots, and insurance companies involved in compensation for Part 121 or Part 135 pilots.

Expertise:

 Selected Cases:

• A charter aircraft crashed in the mountains, killing all on board. Dr. Damos was asked to review pilots’ training records to determine if training met  minimum requirements stipulated by FAA.
• A Part 135 pilot recently interviewed unsuccessfully for a position at a regional air carrier was killed in a crash. Dr. Damos was asked to determine the likelihood of pilot being hired by another air carrier and the probable path and timeline of the pilot’s career.
• A highly qualified military pilot became disabled before being hired by an air carrier. Dr. Damos determined his likely career path and projected his life-time earnings discounted to present value. 

 View Damos Aviation Services' Consulting Profile.