In a Personal Injury Case, Household Services is a Part of the Calculation for Damages.

      One of the most overlooked damages to calculate is the calculation of household services damages. Damages are partially calculated by the loss of wages through lost income. Additional damages can be calculated by valuing the loss of household services. This is especially true when a permanent injury is involved and it prevents the injured person from working, earning an income, and performing tasks at home.

      Personal injury cases traditionally calculate non-economic damages by trying to set a value on “pain and suffering”. The court will determine the lost wages caused by the injury and add on an additional amount for pain and suffering. Measuring non-economic damages can pose problems for three reasons. First, pain and suffering is subjective, it can often be unreliable, and it is difficult to prove. The basic methods for economic damages are readily understood because the court can easily determine the amount of lost wages suffered based on how much work the person had to miss. This method does not work well for lost household services since it is more difficult to calculate the “worth” of vacuuming the carpet or caring for a child.

     Because the Basic Calculation for determining the amount of damages does not specifically take into account lost household services, economists have created new ways of determining damages. One of these new methods takes the basic calculations of lost income and then adds the lost household service amount to it. Unlike the basic calculation methods where an arbitrary amount is determined to account for pain in suffering, the new method for lost household services assigns value to different services around the house and adds up the total loss. The loss of household services is calculated by assigning each task into one of twelve different categories, the first being “inside housework”, the second “food, cooking, and clean up”, and so on. Once categorized, the lost value for each category is determined by the amount of time the injured person is incapable of completing the task.

     Whether the injured party was in a serious car accident and will forever be unable to provide the household services or slipped and fell and will not be able to temporarily provide the services for a couple of months, it is important to be as accurate as possible when calculating the damages and thus, not overlook the value of lost household services. If you have questions about calculating personal injury damages, contact my office or another attorney who is experienced in personal injury litigation.