KW Economics provides lost earnings analysis for matters venued in Minnesota. The projection starts from the plaintiff's own earnings history, tests it against occupational wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the metropolitan or nonmetropolitan area of Minnesota where the plaintiff worked, carries it over a documented worklife expectancy with wage growth, and discounts it to present value. Fringe benefits are valued from the employer's plan documents or from published employer-cost data, and any post-injury earning capacity is offset against the but-for path rather than assumed away. Plaintiff and defense.
Minnesota's District Court is the primary trial-level forum for the personal injury, wrongful death, employment, and commercial damages claims these analyses support. Workers' compensation claims, where the dispute is over wage-loss benefits rather than tort damages, are administered by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, Workers' Compensation Division. Final appeals in the Minnesota court system run to the Minnesota Supreme Court. Minnesota is served by 1 federal district court, where the same analyses are offered under the federal expert-disclosure framework.
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.
Minnesota's wrongful death action is brought by a trustee for the pecuniary loss to the surviving spouse and next of kin, a measure the courts read to include the value of the decedent's counsel, guidance, and aid, and a personal injury claim survives to the estate only when the death was caused by something other than the injury. Recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault exceeds the defendant's, awards are reduced after verdict by collateral-source payments except where a subrogation right exists and offset by the premiums the plaintiff paid for them, and preverdict interest runs from the commencement of the action or a written settlement demand. Outside the civil courts, wage-loss disputes in workers' compensation matters proceed before the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, Workers' Compensation Division.
Lost earnings analysis for Minnesota matters is directed by Christopher Skerritt, M.Ed., MBA, Chief of Economic Services, who is available to testify to it.
Our experts serve clients throughout Minnesota, including the following communities.
KW Economics offers complementary services to support your Minnesota cases.
Yes. KW Economics provides lost earnings analysis for attorneys handling matters venued in Minnesota, for plaintiff and defense counsel, with the analysis sized to the engagement scope and built from the records that drive the claim and from data for the Minnesota market rather than from national averages.
A complete engagement typically includes a records request tailored to the claim (tax returns, wage statements, personnel and benefit plan records, and the medical or work-capacity opinions that define the post-injury earnings path), a review of the record and the pleadings, a written statement of assumptions, a report that presents each loss component and its present value, review and rebuttal of any opposing report, and deposition and trial testimony when required. Scope and turnaround are calibrated to the case posture and the governing disclosure framework.
Expert disclosure in Minnesota is scheduled case by case: in the Minnesota trial courts by the case management or scheduling order, and in the federal district courts serving Minnesota by the federal expert-disclosure framework, under which the written report, the materials considered, and the testimony history are served together. KW Economics confirms the disclosure date at retention and sizes the records request and turnaround to it; counsel confirms the governing deadline for the case.
Request a consultation on Lost Earnings in Minnesota or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.