Military Accident Leads to Premature Retirement and Lost Benefits

Case Overview

This case involves an individual who sustained severe injuries in a motor vehicle accident while actively serving in the military. The incident necessitated early retirement from their service, leading to significant financial implications regarding lost wages and reduced retirement benefits. To assess the full extent of economic damages, an expert with a specialized background in military benefits and retirement policies has been engaged to analyze the case. Understanding the timeline of events, the plaintiff 's military service history, and the subsequent impact on their retirement benefits is pivotal for establishing the economic loss incurred due to the injury.

Questions to the Financial expert and their responses

Briefly, please describe your background in economic damages, specifically as it pertains to military benefits and retirement policies, if applicable.

I am a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and have an MBA in Finance. My financial career spans 20 years in banking, institutional investment management, corporate finance, and financial consulting. Over 10 years ago, I joined the US Army Reserve. Currently, I am a Logistical Staff Officer (Captain). I have applied my financial acumen to my own retirement objectives as well as my peers and subordinates, effectively helping them with their retirement goals as it pertains to military pensions and benefits we earn as service members. I have built an economic model concerning military career potential and the economic value of service benefits and income/retirement.

If retained, what materials would you need to review in order to conduct a lost wages analysis for the individual in this case?

The plaintiff is currently receiving retirement benefits, which arguably would have been more if it were not for the injury. The question to answer is how much more would their retirement benefits have been? It’s a fundamental calculation of economic loss. The farther the plaintiff was from retirement, the greater the calculation of economic loss is going to be. If the plaintiff was only a few years from retirement (20 years of service), then you want to show they intended to go as long as the mandatory retirement age of 60, pushing the time in service well past 20 years. To conduct a thorough analysis, I would need documentation of the plaintiff’s current benefit payments, rank, time in service, age at the time of service separation, and the start of all current retirement payments.

About the expert

This expert has over 25 years of experience in finance and administration, specializing in army reserve career trajectories and pensions. He earned an AS in business administration from Hartnell College and an AS in intelligence operations from Cochise College. He subsequently completed a BS in management and an additional BS in finance from San Jose University, followed by his MBA in finance at Golden Gate University. Today, this expert is a certified chartered financial analyst and is a member of various professional organizations, such as the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute and the CFA Society of San Francisco. He has prior experience as a marketing analyst in consumer checking at Wells Fargo Bank and was a senior financial analyst at Union Bank of California, Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union, and Meriwest Credit Union. He then served as the assistant vice president of Wachovia Bank and as the financial manager at Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps. Moreover, he served as a military intelligence analyst for the United States Army Reserves and as a financial consultant for Augustine Consulting. Currently, he is an executive officer for a component of the United States Armed Forces that specializes in deployment and distribution operations.

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Specialties:

Financial

Celia Guo is the Vice President of Multidisciplinary Research at Expert Institute. With a background rooted in public policy and criminal justice, Celia brings a wealth of experience in data-driven legal analysis. Prior to joining The Expert Institute, she conducted research for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, focusing on drug diversion cases, and collaborated with the American Civil Liberties Union to analyze officer-involved shootings in Fresno, California. Her policy advocacy work also includes lobbying with the Drug Policy Alliance for the RISE Act, aimed at reforming sentencing enhancements for minor drug offenses.

Celia holds a B.A. in Political Science from Loyola Marymount University and an M.P.P. from the University of Southern California. She combines her policy expertise with a passion for justice to lead a dynamic research team that supports litigation strategy across a wide range of practice areas.