Dispatches from the witness box: Direct examination of a defense economic expert in a wrongful death case

The direct examination of an defense economic expert in a wrongful death case tends to go a little differently than the plaintiff's expert. In part, by the time the defense economic expert goes up on the stand, many of the questions that a typical juror will have about what an economist does and the methodology that economists use have been addressed by the plaintiffs.

Rather than go over the same lines of questioning as the plaintiff's attorney some defense attorneys will start the main line of questioning as follows.

Defense attorney: Doctor, can you explain generally how you calculate economic damages in a wrongful death case like this?

Ans: Yes, you generally look at three areas: projected earnings, benefits, and household services. Earnings are..... Lost benefits are the benefits, like health and life insurance, that you would have expected the would have received over his normal working life time....

Household services are the services that the person could have been expected to contribute to the household had they lived. These would include things like the economic value of taking care of the household, mowing the lawn, taking care of the kids...

Defense attorney: Doctor, your methodology is similar to the plaintiffs economic expert is it not?
Ans: yes it is.

[To be continued...]