Calculating the Costs of Catastrophic Injuries

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Kristin Kucsma, M.A., is a Principal of SobelCo. and Chief Economist of the Sobel Tinari Economics Group. Ms. Kucsma oversees the group’s award-winning economists and experienced analysts. Ms. Kucsma joined the Tinari Economics Group in January 2008 and, since then, has worked extensively on cases involving personal injury, wrongful death, employment law, wrongful incarceration, mass torts, punitive damages, and lost profits. Her ability to clearly explain complicated economic analysis makes Ms. Kucsma an effective expert witness. She works regularly with both plaintiff and defense attorneys and lectures frequently on valuing economic damages. Ms. Kucsma has testified in over 850 depositions, trials, mediations, and arbitrations, and has offered economic expert testimony in various state and federal district courts throughout the country. Prior to joining the Sobel Tinari Economics Group, Ms. Kucsma spent over 13 years teaching economics at the undergraduate and graduate level at Saint Peter’s College, Rutgers, Seton Hall, and Drew Universities. Her areas of expertise include American Economic History, Applied Micro Economic Theory, banking and financial markets, and corporate finance. Ms. Kucsma is an active member of the National Association of Forensic Economics and the Eastern Economics Association, a member of the American Economics Association, and a former member of the District Ethics Committee, Office of Attorney Ethics of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. She earned a B.A., summa cum laude, in Economics from Seton Hall University, an M.A. from Rutgers University, and is currently ABD at Rutgers University.

Dr. Dan Wolstein is President of Kincaid Wolstein Vocational and Rehabilitation Services. He is a highly experienced vocational evaluator who actively contributes to advancing science and professionalism in the vocational field. His research, focusing on vocational evaluation and rehabilitation, has been published in the Journal of Forensic Vocational Analysis. In 2018, he and Jeff Truthan presented their research regarding the 137 sedentary unskilled occupations in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) at the 2018 National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives (NOSSCR) Disability Law Conference and again in 2019 at the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals (IARP) Conference. Dr. Wolstein currently serves as President of the American Board of Vocational Experts and previously held the role of Conference Chair in 2022 and 2023. He completed his doctoral studies in rehabilitation counseling and administration at East Carolina University and earned a Master of Science in rehabilitation counseling from Rutgers University, which incorporated the former University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). Licenses and Certifications: Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) Certified Life Care Planner (CLCP) International Psychometric Evaluation Certification (IPEC) Diplomate of the American Board of Vocational Experts (ABVE/D) Licensed Rehabilitation Counselor (LRC) Forensic Vocational Expert (FVE) Certified Vocational Evaluator (CVE)

Amber Wright is the managing partner at Powers & Santola, LLP. She has dedicated her life to helping people with life-threatening conditions and injuries. Amber has held national certificates and registrations in Cardiac-Interventional Radiology and General Radiology for nearly twenty years. A native of Upstate New York, Amber was a radiologic technologist in top cardiac catheterization labs in Colorado and Florida before moving to Albany. After having children, Amber chose to use her medical training and experience differently. She enrolled in Albany Law School, graduating magna cum laude. Amber received the Selma Mintz Memorial Prize, awarded to a student who graduated with honors while raising a family. Amber immediately put her legal education and medical experience to work fighting for people who had been severely injured. Her extensive background in medicine gives her a unique perspective and expertise in all personal injury matters.