Economic vs. hedonic damages.
What forensic economists measure — and what they explicitly do not.
Retaining counsel frequently ask whether a forensic economist can quantify the full range of damages in a personal injury or wrongful death case. The answer depends on the category of damages. Economic damages are quantifiable losses grounded in labor economics, finance, and government data. Hedonic damages — the value of loss of enjoyment of life — are not.
Dr. Pettingill has testified in more than 2,500 cases across 29 U.S. states and the U.S. Virgin Islands since 1985. In every report, the scope of opinion is explicit: forensic economics addresses pecuniary loss only. This guide explains the boundary, why it exists, and what it means for case strategy.
Economic damages: inside the discipline
These are the categories a forensic economist quantifies using accepted methodology and documented sources.
Lost earnings & earning capacity
Past and projected future earnings lost as a result of injury or death. Past earnings use actual records — W-2s, 1099s, and tax returns. Future earnings are projected over the plaintiff's work-life expectancy from peer-reviewed tables and discounted to present value at a U.S. Treasury yield matched to the loss duration.
Lost fringe benefits
The employer-provided value of health insurance, retirement contributions, and other benefits, quantified using Bureau of Labor Statistics Employer Costs for Employee Compensation data.
Household services
Unpaid domestic services valued using American Time Use Survey data and replacement-cost wage rates from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, adjusted for household composition.
Life care plan costing
The present-value cost of future medical and attendant care, priced against current locally sourced costs, grown at the appropriate medical CPI components, and discounted at a Treasury yield.
Business & practice valuation
Closely held company and medical practice valuations following the AICPA SSVS No. 1 framework, reconciling income, market, and asset approaches.
Hedonic damages: outside the discipline
These categories are non-economic and are not opined upon by Dr. Pettingill.
Loss of enjoyment of life
Hedonic damages attempt to assign a dollar value to the subjective loss of pleasure and enjoyment of living. This is a non-economic category.
Pain and suffering
Physical and emotional distress. Like hedonic damages, this falls outside the discipline of forensic economics.
Loss of consortium
Loss of companionship and services of a spouse. A non-economic damages category reserved for the trier of fact.
Admissibility and methodology
The admissibility difference is methodological. Economic damages are calculated from observable data: wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, work-life expectancy from peer-reviewed tables, discount rates from the U.S. Treasury yield curve, and medical inflation from the Consumer Expenditure Survey. The methodology is transparent, replicable, and widely accepted in the forensic economics literature.
Hedonic damages have no comparable accepted calculation. Attempts to value loss of enjoyment of life rely on subjective assumptions without a foundation in labor-market or financial data. As a result, hedonic damages have been rejected in most jurisdictions and are not within the discipline of forensic economics.
This is not a marketing posture. It is what makes the economic opinion useful — and it is what makes the opinion survive a Daubert challenge. Every report Dr. Pettingill produces is structured so that method, data, application, and conclusions are documented and defensible.
What this means for retaining counsel
When you retain a forensic economist, you are retaining an expert to measure pecuniary loss. The economic opinion will quantify lost earnings, benefits, household services, future medical care, and — where applicable — business or practice value. It will not opine on pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, or loss of consortium.
That division is a feature, not a limitation. By staying within the discipline, the economic opinion preserves its admissibility and its credibility with the trier of fact. Counsel can present the economic damages as a separate, defensible component of the case while reserving non-economic damages for argument or other expert testimony.
Frequently asked
Why doesn't a forensic economist opine on hedonic damages?
Are hedonic damages admissible in court?
What makes economic damages admissible under Daubert?
Can a forensic economist calculate pain and suffering?
Need an economic damages opinion that stays within the discipline?
A brief inquiry starts the scope conversation and conflicts check.