KW Economics prepares economic damages analyses - lost earnings, wrongful death economic loss, household services, employment damages, and business damages - for matters venued in Virginia. Wage levels and the cost of living in Virginia 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 8.6 million residents, Virginia 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 Virginia litigation. Each projection is anchored to the plaintiff's own records and to Virginia wage data, and written to the jurisdiction's expert evidence standards.
Analyses for Virginia 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 Virginia. 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.
Virginia treats a death caused by the injury as a wrongful death action for the statutory beneficiaries, whose recovery includes sorrow and solace, the decedent's expected income, services, protection, care, and assistance, and medical and funeral expenses, with a separate survival action only when death came from another cause. Contributory negligence remains a complete bar, the common-law collateral source rule applies, a statutory limit applies to the total recovery in medical malpractice cases, and prejudgment interest is awarded at the discretion of the factfinder.
Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission
Highest court: Supreme Court of Virginia. Federal venues: E.D. Va., W.D. Va.
Virginia is a contributory negligence state - one of only a handful remaining in the United States. Under contributory negligence, a plaintiff who is found even minimally at fault for an accident may be barred from any recovery, so the threshold question of liability is often as contested as damages, and the economic loss analysis must be airtight when the case reaches the jury. Virginia's wrongful death statute gives the statutory beneficiaries a recovery that includes the decedent's expected income and services, and prejudgment interest is left to the factfinder's discretion.
Virginia's federal courts - particularly the Eastern District of Virginia (E.D. Va.), known informally as the "Rocket Docket" for its compressed trial schedule - demand that expert reports and disclosures be thorough and ready for trial from the outset. The Western District of Virginia covers the Roanoke and Charlottesville areas. Virginia state courts apply the Virginia Rules of Evidence, which have been substantially modernized but retain some distinctions from the Federal Rules.
KW Economics maintains an office in Richmond, VA, providing direct familiarity with Virginia's court systems and the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission. Earnings projections for Virginia cases are built from the wage data for the plaintiff's own region - Northern Virginia, Richmond, Hampton Roads, or the rural Southwest - because wage levels, the federal and military presence, and the cost of living differ materially across the state.
Virginia Circuit Courts, Virginia Courts of Appeals, E.D. Va. (Richmond and Alexandria Divisions), W.D. Va., Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission
Common case types: Personal Injury, Wrongful Death, Medical Malpractice, Workers' Compensation, Employment Discrimination.
Virginia'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 Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission. Final appeals in the Virginia court system run to the Supreme Court of Virginia. Virginia 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 Virginia, for plaintiff and defense counsel alike. Every projection is anchored to the plaintiff's own records and to wage data for the area of Virginia 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 Virginia 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 Virginia's general-jurisdiction trial courts and, where jurisdiction allows, in the federal district courts serving Virginia. 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 Virginia 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 Virginia law that counsel confirms; the report is structured so each component can be included or removed.
Request a consultation on Virginia cases or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.