This article concerns sexual abuse cases and the difficult task of determining the impact that the harm has had on the plaintiff’s earning capacity. Christopher Bruce and his colleague from the University of Calgary, Daniel Gordon, found that, on average, sexual abuse is not associated with lower educational levels or lower adult incomes among victims.
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Evaluation of Harm to a Class of Individuals
In this article Kelly Rathje explains how the estimates of damages can be improved if the plaintiff is one of a class of individuals who have been affected by the same harm. In such cases, a statistical technique known as econometrics can be employed to compare the earnings capacity of the victims of the harm with the earnings capacity of a randomly selected sample of individuals who have not been so-harmed. This technique can be used, for example, to determine the impact of sexual abuse on a students at an orphanage or residential school.
Read More...Recent Canadian Court Decisions Concerning the Impacts of Child Sexual Abuse on Earnings
In this article Christopher Bruce and Matthew Foss discuss the response of the courts to lawsuits for loss of income resulting from sexual abuse. This is the second part of an article that began in the previous Expert Witness – in which Matthew Foss reviewed the academic literature concerning the impact of sexual abuse on the victim’s psychological well-being, education, and earning capacity.
Read More...The Calculation of Damages in Sexual Abuse Cases
In this article Matthew Foss offers a brief review of the academic literature concerning the impact of sexual abuse on the victim’s psychological well-being, education, and earning capacity. This is the first of a two article series. The second part, to be published in the next issue of the Expert Witness, will discuss the response of the courts to these lawsuits.
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