Profile: Susan Long: Top 10 things plaintiffs forget in personal injury cases

Susan Long is a private-practice economist based in Tampa, Fla. Most of her practice is in economic valuations for litigants in personal injury, business damage and wrongful death cases.

Here’s her top ten list of losses plaintiffs often overlook:

1. Loss of household services such as cooking, cleaning and hauling kids.
2. Loss of future Social Security or pension benefits.
3. Loss of vacation pay.
4. Loss of future health insurance and life insurance benefits.
5. Loss of deferred compensation from a lost job.
6. Loss of long-term or short-term disability insurance.
7. Loss of benefits from promotions that were expected or likely.
8. Loss of personal possessions damaged inside a wrecked vehicle.
9. Loss of estate accumulation, including contributions to retirement plans.
10. Cost of mileage to and from medical treatment.

Long also does pension valuation and equitable distribution of "lumpy assets" – that is, assets that at first glance seem difficult to divide. Long earned a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and a doctorate in finance and economics from the University of South Carolina. She taught college courses in finance and business valuation for 18 years, then started here private practice, Susan Long & Associates, in 1988.

In her spare time she is renovating her authentic 1926 Florida bungalow, and that doesn’t mean she hired subcontractors. "I’ve literally crawled on my hands and knees," she says. "This is my hobby." Her son and daughter are in college.

Contact Susan Long at:

Susan Long & Associates
PO Box 9793
Tampa, Fla. 33674-9793
Telephone: 813 234-7144
E-mail: swl_a@mindspring.com