Product liability matters present the same economic loss questions as other injury and death claims, with the added feature that the injured person is often a consumer or worker whose exposure to the product bears no relation to their occupation, so the earnings analysis must be built from that person's own path. The economist measures lost earnings and benefits, household services, and the present value of future care, or the survivors' loss when the injury was fatal, from the record.
In short
The claim consists of lost earnings and earning capacity from the date of injury across the person's expected worklife, lost fringe benefits, the replacement value of household services, and the present value of future care costs documented in a life care plan or treating recommendations. In a fatal injury the components become the survivors' loss of support, household services, and the estate's claim where the framework provides one. In mass tort settings the analysis may also require a consistent methodology applied across many claimants with different ages, occupations, and injuries. The drivers are the earnings and benefit history, the medical and work-capacity opinions, and the care plan.
The exposure tracks the injury: burns, amputations, and neurological injuries produce large future earnings and care losses; less severe injuries produce a bounded past loss and limited future treatment. Because product cases often involve children, homemakers, and retirees, the household services and care components frequently outweigh the earnings loss, and the analysis must be built from those components rather than from wage records that do not exist. For fatal injuries the exposure follows the wrongful death structure with the personal consumption deduction as the key assumption.
The economist establishes the but-for path from the person's earnings history or, for a child, student, or homemaker, from the educational path and occupational earnings data or from the household work the person performed, and projects it over the applicable worklife or life expectancy with growth. The post-injury path is drawn from actual earnings and the work-capacity opinions, and future care from the life care plan with category-specific cost growth. Household services are valued from time-use data and local replacement rates. All future streams are discounted to present value with the rate stated, and where the matter involves multiple claimants the report applies a documented common methodology so results are consistent and each claimant's figure can be traced to their own record.
Stage-by-stage guidance on working with a forensic economist in product liability litigation.
The earnings path is projected from the educational attainment the record supports and occupational earnings data for that level, starting at the age the child would have entered the workforce. Household services and future care are projected over life expectancy. The report states the education assumption and shows how the result changes under alternatives.
Yes. The economist documents one methodology for earnings, benefits, household services, and care, then applies it to each claimant's own records so the figures are consistent in method and individual in result. This supports both settlement allocation and trial.
From the hours of household work the person performed, drawn from the household's account and time-use data for similar people, valued at the cost of replacing those hours with paid services and projected over the person's expected life or the period the injury limits them.
Opinions on work capacity and on the future care the injury requires, either as a life care plan or as treatment recommendations with frequency and duration. The economist prices and discounts those inputs; the economist does not decide what care is needed.
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