KW Economics prepares household services analysis for product liability cases venued in Arkansas: what the loss claim consists of, the records that drive it, and a present value built to Arkansas damages rules and venues. Plaintiff and defense.
Product liability claims often involve children, homemakers, and retirees whose economic loss is concentrated in household work rather than wages, so the household services valuation is frequently the largest component. The economist draws the pre-injury hours from the household's account and time-use data for a person of the same circumstances, apportions the loss by category using the medical restrictions in the record, prices each category at the local replacement wage, and projects the loss over the period of limitation or the person's expected life. In a mass tort setting the same documented method is applied to each claimant's own household so results are consistent in method and individual in result.
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.
The exposure tracks the injury: burns, amputations, and neurological injuries produce large future earnings and care losses; less severe injuries produce a bounded past loss and limited future treatment. Because product cases often involve children, homemakers, and retirees, the household services and care components frequently outweigh the earnings loss, and the analysis must be built from those components rather than from wage records that do not exist. For fatal injuries the exposure follows the wrongful death structure with the personal consumption deduction as the key assumption.
Arkansas trial courts act as gatekeepers and ask whether the economist's method is reliable, whether it has been tested and accepted in the profession, and whether it fits the facts of the case, with qualification resting on training and experience. A report that states its assumptions and cites its data sources answers those questions on its face.
Highest court: Arkansas Supreme Court. Court system: courts.arkansas.gov.
Federal venues: Eastern District of Arkansas, Western District of Arkansas.
Outside the civil courts, wage-loss disputes in workers' compensation matters proceed before the Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission.
Arkansas allows a wrongful death action for the statutory beneficiaries' pecuniary loss and mental anguish alongside a survival action for the estate, and the state constitution bars limits on the amount recoverable for injury or death. Recovery is barred only when the plaintiff's fault equals or exceeds the defendants', the common-law collateral source rule applies, and prejudgment interest is available where the amount of the loss was determinable at the time of the injury.
We issue the final report and provide deposition and trial testimony and rebuttal of opposing household services opinions.
Product liability claims often involve children, homemakers, and retirees whose economic loss is concentrated in household work rather than wages, so the household services valuation is frequently the largest component. The economist draws the pre-injury hours from the household's account and time-use data for a person of the same circumstances, apportions the loss by category using the medical restrictions in the record, prices each category at the local replacement wage, and projects the loss over the period of limitation or the person's expected life. In a mass tort setting the same documented method is applied to each claimant's own household so results are consistent in method and individual in result.
Arkansas trial courts act as gatekeepers and ask whether the economist's method is reliable, whether it has been tested and accepted in the profession, and whether it fits the facts of the case, with qualification resting on training and experience. A report that states its assumptions and cites its data sources answers those questions on its face. Product Liability cases venued in Arkansas are heard in the Circuit Court (General jurisdiction; civil, criminal, domestic, probate, and juvenile matters), with final appeals to the Arkansas Supreme Court. Matters within federal jurisdiction proceed in the Eastern District of Arkansas and Western District of Arkansas.
Arkansas allows a wrongful death action for the statutory beneficiaries' pecuniary loss and mental anguish alongside a survival action for the estate, and the state constitution bars limits on the amount recoverable for injury or death. Recovery is barred only when the plaintiff's fault equals or exceeds the defendants', the common-law collateral source rule applies, and prejudgment interest is available where the amount of the loss was determinable at the time of the injury. 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 Arkansas rules to a documented figure.
Request a consultation on Household Services or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.