Developing Life Care Plans for Cases Involving Multiple Plaintiffs

The field of life care planning developed as a tool used by rehabilitation professionals to effectively communicate the goods and services required during the lifespan of their clients with illnesses or disabilities. Life care planning became visible in forensic settings in the early 1980s, after it was realized that life care plans could similarly be used to inform the trier of fact in cases involving personal injury. Life care planning has since evolved into an essential component for estimating future medical requirements in a variety of legal matters. With the discipline’s growing prominence and utility to the trier(s) of fact, the stakes for producing accurate and reliable life care plans are considerable. Though there are defined professional standards for developing life care plans for cases involving a single plaintiff, there is less published literature regarding cases involving multiple plaintiffs. As life care planners emerge from various educational and philosophical backgrounds without training in the complexities of the civil law framework, this article aims to introduce the theoretical and practical foundations of mass tort and class action litigation and to propose guidelines for life care planners involved in these types of cases.