Contents: In this issue of The Expert Witness, we present two articles: The Cost of Household Services, Alberta, 2018: A Survey The cost of hiring individuals to perform household services such as housecleaning, snow removal, and handyman repairs can amount to a significant percentage of the damages in a personal injury or fatal accident claim. […]
Read More...Year: 2018
The Impact of a Mid-Career Change on Earnings
by Derek Aldridge and Christopher J. Bruce Vocational psychologists often recommend that injured plaintiffs retrain for a new occupation. An important question that arises in this situation is whether plaintiffs will start that occupation at an “entry-level” income (say the income of a 25 year-old) or at the income of an individual of the plaintiff’s calendar […]
Read More...The Cost of Household Services, Alberta, 2018: A Survey
by Christopher J. Bruce and Jody Prevost The cost of hiring individuals to perform household services such as housecleaning, snow removal, and handyman repairs can amount to a significant percentage of the damages in a personal injury or fatal accident claim. Yet, despite the importance of these costs, reliable estimates of the components of a household services […]
Read More...Summer 2018 issue of the Expert Witness newsletter (volume 22, issue 2)
Contents: In this issue of The Expert Witness, we present two articles concerning the component of the plaintiff’s award that is referred to as the “management fee.” What we argue is that there are actually two types of such fees. The Cost of Managing the Plaintiff’s Investments The first of these, and the one that […]
Read More...The Cost of Managing the Expenditures of a Plaintiff with Reduced Mental Capacity
by Christopher J. Bruce When referring to plaintiffs with normal mental capacity, the term “management fee” usually refers to expenses that plaintiffs incur for advice concerning investment decisions. Decisions concerning how their awards are to be spent – on medical care, accommodation, transportation, etc. – can generally be left to the plaintiffs themselves. Plaintiffs who have […]
Read More...The Cost of Managing the Plaintiff’s Investments
by Christopher J. Bruce As most individuals are unaccustomed to managing large sums of money, it may be appropriate for plaintiffs to employ advisors to assist them with the investment of their awards. In these cases, it has often been argued that the cost of hiring such advisors should be added to the value of the […]
Read More...Spring 2018 issue of the Expert Witness newsletter (volume 22, issue 1)
Contents: This issue contains one article. Christopher Bruce investigates the principles that the courts have developed to determine whether experts and their evidence should be admitted into court. Admissibility of Expert Evidence: Personal Injury Litigation Dr. Bruce argues that these principles can usefully be divided into four categories: the requirement that expert testimony be useful; the identification of […]
Read More...Admissibility of Expert Evidence: Personal Injury Litigation
by Christopher J. Bruce The admission of expert evidence has required that the courts maintain a fine balance between, on the one hand, caution against the possibility that witnesses may usurp the court’s role of forming opinions and drawing conclusions; and, on the other hand, recognition of the fact that juries and triers of fact may […]
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