KW Economics provides wrongful death analysis for matters venued in Pennsylvania. The decedent's earnings and fringe benefits are projected over a documented worklife expectancy, reduced by the decedent's own personal consumption where the Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania law requires. Plaintiff and defense.
Pennsylvania's Court of Common Pleas 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 Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers' Compensation. Final appeals in the Pennsylvania court system run to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is served by 3 federal district courts, 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.
Pennsylvania keeps the wrongful death and survival actions distinct: the wrongful death claim covers the beneficiaries' lost support, services, and funeral and administration expenses, while the survival claim covers the decedent's pain and suffering and lost earnings for the rest of the projected worklife net of the decedent's personal maintenance, so the economist prepares both a support projection and a net-earnings projection. Recovery is barred once the plaintiff's fault exceeds the combined fault of the defendants, the common-law collateral source rule applies outside medical malpractice, where past medical expenses and lost earnings already paid by certain benefits are not recoverable, and the civil rules add delay damages to bodily injury and death awards. Outside the civil courts, wage-loss disputes in workers' compensation matters proceed before the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers' Compensation.
Wrongful death analysis for Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania, including the following communities.
KW Economics offers complementary services to support your Pennsylvania cases.
Yes. KW Economics provides wrongful death analysis for attorneys handling matters venued in Pennsylvania, 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 Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania is scheduled case by case: in the Pennsylvania trial courts by the case management or scheduling order, and in the federal district courts serving Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.