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Court Awards of Damages for Loss of Future Earnings: An Empirical Study and an Alternative Method of Calculation
Author(s) -
Lewis Richard,
McNabb Robert,
Robinson Helen,
Wass Victoria
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of law and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.263
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1467-6478
pISSN - 0263-323X
DOI - 10.1111/1467-6478.00226
Subject(s) - damages , earnings , compensation (psychology) , tort , personal injury , perspective (graphical) , economics , work (physics) , law , actuarial science , political science , accounting , engineering , psychology , computer science , liability , social psychology , mechanical engineering , artificial intelligence
This article examines the effect upon damages for personal injury of methods used in the United States of America to calculate loss of future earnings. The work of lawyers is examined from the perspective of labour economists. The damages calculated by using these alternative methods are compared with those actually awarded in over a hundred cases determined by courts in England and Wales. This interdisciplinary and comparative study reveals that the tort system fails to satisfy one of its main objectives in that it does not provide recipients of damages with ‘full’ compensation.