KW Economics prepares lost earnings analysis for product liability cases venued in Colorado: what the loss claim consists of, the records that drive it, and a present value built to Colorado damages rules and venues. Plaintiff and defense.
Product liability claims often involve an injured person whose exposure to the product bears no relation to their occupation, so the lost earnings analysis is built from that person's own path rather than from the circumstances of the injury. The economist establishes the but-for earnings base from the earnings history or, for a child, student, or homemaker, from the educational path and occupational earnings data, projects it over the applicable worklife with growth, and sets against it the post-injury path the work-capacity opinions support. In a mass tort setting the same documented method is applied to each claimant's own records so results are consistent in method and individual in result.
Past and future lost earnings and fringe benefits for a person whose injury has removed them from work or reduced what they can earn. The analysis builds from the earnings history, projects the but-for path over the person's expected worklife with wage growth, and discounts the future stream to present value. When the person can still work in a reduced capacity, the loss is framed as diminished earning capacity, with the post-injury path drawn from a vocational opinion or the treating record and offset against the but-for projection.
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.
Colorado applies a liberal but reliability-based inquiry: the trial court asks whether the economist's principles are reasonably reliable, whether the witness is qualified to apply them, and whether the testimony will help the jury, without requiring general acceptance. A damages report meets that inquiry by showing the published basis for each assumption and its application to the record.
Highest court: Colorado Supreme Court. Court system: courts.state.co.us.
Federal venues: District of Colorado.
Outside the civil courts, wage-loss disputes in workers' compensation matters proceed before the Colorado Division of Workers' Compensation.
Colorado's wrongful death action is measured by the net pecuniary loss to the heirs plus a limited allowance for grief, while the survival action for the estate excludes the decedent's pain and suffering. Awards are reduced after verdict by collateral-source payments other than benefits the plaintiff paid for by contract, recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault reaches half, and prejudgment interest on personal injury awards runs from the date the claim accrued.
We issue the final report in disclosure-ready form and provide deposition and trial testimony, rebuttal of opposing economic opinions, and updated calculations as new records arrive.
Product liability claims often involve an injured person whose exposure to the product bears no relation to their occupation, so the lost earnings analysis is built from that person's own path rather than from the circumstances of the injury. The economist establishes the but-for earnings base from the earnings history or, for a child, student, or homemaker, from the educational path and occupational earnings data, projects it over the applicable worklife with growth, and sets against it the post-injury path the work-capacity opinions support. In a mass tort setting the same documented method is applied to each claimant's own records so results are consistent in method and individual in result.
Colorado applies a liberal but reliability-based inquiry: the trial court asks whether the economist's principles are reasonably reliable, whether the witness is qualified to apply them, and whether the testimony will help the jury, without requiring general acceptance. A damages report meets that inquiry by showing the published basis for each assumption and its application to the record. Product Liability cases venued in Colorado are heard in the District Court (General jurisdiction; larger civil cases, felonies, domestic relations, probate), with final appeals to the Colorado Supreme Court. Matters within federal jurisdiction proceed in the District of Colorado.
Colorado's wrongful death action is measured by the net pecuniary loss to the heirs plus a limited allowance for grief, while the survival action for the estate excludes the decedent's pain and suffering. Awards are reduced after verdict by collateral-source payments other than benefits the plaintiff paid for by contract, recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault reaches half, and prejudgment interest on personal injury awards runs from the date the claim accrued. 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 Colorado rules to a documented figure.
Request a consultation on Lost Earnings or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.