Unless the guy is independently wealthy, or was overinsured, you probably won't get much out of him. If your lawyer is really good, and you can prove some extenuating circumstances, such as some bar was willfully negligent by serving him excess alcohol after he was obviously inebriated, then you might be able to go after the business, which should have much higher liability insurance. Or if he was out at a business meeting, throwing back a few with some clients. It is a long shot, but it is much more profitable to go after a company with multimillion dollar insurance coverage, than a drunk insured to 100K.

Something like 98% of all cases end up settling for the insurance without going to court. It is just too costly, even for insurance companies, to go to court very often.

 

Here's where I think you are going to run into trouble trying to put a price tag on the next 10 years....(no I am not a lawyer, but in law school).

I feel for you man, but I want to do my part in making sure you are armed with good info.

You don't want to stay if it is a non-flying position. I would raise the argument that if there was a way to keep you in, you COULD stay, however you are choosing not to which would potentially negate a defendant's responsibility to pay for your "career." After all, aren't you an officer first, pilot second?

If that is the case, wages, and benefits are out the window and I would argue for MAYBE the loss of flight pay over the next 10 years. Still, that might be just over 300k. Take away lawyer fees, and expenses, and you walk away with just over 100k...the insurance maximum.

You might be able to push for a lump sum for retraining expenses into a new career, IF the AF decided that you can no longer be an officer, but that might be asking too much.

I agree with the prior comment about making the move into Acquisition.

I say take it to court. If there was negligence or recklessness involved and can be proven, there are always punitive damages.

 

Shoot for the moon and hit the stars. Wait...is it the other way around? You get what I mean.

 

PittsDriver:

I'm sorry to hear about your situation, but you gotta have some faith. In my old squadron, we had two individuals who came down with brain cancer, one of which was able to have surgery and get over the migrains. He is still flying. Miracles do happen and I hope for your sake that they do.

However, I agree with the others that you might be low-balling the sacrifice, education, training, and future career expectations that you've endured. Also, don't be afraid to show that with your career vector (love those buzz words), you would have gone on to achieve at least O-4 and depending on your OPRs (the civilian courts will love those stratifications if you have any), you could easily argue the case of even much hire rank, position (instructor, evaulator, chief pilot, HQ Stan Eval, etc) achieved.

Finally, my father and grandparents operated bars. In my early 20s, I would bar tend there. If this loser was drinking at a bar before he hit you, or if he purchased liquor at a store, and you can prove that he was visibly intoxicated, then they are liable too! It is the law that you CAN NOT serve anyone who is visibly intoxicated. If this guy was driving home from a bar, I can assure you, you can find some folks at the bar who know him, or can be a witness for you. A little undercover work will do you good. Include the bar as a defendent on your lawsuit! Chances are, they are liable as well.

-Fatboy

 

CAUTION: Be very careful what numbers you start with!

If it goes to court and a jury has to decide your award, your numbers will be picked apart by the defense. If you start with middle-of-the-road numbers, then they will only get lower. Pick the highest, most beneficial numbers and let the other guy try to prove that you would not have made LCOL and would not have gotten hired by an airline...unless you have a DUI he won't be able to do that, and the jury's sympathies will probably fall to you.

- Your numbers to need to be carefully itemized, with each of them verifiable by reference to military, airline, or other pay scales (except for pain and suffering). Any number which you estimate without good data will be used to make you look like a lier. You don't want just a ballpark figure that some guy on the internet gave you...

- Factor in every documentable income source. Off the top of my head....
- Base pay to 20 years for an O-5
- Flight Pay / AICIP to 20 years
- BAH/BAS (high cost of living areas if that's where you live now)
- Combat Pay and Tax Break for a reasonable number of CENTCOM deployments for your airframe.
- Medical benefits: based on a high-end commercially available consumer health-plan (these are used by small business owners and freelancers who don't have a company plan).
- Exchange/Commissary: Itemize what you think you spend in a year, and estimate the savings. For the exchange the savings is probably only local taxes.
- Other military bennies: Gym, Daycare, Family Stuff, Education bennies etc.
- Retirement pay and bennies to age 90.

For the airlines, average FDX/UPS/SWA from your military retirement age out to age 65. Talk to some folks and find out what a realistic aggressive annual block credit would be. Also include retirement plans. If you have any documentation that you expressed interest in these airlines that would be great. Did you every apply, or have a buddy walk in your resume? If so, your buddy could testify that he probably would have been able to get you a job there.

Some folks have said that you won't get awards for military pay out to twenty years. I'm not so sure about that...you joined to fly, loved flying more than anything, and now have to abandon your career. Nobody would think it's fair that you have to stay in the USAF doing a job you absolutely hate just so the defendant doesn't have to pay you. That's HIS problem, not yours.

The larger your number, the better...we talking about many millions here. The reality is that you might have to settle for his insurance cap unless the guy has a huge umbrella or is worth millions. But once you do that, nothing will prevent you from staying in the AF anyway if that's what makes economic sense for you.

 

Why not try to retire at 20 as a Lt. Col? Even if you don't fly, I wish I was the CO of the motorpool.

 

Can't help you with the lawyer stuff. FYI, a contracting officer with a level 3 certification and 4 years experience can walk into a $200K civilian job pretty easily. Something to consider....

 

When you are calculating and itemizing I would take into consideration that you have a greater chance for making rank as an active pilot. You can not expect to get command as a non-active pilot. Depending on your position and stage of your career you may not think command is likely at this point, but that's what a lot of guys think early in their careers. I've known guys who got out to go to the airlines and then after 9/11 were furloughed; many came back on active duty, and some have even gone on to command active duty squadrons in combat. Your OPRs are probably full of the standard "Walks on water" bullets, and I'd say with that kind of material you can make a good case for having had a very good shot at sqn command. From there you can make a good case for O-6. Who's to say you wouldn't have made general? But that possibility doesn't exist if you can't fly, and you can't expect to compete with a logistics officer this late in the game.

So I'd make an issue of what you could have earned over a 25-30 year career. If that doesn't hold water then the other fork in the road is what you would have made after getting out when you didn't get command (because it's "What you always dreamed of and worked toward." and you didn't command of a flying squadron you would have pursued commercial aviation) and what you would have earned working to 65 for a major or 70 for a corporate. Just my $0.02.