KW Economics prepares life care plan costing for product liability cases venued in North Dakota: what the loss claim consists of, the records that drive it, and a present value built to North Dakota damages rules and venues. Plaintiff and defense.
Product liability injuries such as burns, amputations, and neurological injuries produce life care plans with long horizons and heavy recurring items, and the injured person is often a child whose plan runs for a full life expectancy. The economist carries each item forward with category-specific medical cost growth, schedules replacements at the plan's intervals, and discounts the stream over the life expectancy the medical evidence supports. In a mass tort setting the same growth, discount, and life expectancy conventions are applied across the claimants' plans so the valuations are consistent in method and each traces to its own plan.
Reduction of a life care plan's line items to a single present value. The plan's items, frequencies, durations, and unit costs are carried forward with medical cost growth appropriate to each category, then discounted over the applicable life expectancy. Plan authorship stays with the life care planner; our role is the economic translation of the plan into a damages figure that reconciles with the plan and can be examined item by item.
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.
North Dakota admits expert testimony liberally: the court asks whether the economist is qualified by training and experience and whether the opinion will help the fact finder, and leaves the weight of the testimony to cross-examination rather than screening its methodology in advance. An economic damages report is therefore tested on its inputs at deposition and trial, which is why it states each assumption and its source.
Highest court: North Dakota Supreme Court. Court system: ndcourts.gov.
Federal venues: District of North Dakota.
Outside the civil courts, wage-loss disputes in workers' compensation matters proceed before the North Dakota Workforce Safety and Insurance.
North Dakota pairs a wrongful death action for the damages to the surviving spouse, children, or parents with a survival action for the estate, and a statutory limit applies to noneconomic damages in health care malpractice claims while economic damages are unlimited. Recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault equals or exceeds the combined fault of the defendants, economic damages are reduced after verdict by collateral-source payments other than those the plaintiff purchased or that carry a subrogation right, and prejudgment interest is generally limited to sums that were certain when the loss occurred.
We issue the final report and provide deposition and trial testimony, rebuttal of opposing present value opinions, and revaluation when the plan is updated.
Product liability injuries such as burns, amputations, and neurological injuries produce life care plans with long horizons and heavy recurring items, and the injured person is often a child whose plan runs for a full life expectancy. The economist carries each item forward with category-specific medical cost growth, schedules replacements at the plan's intervals, and discounts the stream over the life expectancy the medical evidence supports. In a mass tort setting the same growth, discount, and life expectancy conventions are applied across the claimants' plans so the valuations are consistent in method and each traces to its own plan.
North Dakota admits expert testimony liberally: the court asks whether the economist is qualified by training and experience and whether the opinion will help the fact finder, and leaves the weight of the testimony to cross-examination rather than screening its methodology in advance. An economic damages report is therefore tested on its inputs at deposition and trial, which is why it states each assumption and its source. Product Liability cases venued in North Dakota are heard in the District Court (General jurisdiction; 7 judicial districts across 53 counties), with final appeals to the North Dakota Supreme Court. Matters within federal jurisdiction proceed in the District of North Dakota.
North Dakota pairs a wrongful death action for the damages to the surviving spouse, children, or parents with a survival action for the estate, and a statutory limit applies to noneconomic damages in health care malpractice claims while economic damages are unlimited. Recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault equals or exceeds the combined fault of the defendants, economic damages are reduced after verdict by collateral-source payments other than those the plaintiff purchased or that carry a subrogation right, and prejudgment interest is generally limited to sums that were certain when the loss occurred. 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 North Dakota rules to a documented figure.
Request a consultation on Life Care Plan Costing or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.