Determining Economic Damages

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Table of Contents

 

Chapter 1. The Forensic Economist

§100    The Art and Science of Forensic Economics

§101     Economic Logic and Legal Requirements

§102     An Overview of Economic Services Available

§103     What You Should Know About Forensic Economics

§104     Effect of Economic Testimony on Awards

§105     Perspective of this Book

§106     Basic Definitions

§110    What to Consider When Choosing an Expert

§111     Local v. Outsider

§112     Experienced v. Inexperienced

§113     Impartiality

§114     Contracts Between Lawyer and Economist

§114.1       Sample Agreement No. 1

§114.2       Sample Agreement No. 2

§114.3       Sample Agreement No. 3

§114.4       Sample Agreement No. 4

§114.5       Sample Agreement No. 5—Attorney General

§114.6       Sample Agreement No. 6

§115     Consulting v. Testifying Expert

§116     Economic Specialties

§117     The Economist as Facilitator

§120    Qualifying Your Expert

§121     Education

§121.1       Specific Fields of Study

§122     Publication Record

§123     Association Memberships

§124     Academic Rank

§125     Experience

§126     Communication Skills

§127     Knowledge of Computers

§130    How to Locate an Expert

§131     Listing of Economists

§140    What to Learn About Your Expert Before Retaining Him

§141     The Cost

§141.1       Contingency Fee Testimony

§141.2       Contingency Fee Rule

§142     His Past Testimony

§143     Applicability of Experience

§144     His Personality

§145     Availability

§146     References

§147     Read Your Expert’s Publications Checklist: Choosing an Expert

§148     What the Expert Can Do for the Plaintiff

§149     What the Expert Can Do for the Defendant

§150    Qualifying Your Expert at Trial

Sample: Questions for Qualifying Your Expert at Trial

§160    Preparing the Expert for Trial

Form: Preparing for Trial

§170    Building a Profile Before the Expert Testifies

§171     Honest Differences Between Economists

§180    The Daubert Test

Chapter 2. Overview of Data Needed by the Economist

§200    In General

§210    Demographic Data

§211     Race, Sex, Date of Birth, Date of Incident, and Date of Trial

§212     Education

§213     Health History

§214     Occupational History

§215     Income History

§216     The Employed Plaintiff

§217     Household Services

§218     Family Composition

§219     Personal Consumption

§220    Medically Related Data

§221     Funeral, Burial, and Medical Expenses

§222     Attendant Care and Nursing Homes

§230    Life and Worklife Expectancy and Time to Trial

§240    Earnings Growth Rates and Interest Rates

§250    Occupational Earnings

§260    Statistical Data

§261     Tax Rates and Adjustments

§262     Obtaining Government Data

List: Government Agency Addresses

§263     Obtaining Union Data and Contracts

§270    The Economist’s Personal Library

List: Suggested Personal Library Holdings

§271     Forensic Economics Bibliographies

§272     Readings in Current Research

§273     The Journal of Forensic Economics

§274     The Journal of Legal Economics

§275     The Litigation Economics Digest

§276     The Earnings Analyst

§280    Checklists for Obtaining Data

Checklist: Information to Be Provided by the Attorney

Checklist: Information to be Provided by the Economist

§281     Sample Questionnaires

Sample: Personal Injury Questionnaire

Sample: Wrongful Death Questionnaire

Sample: Wrongful Termination Questionnaire

Sample: Addendum: Legal Considerations

§281.1       Specialized Questionnaires

Sample: Combined Questionnaire

Sample: Household Service Value Questionnaire

§290    The Proper Order: Plaintiff or Defendant?

Chapter 3. Past and Future Earnings

§300    In General

§301     Historical Wage Changes

Table 1: Hourly Earnings

Table 1A: Nominal Wage Growth

Table 1B: Real Wage Growth

§302     The Continental Soldier Fallacy

§303     Loss of Earnings or Earning Capacity

§304     Base Earnings

§310    Wage Differences Among Occupations

§311     The Causes of Wage Changes

Table 2: Changes in Consumer Price Indexes

Table 3: Productivity Trends

§312     How Occupations Are Defined

§320    Demographic Factors and Earnings

§321     Education and Earnings

Table 3A: Earnings by Education

§321.1       Probabilities of Completing Various Levels of School

Table 4: Education, Age, and Earnings

Table 4A: Levels of Education

Table 4B: Educational Attainment All Native v. Foreign Born Citizens

§321.2       Impact of Education of Parents

Table 4C: Sons and Daughters Educational Attainment

§322     Sex and Earnings

Table 4D: Male v. Female Earnings

§323     Race and Earnings

Table 5: Race and Earnings

§324     Age and Earnings

§324.1       Earning Capacity of the Minor Plaintiff

§325     Geography and Earnings

§325.1       Economic Research Institute

Table 6: Average Earnings by State

Table 6A: Position Description

Table 6B: Earnings in Base City

Table 6C: Earnings in Destination City

Table 6D: Relocation Comparisons

Table 6E: Salary and CPI Equivalents

§326     Farmworker Earnings

§326.1       Farm Worker Questionnaire

Table 7: Weeks of Farm Work Per Year

Table 7A: Farmworker Demographics

Table 7B: Farmworker Earnings

Table 7C: Hourly Farmworker Earnings

§330    Using Statistical Data

§331     Interpreting Indexes

Table 8: Consumer Price Index: Medical Care

Table 9: Index of Prices for Farmers

§332     Using Union Contracts

Table 10: Union Contract Excerpt

§333     Using Cohort Tables

Sample: Cohort Table

Sample: Revised Cohort Table

§331.1       Cohort Tables With Age Brackets

§334     The OASDHI Earnings Forecast to the Year 2080

§334.1       CBO Interest Rate Forecast

Table 11: OASDI Earnings Changes: 1960-2080

Table 11A: Congressional Budget Office Forecast Interest Rates

Table 12: Prices, Wages, Interest Rates—Fairmodel

§335     Inflation Forecasts

Table 13: The Livingston Survey

Table 14: FRB Philadelphia Combined Forecast

Table 14A: Employment Cost Trends

Table 14B: 50 Years of Economic Trends

§336     The Employment Cost Index (ECI)

§336.1       Employment Cost Index - State and Local Government Employees

Table 15: ECI Growth Rates – State and Local Government Employees

§337     Measuring 50 Years of Economic Change

§338     Additional Bureau of Labor Statistics Wage Studies

Table 16: Occupational Employment Statistics

Table 16A: National Compensation Survey

§340    Plaintiff’s Employment Status

§341     The Unemployed Plaintiff

§342     The Retired Plaintiff

§343     The Minor Plaintiff

§344     The Illegal Alien Plaintiff

§350    Other Types of Losses

§351     Lost Business Profits

§352     The Wrongfully Terminated Plaintiff

§353     The Wrongful Birth

Table 17: Cost of Raising Child—Husband-Wife Families

Table 17A: Cost of Raising Child—Single-Parent Families

Table 18: Cost of College

§353.1       Valuing Children

§353.2       Wrongful Birth Pro Rata Cost Approach

§354     Special Problems in Earnings Data

§355     Losses in Foreign Currency

§356     Children Supporting Parents

§357     Total Lifetime Earnings by Sex and Education

Table 18A: Total Lifetime Earnings

§360    Perspective of this Chapter

Chapter 4. Determining the Value of Employer Paid Benefits

§400    In General

§410    Where to Find Benefit Information

§411     Information from the Employee Client

§412     Information from the Employer

§413     Information from Unions

§414     Information from the Department of Labor

Table 19: Employer Costs

Table 20: Employment Wages and Benefits Percent Changes

§415     Information from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Table 21: Total Benefits as Percent of Payroll

Table 22: Benefits as a Percent of Pay

§416     Social Security Credits and Ages

§420    Specific Benefits

§421     Paid Vacations and Sick Leave Pay

§422     Life Insurance

§423     Health Insurance

§423.1       Health Care Reform

§423.2       How to Obtain Health Insurance Premium Quotes

Table 22A: Health Insurance Premium Quotes

§424     Pensions and Retirement Plans

§425     The Company Car

§426     Expense Accounts and other Miscellaneous Perks

§427     Estimating the Loss of Social Security Retirement Benefits

Table 22B: Estimates of Social Security Losses for Married Workers

§430    Summarizing Lost Benefits

List: Summary of Benefits

§440    How to Determine the Loss

Chapter 5. Adjusting for Personal Consumption and Support Factors

§500    In General

§510    Defining Personal Consumption and Support Factors

§511     Family Lifetime Consumption Patterns

§512     The Cheit Study

List: The Cheit Study Values

§513     Government Studies

List: Government Study Values

§520    Combining the Various Studies

List: Average of the Various Studies

Table 22C: Support and Consumption Factors

§530    Support or Consumption Factors

§531     When to Make the Adjustment

§532     Use a Family Data Sheet

Sample: Family Data Sheet

Sample: Schedule of Personal Consumption Deductions

§533     Unusual Circumstances

Checklist: Personal Consumption and Support Factors

§534     Consumption for the Single Person

§535     Personal and Indivisible Consumption by Family Size and Income

Table 22D: Consumption by Household Members, by Number of Persons in Household and Income Levels—Savings Excluded as Consumption Item

Table 22E: Consumption by Household Members, by Number of Persons in Household and Income Levels—Savings Included as Consumption Item

Table 22F: Consumption by Household Members, by Number of Persons in Household and Income Levels, Savings and Social Security/Pension Contributions Included as Consumption Items

Table 22G: Expenditures for Single Persons

Chapter 6. The Value of Household Services

§600    In General

§610    What Are Household Services?

§611     Measuring the Amount of Services Lost

§612     Ask About Unusual Services

§620    Studies of Hours and Values

List: Summary of the Studies

§621     How to Use the Hours Per Week Studies

§622     The Dollar Value Study

Table 23: Dollar Values of Household Services

§630    Adjusting Household Service Values

§631     Years of Healthy Life and Full Function Life

Table 24: Healthy and Full Function Life Expectancy

§632     Self Consumption of Household Services

§633     Joint Family v. Individual Service Value

§640    [Reserved]

§650    An Alternative Measure of Household Service Value

§650.1       The Four General Approaches to Measuring Household Production of Services

§650.2       Recent Studies on the Value of Household Services

§651     The Dollar Value of a Day

Table 24A: Hours Per Week

Table 24B: Dollar Value Per Day

§652     Hours of Household Work Based on Marital Status

Table 24C: Household Work by Marital Status

Chapter 7. Life and Worklife Expectancy

§700    In General

§710    Where to Locate Life Expectancy Tables

Table 25: Life Expectancy for Males and Females

Table 26: Mortality Tables

§720    When to Use Life Expectancy

§730    Worklife Expectancy Tables

Table 27: Worklife Expectancy for Men by Schooling

Table 28: Worklife Expectancy for Women by Schooling

§731     Date of Trial

§732     Active But Out of Work

§740    Recent Worklife Model Innovations

§741     Years to Workforce Separation

Table 28A: Years to Workforce Separation—Male

Table 28B: Years to Workforce Separation—Female

§741.1       Worklife Tables After 1986

§741.2       The Skoog/Ciecka Worklife Tables – 2003

Table 28C: Worklife Expectancy: Males, Active, by Education

Table 28D: Worklife Expectancy: Males, Inactive, by Education

Table 28E: Worklife Expectancy: Females, Active, by Education

Table 28F: Worklife Expectancy: Females, Inactive, by Education

§741.3       Form 5500: Determination of the Average Retirement Age

Table 28G: Form 5500 Data

§741.4       Years to Final Separation

Table 28G.1: Years to Final Separation—Females

Table 28G.2: Years to Final Separation—Males

§741.5       The Krueger Worklife Tables—2005

Table 28G.3: Worklife Expectancy of Males by Level of Education, 1998–2004

Table 28G.4: Worklife Expectancy of Females by Level of Education, 1998–2004

§742     The Lost Years: Compensating for Reduced Life Expectancy

§750    Information the Economist Will Need to Determine Worklife

List: Information Needed

§760    Railroad Employee’s Worklife Expectancy

§770    The Decline in Average Retirement Age

Table 28H: Average Retirement Age

§771     Partial Year Calendar

Table 28I: Partial Year Calendar

Chapter 8. How to Include Income Tax in the Evaluation

§800    First There Was Hall

§810    Next There Was Liepelt

§820    Then Came Shaw

§830    Followed by Trevino

§840    When to Make Tax Adjustments

§850    Who Benefits from a Tax Adjustment?

§860    Who Really Won

§870    How to Make the Tax Adjustment

Table 29: Federal Tax Brackets

Table 29A: History of Tax Bracket Changes

Table 29B: Effective Tax Rate Calculation

Table 29C: Sample Calculation of Loss

Table 29D: Future Tax Brackets

§871     Municipal Bonds—An Alternative Solution to the Tax Problem

§880    The Tax Adjustment in Wrongful Terminations

§881     Taxes in District Court Awards

Chapter 9. Using Reports of Medical and Rehabilitation Experts

§900    In General

§901     The Medical Expert

§902     The Vocational Rehabilitation Expert

Sample: Report Extract

§902.1       Court of Appeal Opinion Excerpt

§903     The Life Care Planning Expert

Table 30: The Life Care Plan Cost Charts

Table 30A: Home Modification Costs

§904     Disability Ratings

§904.1       Using Disability Data to Estimate Worklife

§904.2       Disability and Relative Earnings

Table 30B: Disability and Earnings

§905     Earnings Capacity Mitigation

§910    How the Economist Uses the Reports

Table 31: Summary of Losses

§920    The Medical Care Cost Index

Table 32: Indexes of Medical Care Costs

Table 33: Medical Care Cost Growth Rates to Current Year

Table 33A: Year to Year Changes in Medical Care Costs

Table 33B: Definitions of Medical CPI Terms

§921     Medical Care Price Increases

Table 34: Medical Care CPI v. All Items CPI

§930    The Life Expectancy Quandary

§940    Useless Reports from Experts

§950    Sequencing Your Experts at Trial

Chapter 10. Legal Opinions

§1000  In General

§1010  Introduction to Opinion Listings

§1020  List of Opinions

Chapter 11. Interest Rates and Present Value

§1100  In General

§1110  What Determines an Interest Rate?

§1111   The Link Between Interest Rates and Earnings Growth Rates

§1112   Adjusting Interest Rates for Transaction Costs

§1113   Future Interest Rate Changes

§1113.1     Future Interest Rate Decreases

§1120  Some Definitions You Need to Know

§1130  What to Consider When Choosing an Interest Rate

§1131   Simple Interest v. Compound Interest

§1132   The Changing Value of Money Over Time

§1133   The Five Time Value Variables

Diagram: The Time Line

§1134   Treasury Accord

§1140  Bringing Past Losses to the Present

§1141   How Trial Delays Change the Present Value

§1150  How Often do You Discount?

§1160  How Much Difference Does One Percent Make?

§1170  Using Stripped Treasury Bonds

§1171   TIPS (Treasury Inflation Protected Securities) and TIIS (Treasury Inflation Indexed Securities)

Chapter 12. A Sampling of Methods to Calculate Losses

§1200  In General

§1201   The Alaska Method, or Total Offset

§1202   The Partial Offset Method

§1203   The Real Rates Method

§1204   The Nominal Rates Method

§1210  A Simplified Calculation to Find Case Value

§1211   A Simplified Calculation to Find Delayed Payment Case Value

Sample: A Personal Injury Case

§1220  The Nominal Rates Method v. The Offset Method

§1221   Current, Historical and Forecast Interest Rates

§1222   Historical Interest Rate Research

§1230  The Mathematics of the Partial Offset

§1240  Periodic Payments Required in Medical Malpractice Cases

§1250  Runoff Interest Rates

Table 39: Runoff Rates

§1251   Laddered Interest Rates

Printout: Laddered Interest Rates

§1260  Net Discount Rate (NDR)

§1260.1     The Mathematics of the Net Discount Rate

Table 39A: The NDR Magic Box

§1261   Total Offsets in Forensic Economics

Table 40: Comparison of Interest Rates

Table 41: NDRs for Various Time Periods

Table 42: Interest Rates and the Medical Consumer Price Index

Table 43: NDRs for Medical Care Costs

§1262   The Net Discount Rate Controversy

§1263   Net Discount Rates, Real Rates and Nominal Rates

§1264   Historical Net Discount Rates

Table 43A: Net Discount Rates Based on Employment Cost Index

Table 43B: Net Discount Rates Based on Current Employment Status

§1270  Worklife and LPE

§1271   LPE Factors

Table 44: The Probability of Living

Table 45: Probability of Participation and Employment

Chapter 13. Putting It All Together

§1300  In General

§1310  The Preliminaries

§1311   Start with the Basics

§1311.1     Sex and Race

§1311.2     Education

§1311.3     Dates of Birth and Injury or Death

§1311.4     Life Expectancy

§1311.5     Worklife Expectancy

§1311.6     Trial Date

§1311.7     Occupational Data

§1311.8     Household Services

§1311.9     Family Status

§1311.10   Medical Expenses

§1311.11   Discount Rate

§1311.12   Income Tax

§1320  A Personal Injury Report

§1321   Summary of Losses

Sample: Summary of Losses

§1322   Basis for Evaluation

Sample: Basis for Evaluation

§1323   Calculations

Printouts: Calculation of Losses

§1324   Tax Adjustment Discussion

§1330  A Wrongful Death Report

§1331   Summary of Losses

Sample: Summary of Losses

§1332   Basis for Evaluation

Sample: Basis for Evaluation

Sample: Calculations of Past Losses

§1333   Calculations

Printout: Calculation of Past Losses

Printout: Calculation of Future Losses

§1340  A Wrongful Birth Report

§1341   Summary of Losses

Sample: Summary of Losses

§1342   Basis for Evaluation

Sample: Basis for Evaluation

§1343   Calculations

Sample: Calculation of Losses

§1344   Military Retirement Pay and Survivor Benefits

§1344.1     Military Retirement Pay Calculations

§1344.2     Military Retirement Pay Calculator

Sample 1: Retirement Pay – Major

Sample 2: Retirement Pay – Master Sergeant

§1344.3     Sources of Information for Military Evaluations

§1350  A Final Note on Reports

Chapter 14. Tactics and Strategy

§1400  Do You Need a Forensic Economist?

§1401   Plaintiff

§1402   Defendant

§1410  Selecting the Right Expert for Your Case

§1411   Plaintiff

§1412   Defendant

§1413   FRCP 26(a)(2)(B)

§1414   Rule 26 Testimony List

§1420  Instructing the Expert

§1421   Plaintiff

§1422   Defendant

§1423   What You Should Not Tell Your Expert

§1430  The Written Report

§1431   Plaintiff

§1432   Defendant

§1433   Written Correspondence

§1434   Read Your Expert’s Writings

§1440  Who is Deposed First?

§1450  Prepare Your Expert for the Deposition

§1451   Conducting the Deposition

§1460  Preparing Your Expert for Trial

§1461   Qualifying Your Expert

§1462   General v. Specific Question on Direct

§1463   Protecting Your Expert’s Testimony

§1464   Rehabilitate Your Expert on Redirect

§1465   Difficult Issues on Cross-Examination

§1470  Some Final Comments

§1480  How to Depose and Cross-Examine Plaintiff’s Economist

§1481   Pretrial Preparation

§1482   Guide to Depositions

§1483   Guide to Cross-Examination

§1484   Conclusion

Chapter 15. Hedonic Damages—The Value of Human Life

§1500  In General

§1510  Perspective of the Chapter

§1520  Reports in the Public Media

§1521   The New York Times

§1522   The Wall Street Journal

§1523   Newsweek

§1524   Comment on Media Report

§1525   Books and Journals

§1526   Some Overlooked Studies of Hedonic Damages

§1527   Cost Effectivness of Saving Lives

§1530  A Sampling of the Cases

Sherrod v. Berry

McDougald v. Garber

§1531   Other Recent Cases

Nussbaum v. Gibstein

Leonard v. Parrish

Mather v. Griffin Hospital

Buoy v. Era Helicopters

§1532   Ayers v. Robinson

§1533   The California Position

§1540  Additional Commentary on Hedonic Damages

§1550  [Reserved]

§1560  Loss of Life Enjoyment—Economic Report

§1570  Proving Hedonic Damages When Expert Testimony is Not Allowed

Chapter 16. Special Unrelated Topics

§1600  In General

§1610  Probability vs. Possibility

§1620  Assigned Equitable Indemnity Claims

§1630  Vaccine Act Cases

§1631   Calculation of Earnings Loss

§1632   Value of Life Care Plan

§1640  Precedence and Forensic Economics

§1650  Work Time Differences

§1660  Commercial Computer Programs

§1661   Advocate Software

Sample: Summary of Losses

Sample: Yearly Losses

Sample: Medical Costs

§1662   Using Calculation Tools Without Foundation

Chapter 17. Structured Settlements

§1700  In General

§1701   History of Structured Settlements

§1702   The Future of Structured Settlements

§1710  Cases Suitable for Structured Settlements

§1720  The Various Forms of Structured Settlements

§1721   Period Certain

§1722   Period Certain with Life Contingency

§1723   Increasing Payments

§1724   Deferred Lump Sums

§1725   Combinations

§1726   Options

§1730  Examples of Structured Settlement Offers

§1731   Female—Age 26

§1732   Child

§1733   Age Rated

§1734   Differences in Age Ratings

§1740  Tax Advantages

§1741   Protecting the Interest of Minors

§1742   Blocked Account v. Structured Annuity

§1750  Locating and Using a Structured Settlement Annuitist

§1751   Who Can Sell Structured Annuities

§1752   How the Annuitist/Broker Works With the Economist

§1753   Assisting at the Settlement Conference

§1754   Know the Financial Strength of the Insurers

§1755   Present Value v. Annuity Premium

§1756   Structured Attorney Fees

§1760  Advantages to the Plaintiff

§1770  Advantages to the Defendant

§1780  Disclaimer

 


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