KW Economics prepares economic damages analyses - lost earnings, wrongful death economic loss, household services, employment damages, and business damages - for matters venued in Iowa. Earnings histories in Iowa often reflect manufacturing, agriculture, health care, and logistics employment with distinct wage paths and benefit packages, so the projection is built from the plaintiff's own records and from wage data for the plaintiff's own occupation and area rather than from a statewide average. Plaintiff and defense.
With about 3.2 million residents, Iowa 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 Iowa litigation. Each projection is anchored to the plaintiff's own records and to Iowa wage data, and written to the jurisdiction's expert evidence standards.
Analyses for Iowa 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 Iowa. 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.
Iowa's wrongful death recovery belongs to the estate and is measured by the present value of what the decedent would have accumulated over a normal lifetime net of personal expenses, with the spouse's and children's loss of consortium recovered separately, which makes the economist's net-accumulation projection central. In a personal injury action the jury hears evidence and argument on prior payments and future rights of payment for the cost of necessary medical care, rehabilitation services, and custodial care, other than payments under a state or federal program or from the assets of the plaintiff or the plaintiff's immediate family, together with what the plaintiff paid to secure those payments and any subrogation or indemnification rights attached to them, and then answers special interrogatories on how that evidence affected the verdict. Recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault exceeds the combined fault of the defendants, and interest on a judgment runs from the filing of the petition on past losses but only from judgment on future damages.
Iowa Division of Workers' Compensation
Highest court: Iowa Supreme Court. Federal venues: N.D. Iowa, S.D. Iowa.
Iowa's District 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 Iowa Division of Workers' Compensation. Final appeals in the Iowa court system run to the Iowa Supreme Court. Iowa is served by 2 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 Iowa, for plaintiff and defense counsel alike. Every projection is anchored to the plaintiff's own records and to wage data for the area of Iowa 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 Iowa 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 Iowa's general-jurisdiction trial courts and, where jurisdiction allows, in the federal district courts serving Iowa. 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 Iowa 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 Iowa law that counsel confirms; the report is structured so each component can be included or removed.
Request a consultation on Iowa cases or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.