What should a defense attorney expect when they engage an economic expert in a injury, wrongful death or employment case?

So what do defense attorneys defending cases involving injury, death or employment use economic damage reports on lost compensation for? Here is some feedback that we have received from the defense attorneys that we have worked for.

If liability is clear in the case:

An economic damage report can keep the plaintiff’s expert ‘honest’. A rebuttal report helps ensure that the opposing expert is using reasonable, generally accepted, and realistic economic assumptions in the case. A rebutal expert report can also provide the mediator, arbitrator, or jury with an alternative view of the economic damages.

If liability is NOT clear in the case (or it is an employment discrimination case) :

In these types of cases, defense attorneys have numerous times expressed a concern to us about not wanting to appear as just quibbling over the amount of damages that should be paid. The concern that has been expressed to us is that introducing economic evidence from the defense side will just look like they are conceding liability and trying to figure out how much to pay.

However, some defense attorneys still feel that a rebuttal report can still be of use even in cases where the liability issue is still an issue. For instance, some defense attorneys will use the economic damage estimates provided by a rebuttal report to generate questions to cross examine the plaintiff’s economic expert at deposition or trial. Other, though rarely, will use the rebuttal report in their Daubert-type motion. Of course some attorneys believe that the downside to not engaging an economic expert, even given the risk, is to0 great and will name a testifying expert even when the question of who is at fault is still largely debatable.