Determining Economic Damages

Description

This toolbook is loaded with practical forms, procedures, tables, and tactics from two veteran economists who have consulted on thousands of cases. The explanations are thorough, the math is straightforward, and the advice is detailed and valuable. Whether or not your case justifies retaining an expert, Determining Economic Damages can guide you start-to-finish through damage assessment and proof:

In personal injury and wrongful death cases:

• Determine past and future income losses.
• Compute the value of fringe benefits.
• Adjust for personal consumption.
• Adjust for income taxes.
• Measure the replacement value of household services.
• Compute life and worklife expectancy.
• Convert medical and rehabilitation reports into dollar values.
• Convert future losses to their present value.
• Put everything together to calculate loss.
• Prepare your case and expert for trial.
• Depose and cross-examine the opposing expert.

In business and commercial cases:

• Determine economic damages in employment disputes
• How to prove or disprove lost profits
• Value a business: the three approaches
• Measure damages in patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret infringement cases

Determining Economic Damages comes with over 100 questionnaires, Tables, and Worksheets. Some of the helpful tables and forms include:

The Economist

Questions for Qualifying your Expert at Trial, Preparing Your Expert for Trial, Government Agency Addresses, Suggested Personal Library Holdings, Personal Injury/Wrongful Death Bibliography, Checklists of Information to be Provided by Attorney, Checklist of Information to be Provided by Economist, Personal Injury Questionnaire, Wrongful Death Questionnaire, Wrongful Termination Questionnaire

Past & Future Earnings

Table of Average Weekly Hours Earnings, Wage Growth in Different Industries, Changes in Consumer Price Indexes, Productivity Trends in Selected Industries, Tables of Earnings for College Graduates by 6 Variables, Household Data, Median Weekly Earnings, 12 Tables of Geographic Comparisons, Farm Worker Demographics and Earnings, Consumer Price Index: Transportation and Medical Care, Union Contract Excerpt, Cohort Tables, Earnings Forecasts, Inflation Forecasts, and dozens more tables

Determining the Value of Benefits

Employer Costs, Employment Cost Index for Civilian Workers 1982-96, Total Benefits as Percent of Payroll, Adjusting for Personal Consumption and Support Factors, Personal Injury Report, Wrongful Death Report, Wrongful Birth Report, With Samples: Summary of Losses, Basis for Evaluation, Calculations

The Value of Household Services

Three Sample Dollar Value of a Day Tables, Sample Computation of Household Production Value, Suggested Cross Examination Questions for Loss Expert

Life and Work Expectancy

Life Table for Males, Life Table for Females, Civilian Labor Force Participation Rates by Sex, Work Life Expectancy Tables for Males, Work Life Expectancy Tables for Females, Sample Calculations

Using Reports of Medical and Rehabilitation Experts

Personal Injury Report, Wrongful Death Report, Wrongful Birth Report, With Samples: Summary of Losses, Basis for Evaluation, Calculations

Methods to Calculate Losses

Personal Injury Report, Wrongful Death Report, Wrongful Birth Report, With Samples: Summary of Losses, Basis for Evaluation, Calculations

Putting It All Together

Summary of Losses (Personal Injury, Wrongful Death, Wrongful Birth), Basis for Evaluation, Calculations of Losses

REVISION 28 HIGHLIGHTS

Determining Economic Damages guides you start-to-finish through damage assessment and proof. Learn how economic damages are calculated, what to ask a forensic economist, and which tables to consult for current data on which to base damages calculations, and more.

New in this edition:

CHAPTER 3 PAST AND FUTURE EARNINGS

• Small Business Owners and Other Self-Employed Workers. Evaluating lost earnings for a self-employed plaintiff presents special challenges. Methods used for traditional employees are not likely to be sufficient. See §353 for helpful documents and key questions a damages expert should ask. 

CHAPTER 7 LOSS DURATION; LIFE EXPECTANCY; AND WORKLIFE EXPECTANCY

• The Skoog/Ciecka/Krueger Years to Final Separation from Labor Force Tables. Years to final separation allows the damages expert to consider the plaintiff’s time not in the workforce before finally leaving it. See §734.
• WLE and YFS Compared. In some situations, WLE is a preferred measure of loss duration and in other matters, YFS is more appropriate. The choice depends on the facts of the case. See §743.

CHAPTER 9 USING REPORTS OF MEDICAL AND REHABILITATION EXPERTS

• Medical Care Price Increases and Life Care Plans. To estimate the future costs of goods and services indicated in a life care plan, you must increase the costs of these goods and services into the future before discounting them to present value. See §920.

CHAPTER 16 COMMERCIAL ECONOMIC DAMAGES: LOST PROFITS

• When to Value Lost Profits. When to value lost profits is a key issue to discuss with the retaining attorney to comport with rules applicable to the venue and type of case. There are typically three-date alternatives. See §16111.
• What Discount Rate to Use When Discounting Lost Profits. Courts have taken three basic approaches to the choice of discount rate. See §16111.

CHAPTER 18 ECONOMIC DAMAGES FROM INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFRINGEMENT

• Remedies in Copyright and Trademark Cases involving Infringer’s Costs. Courts do not agree about which expenses to deduct from revenue to account for defendant’s profits, especially in copyright and trademark cases. See §1846.

And More!