KW Economics prepares economic damages analyses - lost earnings, wrongful death economic loss, household services, employment damages, and business damages - for matters venued in California. Wage levels and the cost of living in California vary between its metropolitan areas and its rural counties, so an earnings projection is anchored to the plaintiff's own work history and to wage data for the area where the plaintiff actually worked rather than to a statewide average. Plaintiff and defense.
With about 40 million residents, California contains more than one distinct wage market, and the analysis uses the one the plaintiff actually worked in: occupational wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for that metropolitan or nonmetropolitan area, and household and cost-of-living data from the American Community Survey. Fringe benefits, worklife expectancy, wage growth, and the discount rate are each documented with their source so every figure in the projection can be traced and tested at deposition.
Our forensic economists prepare lost earnings, wrongful death, household services, employment, and business damages analyses and rebuttals for California litigation. Each projection is anchored to the plaintiff's own records and to California wage data, and written to the jurisdiction's expert evidence standards.
Analyses for California matters are directed by Christopher Skerritt, M.Ed., MBA, Chief of Economic Services, who is available to testify to them.
KW Economics accepts cases from attorneys across California. Select a city for local wage-market and venue context.
An economic damages report is written for the forum that will examine it and around the damages rules that forum applies.
California pairs a wrongful death action for the heirs' economic and companionship losses with a survival action for the estate's own claims, and past medical expenses are measured by the amounts actually paid or owed rather than by the amounts billed. Pure comparative fault reduces the award in proportion, the collateral source rule applies outside medical malpractice, and prejudgment interest in injury cases turns on the statutory offer-to-compromise procedure rather than accruing as of right.
California Division of Workers' Compensation
Highest court: Supreme Court of California. Federal venues: N.D. Cal., E.D. Cal., C.D. Cal., S.D. Cal.
California's Superior Court is the primary trial-level forum for the personal injury, wrongful death, employment, and commercial damages claims these analyses support. Workers' compensation claims, where the dispute is over wage-loss benefits rather than tort damages, are administered by the California Division of Workers' Compensation. Final appeals in the California court system run to the Supreme Court of California. California is served by 4 federal district courts, where the same analyses are offered under the federal expert-disclosure framework.
Yes. KW Economics prepares lost earnings, wrongful death economic loss, household services, employment damages, lost profits, and business valuation analyses, and reviews and rebuts opposing economic reports, for attorneys handling matters venued in California, for plaintiff and defense counsel alike. Every projection is anchored to the plaintiff's own records and to wage data for the area of California where the plaintiff actually worked.
The starting point is the plaintiff's own earnings history - tax returns, W-2s, pay records, and benefit statements - rather than an average. Occupational wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the plaintiff's metropolitan or nonmetropolitan area in California is used to test that history, to project a career that was still developing, and to value residual earnings after the injury, and household composition and cost-of-living data come from the American Community Survey. The source behind each figure is documented in the report.
Personal injury, wrongful death, employment, and commercial damages claims are heard in California's general-jurisdiction trial courts and, where jurisdiction allows, in the federal district courts serving California. Wage-loss disputes in workers' compensation matters proceed before the compensation forum rather than the civil courts. Attorneys are responsible for confirming the venue and the governing damages rules for their specific case.
The decedent's earnings and fringe benefits are projected over a documented worklife expectancy, reduced by the decedent's own personal consumption where the measure of damages in California calls for it, and combined with the value of the household services the decedent would have provided. Each future year is then discounted to present value at a documented rate tied to the growth assumptions, so the report shows the lump sum that replaces the lost stream today. Which components are recoverable is a question of California law that counsel confirms; the report is structured so each component can be included or removed.
Request a consultation on California cases or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.