KW Economics prepares economic damages analyses for cases venued in Chicago, Illinois. Employers such as City of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools, and Cook County Government shape the Chicago labor market, and where an analysis turns on local economic conditions it measures them against Chicago-area data and the records of the person or business at issue rather than against a citywide average. Plaintiff and defense.
Civil claims arising in Chicago are typically heard in the Circuit Court sitting in Cook County. The report documents the source behind every wage, benefit, and growth figure so counsel can trace each component of the loss to Chicago-area data or to the plaintiff's own records. Deposition and trial testimony are available for Chicago matters, in person or by remote appearance where the forum allows.
Chicago is located in Cook County, Illinois. As the largest city in Illinois, Chicago anchors one of the state's most active litigation markets and its most diverse wage market, so an earnings projection has to be built for the plaintiff's own occupation and employer rather than for the city as a whole. KW Economics prepares independent economic damages reports for Chicago attorneys and insurers, grounded in Illinois's expert evidence standards and damages rules and measured against wage data for the Chicago area.
Analyses for Chicago matters are directed by Christopher Skerritt, M.Ed., MBA, Chief of Economic Services, who is available to testify to them.
Services in Chicago
Lost Earnings and Earning Capacity Analysis - Past and future lost earnings and fringe benefits for a person whose injury has removed them from work or reduced what they can earn. The analysis builds from the earnings history, projects the but-for path over the person's expected worklife with wage growth, and discounts the future stream to present value. When the person can still work in a reduced capacity, the loss is framed as diminished earning capacity, with the post-injury path drawn from a vocational opinion or the treating record and offset against the but-for projection.
Wrongful Death Economic Loss - The economic loss to survivors when a wage earner or homemaker dies: the decedent's lost earnings and fringe benefits net of personal consumption, the household services the decedent would have provided, and the financial support that would have flowed to dependents. Which elements are recoverable, and whether the loss is measured to the estate or to the survivors, vary by state, so the analysis is structured to the framework counsel identifies and every assumption is stated so it can be examined.
Personal Injury Economic Damages - An integrated economic damages report for an injured person: lost earnings and fringe benefits, lost household services, and the present value of future medical and care costs supplied by treating providers or a life care plan. One report carries every economic component to a single present value with consistent growth, discount, and life expectancy assumptions, so counsel can present the damages as a whole and the jury sees one set of numbers.
Household Services Valuation - Replacement-cost valuation of the household production an injured or deceased person can no longer provide: meal preparation, cleaning, home and vehicle maintenance, shopping, child care, and care of other household members. The hours are drawn from national time-use data adjusted to the person's household composition and pre-injury role, and each category is priced at the local wage for the occupation that would replace it, then projected and discounted over the period of loss.
Life Care Plan Cost Projection and Present Value - Reduction of a life care plan's line items to a single present value. The plan's items, frequencies, durations, and unit costs are carried forward with medical cost growth appropriate to each category, then discounted over the applicable life expectancy. Plan authorship stays with the life care planner; our role is the economic translation of the plan into a damages figure that reconciles with the plan and can be examined item by item.
Employment and Wage-Loss Damages - Back pay, front pay, and lost benefits in discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, and wage-and-hour matters. The analysis reconstructs what the employee would have earned in the position, including raises, bonuses, and benefit accruals, measures actual interim earnings, and evaluates mitigation and the period over which front pay is reasonable. In wage-and-hour matters the same records drive an hours and pay reconstruction for the individual claim or the class.
Business Valuation - Valuation of closely held businesses and ownership interests for shareholder and partnership disputes, divorce, estate and gift matters, and buy-sell disagreements. The work applies the income, market, and asset approaches under the standard of value that governs the matter, addresses discounts for lack of control and marketability where they apply, and documents every input so the conclusion can be tested on cross-examination.
Lost Profits and Commercial Damages - Lost profits and related commercial damages for contract, business-tort, and business-interruption matters. The analysis builds the but-for revenue and cost path from the company's own history, its market, and the terms of the disputed relationship, links each claimed loss to the conduct at issue, addresses mitigation, and reasons through the period of loss so the damages figure answers the causation question as well as the amount.
Fraud Investigation and Asset Tracing - Forensic accounting for embezzlement, misappropriation, and financial statement irregularities. The work reconstructs the flow of funds through bank, ledger, and payment records, traces diverted assets to where they came to rest, quantifies the loss for each scheme identified, and documents the evidence trail so it can support a civil claim, an insurance recovery, or a referral to authorities.
Divorce and Marital Financial Analysis - Financial analysis for matrimonial matters: determination of income available for support when a spouse is self-employed or compensated in ways that do not appear on a pay stub, valuation of business interests in the marital estate, lifestyle analysis that documents the marital standard of living, and tracing of separate versus marital funds through accounts and assets. Each analysis is written so counsel can present it directly and the other side can test it.
Expert Rebuttal and Report Review - Critique of an opposing economic damages, valuation, or forensic accounting report for plaintiff or defense counsel. The review tests the assumptions, data sources, discount rates, worklife and life expectancy inputs, growth rates, mitigation treatment, and arithmetic behind the opposing number, identifies the errors that matter, and quantifies how the conclusion changes when they are corrected. The result supports cross-examination, a rebuttal report, or a motion directed at the reliability of the opinion.
Economic damages reports for Chicago cases are prepared for Illinois's civil and compensation forums, its expert evidence standards, and the damages rules that decide which loss components are recoverable.
Damages Framework
Illinois pairs a wrongful death action for the pecuniary injuries to the spouse and next of kin, which now include grief and loss of society, with a survival action for the decedent's own claims, including earnings lost between injury and death. Recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault exceeds half, the common-law collateral source rule applies with a post-verdict reduction procedure in medical malpractice cases, and prejudgment interest on personal injury and wrongful death awards now runs from the filing of the action.
Does KW Economics provide forensic economics services for cases venued in Chicago, Illinois?
Yes. KW Economics prepares economic damages analyses - lost earnings, wrongful death economic loss, household services, employment damages, and business damages - for attorneys handling matters venued in Chicago, Illinois, for plaintiff and defense counsel alike. Each projection is anchored to wage data for the Chicago area rather than to statewide or national averages.
How does a forensic economist account for Chicago wage levels in a lost earnings claim?
The plaintiff's own earnings history is the base of the projection. Occupational wage data for the Chicago area from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is used to test that history, to project a career that was still developing, and to value residual earnings after the injury, and the Chicago-area cost of living enters the replacement cost of household services. Every figure carries its source so it can be traced and tested at deposition.
Do you testify in Chicago, Illinois?
Yes. KW Economics economists testify at deposition, trial, and arbitration for Chicago matters, in person or by remote appearance where the forum allows, and the report is written to the disclosure requirements of the forum that will examine it. Consulting engagements without testimony are also available when counsel needs an early damages estimate or a review of an opposing report.