KW Economics provides wrongful death analysis for matters venued in Delaware. The decedent's earnings and fringe benefits are projected over a documented worklife expectancy, reduced by the decedent's own personal consumption where the Delaware measure of damages calls for it, and combined with the replacement cost of the household services the decedent would have provided. Each stream is discounted to present value, and the report keeps the components separate so counsel can include or remove any of them as Delaware law requires. Plaintiff and defense.
Delaware's Superior 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 Delaware Office of Workers' Compensation. Final appeals in the Delaware court system run to the Delaware Supreme Court. Delaware is served by 1 federal district court, where the same analyses are offered under the federal expert-disclosure framework.
The economic loss to survivors when a wage earner or homemaker dies: the decedent's lost earnings and fringe benefits net of personal consumption, the household services the decedent would have provided, and the financial support that would have flowed to dependents. Which elements are recoverable, and whether the loss is measured to the estate or to the survivors, vary by state, so the analysis is structured to the framework counsel identifies and every assumption is stated so it can be examined.
Delaware provides a wrongful death action for the beneficiaries' pecuniary losses and mental anguish alongside a survival action for the estate, and recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault exceeds the combined fault of the defendants. The collateral source rule applies outside medical malpractice, where evidence of collateral payments is admissible, and prejudgment interest is available in personal injury actions when the plaintiff made a timely written settlement demand. Outside the civil courts, wage-loss disputes in workers' compensation matters proceed before the Delaware Office of Workers' Compensation.
Wrongful death analysis for Delaware 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 Delaware, including the following communities.
KW Economics offers complementary services to support your Delaware cases.
Yes. KW Economics provides wrongful death analysis for attorneys handling matters venued in Delaware, 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 Delaware market rather than from national averages.
A complete engagement typically includes a records request tailored to the claim (the decedent's tax returns, pay and benefit records, and the household's composition and routine), 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 Delaware is scheduled case by case: in the Delaware trial courts by the case management or scheduling order, and in the federal district courts serving Delaware 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 Wrongful Death in Delaware or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.