KW Economics prepares economic damages analyses - lost earnings, wrongful death economic loss, household services, employment damages, and business damages - for matters venued in Massachusetts. Earnings in Massachusetts 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 7.0 million residents, Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts litigation. Each projection is anchored to the plaintiff's own records and to Massachusetts wage data, and written to the jurisdiction's expert evidence standards.
Analyses for Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts. 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.
Massachusetts measures wrongful death by the fair monetary value of the decedent to the beneficiaries, including lost income, services, protection, care, assistance, society, and companionship, and permits punitive damages for gross negligence, with the decedent's own conscious suffering recovered by the estate. Recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault exceeds the combined fault of the defendants, the common-law collateral source rule applies outside medical malpractice, and prejudgment interest on tort awards runs from the commencement of the action.
Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents
Highest court: Supreme Judicial Court. Federal venues: D. Mass.
Massachusetts follows a modified comparative negligence standard, permitting plaintiffs to recover damages as long as their fault does not exceed the combined fault of the defendants. The state's civil litigation market is centered on Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston, one of the most active state civil courts in New England. The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (D. Mass.) in Boston handles a significant volume of federal civil litigation including employment, product liability, and commercial cases where economic damages testimony is routinely offered.
Massachusetts measures wrongful death by the fair monetary value of the decedent to the beneficiaries, including lost income and services as well as society and companionship, and prejudgment interest on tort awards runs from the filing of the action. The Department of Industrial Accidents (DIA) administers wage-loss benefits in workers' compensation claims. KW Economics economists are familiar with how Massachusetts judges evaluate economic damages testimony and how the state's damages framework shapes the components of the report.
The Massachusetts earnings picture is anchored by greater Boston's health care, higher education, biotechnology, financial services, and technology employers, whose wage levels and benefit structures differ from those in the western and southeastern parts of the state. Earnings projections for Massachusetts plaintiffs are built from the plaintiff's own records and from occupational wage data for the plaintiff's own metropolitan or nonmetropolitan area, not from a statewide figure.
Suffolk County Superior Court, D. Mass. (Boston), Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents, Massachusetts Appeals Court
Common case types: Personal Injury, Wrongful Death, Medical Malpractice, Employment Discrimination, Product Liability.
Massachusetts'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 Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents. Final appeals in the Massachusetts court system run to the Supreme Judicial Court. Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts, for plaintiff and defense counsel alike. Every projection is anchored to the plaintiff's own records and to wage data for the area of Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts's general-jurisdiction trial courts and, where jurisdiction allows, in the federal district courts serving Massachusetts. 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 Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts law that counsel confirms; the report is structured so each component can be included or removed.
Request a consultation on Massachusetts cases or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.