Assessing Damages in Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Litigation: The State of West Virginia
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چکیده
The federal/state legal system of the United States means that a forensic economist faces different legal rules and parameters in each state of his or her practice. It is the purpose of this article to provide an experienced forensic economist, entering a West Virginia case, with necessary information and guidance for appropriate testimony in personal injury and wrongful death cases. This is accomplished with complete citations to West Virginia Code and to relevant decisions of West Virginia courts. Our own experiences are also used to explain what is customary in procedures and in the legal parameters affecting damages calculations. This article is organized as follows. First, an overview is provided of the West Virginia court system. Second, some basics of forensic economic practice in West Virginia–such as written reports and discovery rules–are described. Third, important issues and parameters of lost earning capacity calculations are described in detail, and the calculation of household services losses is also discussed. Several unusual features of West Virginia damages calculations are then discussed. These include special calculations in some workers’ compensation cases, new calculation rules in medical malpractice cases, the calculation of medical monitoring damages, and the prohibition against lost-enjoyment-oflife testimony. Finally, jury factors for determining the amount of punitive damages, adopted by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, is explained as they fit within similar jury factors provided by the U.S. Supreme Court in recent decisions.
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تاریخ انتشار 2004