KW Economics prepares economic damages analyses - lost earnings, wrongful death economic loss, household services, employment damages, and business damages - for matters venued in Florida. Wage levels and the cost of living in Florida differ between its metropolitan counties and its rural ones, 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 22 million residents, Florida 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 Florida litigation. Each projection is anchored to the plaintiff's own records and to Florida wage data, and written to the jurisdiction's expert evidence standards.
Analyses for Florida 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 Florida. 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.
Florida's Wrongful Death Act gives each survivor a claim for lost support and services and gives the estate a claim for the decedent's lost net accumulations, an expressly economic concept that the economist projects from the decedent's earnings, consumption, and savings pattern. Awards are reduced by collateral-source payments unless the source holds a subrogation right, recovery is barred in most negligence actions once the plaintiff is found more at fault than the defendants, and prejudgment interest is generally not awarded on personal injury or wrongful death damages.
Florida Division of Workers' Compensation
Highest court: Florida Supreme Court. Federal venues: N.D. Fla., M.D. Fla., S.D. Fla.
Florida's Circuit 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 Florida Division of Workers' Compensation. Final appeals in the Florida court system run to the Florida Supreme Court. Florida is served by 3 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 Florida, for plaintiff and defense counsel alike. Every projection is anchored to the plaintiff's own records and to wage data for the area of Florida 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 Florida 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 Florida's general-jurisdiction trial courts and, where jurisdiction allows, in the federal district courts serving Florida. 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 Florida 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 Florida law that counsel confirms; the report is structured so each component can be included or removed.
Request a consultation on Florida cases or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.