KW Economics prepares economic damages analyses - lost earnings, wrongful death economic loss, household services, employment damages, and business damages - for matters venued in the District of Columbia. Earnings in the District of Columbia are shaped by regional wage markets that do not stop at the state line, 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, whichever side of the line that is, rather than to a statewide or national average. Plaintiff and defense.
With about 690,000 residents inside a much larger metropolitan wage market, the District of Columbia is analyzed with occupational wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Washington metropolitan area and with 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 District of Columbia litigation. Each projection is anchored to the plaintiff's own records and to District of Columbia wage data, and written to the jurisdiction's expert evidence standards.
Analyses for District of Columbia 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 the District of Columbia. 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.
The District pairs a wrongful death action for the pecuniary loss to the spouse and next of kin with a survival action in which the estate recovers the decedent's probable future earnings net of personal maintenance, and the two recoveries are coordinated to prevent double counting. Contributory negligence remains a complete bar in most cases, the common-law collateral source rule applies, and prejudgment interest on unliquidated damages is discretionary.
DC Department of Employment Services, Office of Workers' Compensation
Highest court: District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Federal venues: D.D.C.
The Superior Court of the District of Columbia 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 DC Department of Employment Services, Office of Workers' Compensation. Final appeals in the District of Columbia court system run to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. The District of Columbia is served by 1 federal district court, 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 the District of Columbia, for plaintiff and defense counsel alike. Every projection is anchored to the plaintiff's own records and to wage data for the area of the District of Columbia 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 the District of Columbia 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 the District of Columbia's general-jurisdiction trial courts and, where jurisdiction allows, in the federal district courts serving the District of Columbia. 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 the District of Columbia 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 District of Columbia law that counsel confirms; the report is structured so each component can be included or removed.
Request a consultation on District of Columbia cases or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.