KW Economics prepares economic damages analyses - lost earnings, wrongful death economic loss, household services, employment damages, and business damages - for matters venued in New Mexico. Wage levels and the cost of living in New Mexico vary between its metropolitan areas and its rural counties, 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 2.1 million residents, New Mexico 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 New Mexico litigation. Each projection is anchored to the plaintiff's own records and to New Mexico wage data, and written to the jurisdiction's expert evidence standards.
Analyses for New Mexico 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 New Mexico. 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.
New Mexico measures wrongful death by the worth of the decedent's life from the decedent's own standpoint, a recovery that belongs to the estate and includes lost earnings, the value of the decedent's life apart from earnings, and the decedent's own pre-death damages, with loss of consortium brought separately by close family. Pure comparative fault reduces the award in proportion, the common-law collateral source rule applies, and prejudgment interest is discretionary and weighs each party's settlement conduct.
New Mexico Workers' Compensation Administration
Highest court: New Mexico Supreme Court. Federal venues: D.N.M.
New Mexico'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 New Mexico Workers' Compensation Administration. Final appeals in the New Mexico court system run to the New Mexico Supreme Court. New Mexico 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 New Mexico, for plaintiff and defense counsel alike. Every projection is anchored to the plaintiff's own records and to wage data for the area of New Mexico 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 New Mexico 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 New Mexico's general-jurisdiction trial courts and, where jurisdiction allows, in the federal district courts serving New Mexico. 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 New Mexico 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 New Mexico law that counsel confirms; the report is structured so each component can be included or removed.
Request a consultation on New Mexico cases or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.