Opinion ID: 158409
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Damages to compensate for costs of Zachary's care

Text: 29 The district court awarded $2,856,100 to the Duplans to compensate them for the extraordinary costs of Zachary's care. Contending that this amount is insufficient, the Duplans argue that because they presented uncontradicted expert testimony regarding the costs of Zachary's care due to the CMV-related defects, the district court was obligated to accept this testimony. The Duplans ignore the fact that when the district court acts as fact finder it is not obliged to accept uncontradicted expert testimony. See Neece v. IRS, 41 F.3d 1396, 1399 (10th Cir. 1994) (Any determination of the credibility of a witness necessarily includes the right of the fact finder to disbelieve the witness.). 30 Though the government did not present evidence to contradict the testimony of Lawrence Forman, the Duplans' expert, portions of his testimony were unsupported, inconsistent with the testimony of the Duplans' other witnesses, or vague. Forman presented to the district court four models that estimated the costs of Zachary's lifetime care. Each of the models was comprised of a number of services and goods that Zachary would need, given certain assumptions regarding his development. Forman opined that Zachary would benefit most from one specific model (which was not the least expensive) but did not provide a basis for this assertion. Forman also included in his models the costs of providing certain services or goods without demonstrating Zachary's need for them. For example, Forman included the cost of providing Zachary with a wheelchair from his present age until age eighteen. However, Michael Duplan testified that Zachary neither had nor needed the use of a wheelchair. Additionally, Forman estimated the expenses of certain services included in his models as a range of values. Yet, in calculating the overall costs for the models, Forman did not disclose to the district court what value within the range he had used as the basis for his calculation or the reason why he had chosen that value. The district court did not err in choosing not to credit these and other deficient elements of Forman's damages testimony. 31