KW Economics provides household services analysis for matters venued in American Samoa. The hours the injured or deceased person devoted to meal preparation, cleaning, home and vehicle maintenance, shopping, and the care of others are drawn from national time-use data adjusted to the household's own composition and routine, priced at the wage a replacement worker earns for each task in the area of American Samoa where the household lives, carried over the relevant life or worklife expectancy, and discounted to present value. Plaintiff and defense.
The High Court of American Samoa (Trial Division) 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 American Samoa Workmen's Compensation Commission. Final appeals in the American Samoa court system run to the High Court of American Samoa, Appellate Division.
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.
In American Samoa, a wrongful death action for the beneficiaries' pecuniary loss and a survival action for the decedent's own claims are heard by the Trial Division of the High Court, and the small on-island wage market means an earnings history often includes government, cannery, or off-island employment. The rules on fault allocation, collateral-source payments, and prejudgment interest follow the territory's own code and case law, which counsel should confirm for the specific claim. Outside the civil courts, wage-loss disputes in workers' compensation matters proceed before the American Samoa Workmen's Compensation Commission.
Household services analysis for American Samoa matters is directed by Christopher Skerritt, M.Ed., MBA, Chief of Economic Services, who is available to testify to it.
Our experts serve clients throughout American Samoa, including the following communities.
KW Economics offers complementary services to support your American Samoa cases.
Yes. KW Economics provides household services analysis for attorneys handling matters venued in American Samoa, for plaintiff and defense counsel, with the analysis sized to the engagement scope and built from the records that drive the claim and from data for the American Samoa market rather than from national averages.
A complete engagement typically includes a records request tailored to the claim (the household's composition, the person's pre-injury routine, and any records of paid help), a review of the record and the pleadings, a written statement of assumptions, a report that presents each loss component and its present value, review and rebuttal of any opposing report, and deposition and trial testimony when required. Scope and turnaround are calibrated to the case posture and the governing disclosure framework.
Expert disclosure in American Samoa is scheduled case by case: in the American Samoa trial courts by the case management or scheduling order, and in the federal district courts serving American Samoa by the federal expert-disclosure framework, under which the written report, the materials considered, and the testimony history are served together. KW Economics confirms the disclosure date at retention and sizes the records request and turnaround to it; counsel confirms the governing deadline for the case.
Request a consultation on Household Services in American Samoa or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.