KW Economics prepares household services analysis for product liability 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.
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.
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 product liability case venued in Georgia; the damages framework above decides which components enter the total. Establish the but-for path from the earnings history or, for a child, student, or homemaker, from the educational path, occupational data, or the household work performed. Draw the post-injury path from actual earnings and the work-capacity opinions, and project both paths over the applicable worklife or life expectancy with growth. Value household services from time-use data and local rates, and price future care from the life care plan with category-specific cost growth. Discount every stream to present value at a stated rate and, where there are multiple claimants, apply one documented methodology to each record.
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. Product Liability 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.