KW Economics prepares household services analysis for personal injury cases venued in Georgia: what the loss claim consists of, the records that drive it, and a present value built to Georgia damages rules and venues. Plaintiff and defense.
In a personal injury claim the household services loss is measured from the difference between the household work the person did before the injury and what they can do now. The economist draws the pre-injury hours from national time-use data for a person of the same age, sex, employment status, and household composition, adjusted to the household's own account, apportions the loss by category using the medical restrictions in the record, and prices each category at the local wage for the occupation that would replace it. The loss is projected over the period of limitation, or over life expectancy where the limitation is permanent, and discounted to present value.
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.
Which component dominates depends on the person's age, occupation, and residual capacity. For a young worker who can no longer perform a skilled trade, future earnings loss over a long worklife usually outweighs everything else. For a person who returns to work at reduced hours or lower pay, the loss is the gap between the but-for path and the post-injury path, and the size of that gap is the contested question. Where a life care plan exists, its present value is often the largest single figure in the report, and household services losses can be substantial when the injured person did most of the home's unpaid work.
Georgia trial courts act as gatekeepers in civil cases and ask whether the economist is qualified by training and experience, whether the method has been tested and accepted in the profession, and whether it was applied reliably to the facts. An economic damages report meets that inquiry by stating its assumptions and naming the data series behind each one.
Highest court: Supreme Court of Georgia. Court system: gasupreme.us.
Federal venues: Northern District of Georgia, Middle District of Georgia, Southern District of Georgia.
Outside the civil courts, wage-loss disputes in workers' compensation matters proceed before the Georgia State Board of Workers' Compensation.
Georgia measures wrongful death by the full value of the life of the decedent from the decedent's own standpoint, an economic component built on lost earnings and services without deduction for the decedent's personal expenses plus an intangible component, while the estate separately recovers pre-death medical expenses, pain and suffering, and funeral costs. Recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault reaches half, the common-law collateral source rule applies, and prejudgment interest on unliquidated tort damages is tied to a written demand procedure.
We issue the final report and provide deposition and trial testimony and rebuttal of opposing household services opinions.
The same four steps apply to a personal injury case venued in Georgia; the damages framework above decides which components enter the total. Establish the but-for earnings and fringe benefit base from the tax, wage, benefit, and personnel records, or from occupational data for a career still in training. Project the base over a statistically expected worklife with a stated wage growth rate and compare it with the post-injury path the record supports. Value household services from time-use data and local replacement rates, and price the future care in the life care plan item by item with medical cost growth. Discount every future stream to present value at a stated rate and show the sensitivity of the total to the contested assumptions.
Georgia trial courts act as gatekeepers in civil cases and ask whether the economist is qualified by training and experience, whether the method has been tested and accepted in the profession, and whether it was applied reliably to the facts. An economic damages report meets that inquiry by stating its assumptions and naming the data series behind each one. Personal Injury cases venued in Georgia are heard in the Superior Court (General jurisdiction; civil cases, felonies, domestic relations, equity) and the State Court (Civil actions regardless of amount except those reserved to the superior court, misdemeanors), with final appeals to the Supreme Court of Georgia. Matters within federal jurisdiction proceed in the Northern District of Georgia, Middle District of Georgia, and Southern District of Georgia.
Georgia measures wrongful death by the full value of the life of the decedent from the decedent's own standpoint, an economic component built on lost earnings and services without deduction for the decedent's personal expenses plus an intangible component, while the estate separately recovers pre-death medical expenses, pain and suffering, and funeral costs. Recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault reaches half, the common-law collateral source rule applies, and prejudgment interest on unliquidated tort damages is tied to a written demand procedure. The report presents past and future amounts separately, states every rate and table with its source, and shows the result under the alternatives the other side is likely to argue, so counsel can apply the Georgia rules to a documented figure.
Request a consultation on Household Services or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.