Research & Publications

Damages: Estimating Pecuniary Loss

By Cara L. Brown

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Chapter 1: Establishing Earning Capacity in Civil Litigation Cases
Chapter 2: Augmenting the Base Salary for Fringe Benefits
Chapter 3: How to forecast growth of earnings
Chapter 4: Projecting working life expectancy
Chapter 5: Estimating the impact of disability
Chapter 6: Treatment of the self-employed from an economic perspective
Chapter 7: Wrongful death cases
Chapter 8: Discounting lump sum awards
Chapter 9: Valuation of housekeeping capacity
Chapter 10: Valuation of costs of care
Chapter 11: Calculating Damages in Wrongful Dismissal, Wrongful Confinement, Wrongful Imprisonment, Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Cases
Chapter 12: The Cost of Raising Children and Dependency Claims for Orphans
Chapter 13: Economic Advantage and Disadvantage Assessments in Marital Breakdown
Chapter 14: Use of Economic Experts in No-Fault and Fault Jurisdictions
Chapter 15: Expert witnesses

June 2024 Release #35 (renamed "Release 1 06/2024")

The June 2024 update concentrates on:

Updated Table 1-4(a): Yearly Percent Changes in Earnings from 1991 to 2023
Comparison of sources: government statistical sources (see Appendix 1A)
Comparison of sources: collective agreements (see Appendix 1B)
Comparison of sources: trade and professional association salary surveys (see Appendix 1C)
Comparison of sources: educational institution graduate surveys (see Appendix 1D)
Comparison of sources: private sector salary surveys (see Appendix 1E)
Case law summary Sidhu v. Hiebert re: discussion of reduced life expectancy, loss of marriage benefit (interdependent relationship) and lost years’ deduction
Updated Table 4-2(e): Canadian case law in which compromised life expectancy is addressed
Case law summary re: employability of spinal cord injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5D)
Case law summary re: employability of brain injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5E)
Case law summary re: employability of amputees (see Appendix 5F)
Updated section 6:2 re: introduction to the treatment of the self-employed from an economic perspective
Case law summary re: treatment of the self-employed (see Appendix 6A)
Case law summary re: housekeeping awards in fatality cases (see Appendix 7A)
Case law summary re: remarriage as a contingency in loss of housekeeping and loss of dependency cases (see Appendix 7B)
Case law summary re: loss of pecuniary benefit reasonably expected from children (filial piety claims — see Appendix 7C)
Case law summary re: loss of case, guidance and companionship (see Appendix 7D)
Updated Table 9-6: hourly replacement housekeeping rates, Canada and provinces, 2024 dollars
Updated Table 9-7: housekeeping hourly rate for Canada, changes to rates, 1991 to 2024
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for selected spinal cord injury cases (paraplegic, see Appendix 10A)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for selected spinal cord injury cases (quadriplegic, see Appendix 10B)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for mild to moderately brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10C)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for soft tissue injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10E)
Case law summary re: non-pecuniary and pecuniary damages in sexual assault cases (see Appendix 11A)

December 2023 Release #34 (renamed "Release 2 12/2023")

The December 2023 update concentrates on:

Corness v. Ng BCCA 2023 185: British Columbia court of appeal affirmed all awards from Corness v. Ng BCSC 2022 334 pertaining to a self-employed floor installer - section §6:4.50
recent judgments for self-employed plaintiffs in personal injury cases, sections §6:3, §6:4.50 and Appendix 6A
updated forecasts for economic indicators from P. Dungan and S. Murphy, Long Term Outlook for the Canadian Economy National Projection through 2050 Policy and Economic Analysis Program, PEAP Policy Study 2023-1, University of Toronto, February 2023, sections §3.III.D and §8.V.
reproduction of disability incidence rates, males & females, from the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Actuarial Report - 2021, Table 4-20(a)
average age of disability and average years of lost income for Canadian males and females, 2021 based on data from the CPP Actuarial Report - 2021, Table 4-20(b)
updated disability contingencies for Canadian males & females based on data from the CPP Actuarial report - 2021
updated mortality contingencies for Canadian males & females based on Statistics Canada's Life Tables, Canada and Provinces, 2019-2021
recent statistics on the level of work activity and earnings of self-employed persons, section §6.1
business survival rates by size of company and number of years of operation, section §6.1
Table 6-1: class of worker by age and sex, Canada, 2021 Census
section §8:13 "Selection of the Discount Rate" with data from numerous forecasters
comparison of economic loss calculations between different provinces in Canada, section §14:1

RECURRING UPDATES

Update Table 1-3(c): median market income by family type
Update Table 1-4(a): yearly percent changes in earnings from 1991 to 2022
Update Table 1-5: educational attainment by gender, Canada, 1995 - 2022
Update Table 1-30(a): average income by Aboriginal identity and sex, Canada
Update Table 1-32: average employment income by Aboriginal identity and sex, Canada
Update Table 2-3(c): statistics on the magnitude of fringe benefits
Update Table 2-10: employer & employee contribution rates to various pension plans
Update Table 3-1: average real annual percentage rates of change in the wage and salary index
Update Table 3-2(b): comparison of wage changes in various sectors versus the consumer price index (inflation), 1997-2022
Update Table 3-3: unionization rates by industry sector, Canada, 2022
Update Table 4-1(a): life expectancy at birth and years to live at age 80 using Statistics Canada's 2019-21 mortality rates
Update Table 4-1(b): life expectancy from 1981 to 2019/2021 by province and for Canada
Update Table 4-3: participation rates in Canada by age, marital status (1990-2010), education level (1990-2022), and gender
Update Table 4-4: historical participation rates of women by age of children, 1980-2022, and 2022 separately
Update Table 4-7: average number of births per woman, 1961-2021, Canada
Update Table 4-10: percentage of persons working part-time, by gender, education level and marital status, 1990 to 2022
Update Table 4-11: percent of persons working part-time by occupation and sex, 1987 to 2022
Update Table 4-12: reasons for working part-time, by gender and age, 2022
Update Table 4-16: average duration of unemployment by weeks, by gender and region, 1976 to 2022 and 2022 separately
Update Table 4-17: unemployment rates by gender, age and education level, 1990 to 2022
Update Table 4-18: unemployment rates by occupation and gender, 1987 - 2022
Update Table 4-20(a): reproduction of disability incidence rates, males & females, from the CPP Actuarial Reports, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2018 & 2021
Update Table 4-20(b): cumulative probability of receiving a CPP award over career duration (age 20 to 65), average age of disability, and average years of lost income, males and females, Canada, 2021
Update Table 4-20(c): annual disability contingencies, males & females, 2021 CPP data
Update Table 4-22: retirement age for public sector, private sector, and self-employed persons, Canada, males & females, 1995 to 2022
Update Table 6-2(a): percentage of self-employed males by province and class of worker, 2022
Update Table 6-2(b): percentage of self-employed females by province and class of worker, 2022
Update Table 6-3: number of business establishments, December 2022
Update Table 6-3(a): size of business by industry, December 2022
Update Table 8-1: Historical real interest rates, Canada, 1976-2022
Update Table 8-2: Legislated real discount rates in Canada (2023 rates for Ontario and Saskatchewan)
Update publications about historical, current and future forecasts of interest rates (section §8:12)
Update historical interest data and interest rate forecasts from the Bank of Canada, Canadian Institute of Actuaries, major chartered banks, Department of Finance, Policy and Economic Analysis Program ("PEAP") at the University of Toronto, US Congressional Budget Office, International Monetary Fund, and U.S. Federal Reserve (section §8:13)
Update Table 12-2: estimate of child-rearing expenditures excluded from budget and expenditure approaches
Update Table 12-5: highest education level attained by percentage of population, 2005-2022, Canadian males
Update Table 12-6: highest education level attained by percentage of population, 2005-2022, Canadian females
Update Table 12-7: highest education level attained by percentage of population aged 25 and over, 1990-2022

June 2023 Release #33 (renamed "Release 1 6/2023")

The June 2023 update concentrates on:

Section 7.V "Claims Advanced In Estate Cases"
Section 7:40 "Tataryn v. Tataryn (Supreme Court of Canada, 1994)"
Section 7:41 "Factors to Consider for Maintenance and Support"
Section 7:42 "Case law in Alberta"
Section 7:43 "Maintenance and Support Legislation Across Canada"
Section 7:44 "Forensic Economist’s Role in Dependency Relief Cases"
Section 7:45 "Economic Data on Expenditures"
Updated Table 2-9: Types of Pension Plan and Implications for Valuation
Updated Table 9-6: hourly replacement housekeeping rates, Canada and provinces, 2023 dollars
Updated Table 9-7: housekeeping hourly rate for Canada, changes to rates, 1991 to 2023
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for selected spinal cord injury cases (paraplegic, see Appendix 10A)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for mild to moderately brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10C)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for severely brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10D)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for soft tissue injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10E)
Case law summary re: non-pecuniary and pecuniary damages in sexual assault cases (see Appendix 11A)
Updated Section 13.VIII "New Developments in The Use of Economic Evidence" (for Family Relief Act claims)

December 2022 Release #32 (renamed "Release 2 12/2022")

The December 2022 update concentrates on:

discussion on the basis of income loss calculations (gross vs. net) in motor vehicle accidents in Nova Scotia, section 14:1
discussion comparing the treatment of tax gross-up calculations in personal injury/fatality awards and wrongful dismissal cases, section 1:2
case law discussing the importance of analyzing the plaintiff’s work and income history to determine the plaintiff’s earnings-profile absent the incident, section 1:5
research on intergenerational income mobility, section 1:26
loss of insurability, section 2:15
pension plans in Canada as of January 1, 2021, section 2:18
discussion on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on life expectancy, section 4:3
diagrams depicting the Working Life/Life Expectancy Calculator™ and Present Value Damages Calculator™, section 4:54
discussion on the assumption of "early retirement" in future loss of income calculations, section 4:56
case law discussing the loss of interdependent relationship, section 5:4
section 6:1, business survival rates by size of company and number of years of operation
Table 6-1: Class of worker by age and sex, Canada, 2016 Census
Table 6-2(c): Distribution of the self-employed by income and education levels
Table 6-3: number of business establishments, 2021
Table 6-3(a): size of business by industry, 2021
case law discussing the use of replacement labour for injured self-employed workers, section 6:4
discussion of Canadian data that corroborate the finding that spending decreases as income increases to determine PCRs in fatality cases, section 7:12
section "Treatment of Survivorship Pensions as Collateral Benefits in Wrongful Death Cases, chapter 7
section 8:13 "Selection of the Discount Rate" with data from 15 forecasters
discussion on the use of agency surveys to determine the appropriate housekeeping replacement rate, section 9:21
section 9:23 "Health Contingency"
discussion on the use of the Housekeeping Damages Calculator™
diagrams depicting the Diary of Household Activities (Personal Injury)™ and Housekeeping Damages Calculator (Personal Injury)™
case law on the economic effects of sexual assault, section 11:8

RECURRING UPDATES

Update Table 1-3(c): median market income by family type
Update Table 1-4(a): yearly percent changes in earnings from 1991 to 2021
Update Table 1-5: educational attainment by gender, Canada, 1995 – 2021
Update Table 1-30(a): average income by Aboriginal identity and sex, Canada
Update Table 1-32: average employment income by Aboriginal identity and sex, Canada
Update Table 2-3(c): statistics on the magnitude of fringe benefits
Update Table 2-10: employer & employee contribution rates to various pension plans
Update Table 3-1: average real annual percentage rates of change in the wage and salary index
Update Table 3-2(b): comparison of wage changes in various sectors versus the consumer price index (inflation), 1997-2021
Update Table 3-3: unionization rates by industry sector, Canada, 2021
Update Table 4-1(a): life expectancy at birth and years to live at age 80 using Statistics Canada’s 2018-20 mortality rates
Update Table 4-1(b): life expectancy from 1981 to 2018/2020 by province and for Canada
Update Table 4-2(e): Canadian case law in which compromised life expectancy is addressed
Update Table 4-3: participation rates in Canada by age, marital status (1990-2010), education level (1990-2021), and gender
Update Table 4-4: historical participation rates of women by age of children, 1980-2021, and 2021 separately
Update Table 4-6: average age of first motherhood, 1961-2019
Update Table 4-7: average number of births per woman, 1961-2020, Canada
Update Table 4-10: percentage of persons working part-time, by gender, education level and marital status, 1990 to 2021
Update Table 4-11: percent of persons working part-time by occupation and sex, 1987 to 2021
Update Table 4-12: reasons for working part-time, by gender and age, 2021
Update Table 4-16: average duration of unemployment by weeks, by gender and region, 1976 to 2021 and 2021 separately
Update Table 4-17: unemployment rates by gender, age and education level, 1990 to 2021
Update Table 4-18: unemployment rates by occupation and gender, 1987 – 2021
Update Table 4-22: retirement age for public sector, private sector, and self-employed persons, Canada, males & females, 1995 to 2021
Update Table 6-2(a): percentage of self-employed males by province and class of worker, 2021
Update Table 6-2(b): percentage of self-employed females by province and class of worker, 2021
Update Table 6-5: survival rates of small businesses – industrial aggregate, 2021
Update Appendix 6A: treatment of the self-employed
Update Appendix 7D: loss of care, guidance & companionship
Update Table 8-1: Historical real interest rates, Canada, 1976-2021
Update Table 8-2: Legislated real discount rates in Canada (2022 rates for Ontario and Saskatchewan)
Update publications about historical, current and future forecasts of interest rates (section 8:12)
Update historical interest data and interest rate forecasts from the Bank of Canada, Canadian Institute of Actuaries, major chartered banks, Department of Finance, Policy and Economic Analysis Program ("PEAP") at the University of Toronto, US Congressional Budget Office, International Monetary Fund, and U.S. Federal Reserve (section 8:13)
Update Appendix 11A: example of damages awarded in sexual assault cases
Update Table 12-2: estimate of child-rearing expenditures excluded from budget and expenditure approaches
Update Table 12-5: highest education level attained by percentage of population, 2005-2021, Canadian males
Update Table 12-6: highest education level attained by percentage of population, 2005-2021, Canadian females
Update Table 12-7: highest education level attained by percentage of population aged 25 and over, 1990-2021
Update Table 13-1: average employment income by sex and marital status, Canada, 2018
Update Table 13-2: average employment income by sex, marital status and work activity, Canada, 2018

June 2022 Release #31 (renamed "Release 1 6/2022")

The June 2022 update concentrates on:

Section 7:32 "Remittance Behaviours Among Immigrants in Canada"
Section 9:15 “The impact of injury on housekeeping capacity"
Chapter 6: summary of outcome in Corness v. Ng (2022) from British Columbia’s Supreme Court
Updated Appendix 1A: Comparison of Government Statistical Sources
Updated Appendix 1C: Comparison of Sources – Trade and Professional Association Salary Surveys
Updated Appendix 1D: Comparison of Sources – Educational Institution Graduate Surveys
Updated Appendix 1E: Comparison of Sources – Private Sector Salary Surveys Case law summary re: employability of spinal cord injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5D)
Case law summary re: employability of brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5E)
Case law summary re: employability of amputees (see Appendix 5F)
Case law summary re: treatment of the self-employed (see Appendix 6A)
Case law summary re: housekeeping awards in fatality cases (see Appendix 7A)
Case law summary re: loss of care, guidance and companionship (see Appendix 7D)
Update Table 9-6: hourly replacement housekeeping rates, Canada and provinces, 2022 dollars
Update Table 9-7: housekeeping hourly rate for Canada, changes to rates, 1991 to 2022
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for selected spinal cord injury cases (paraplegic, see Appendix 10A)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for mild to moderately brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10C)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for severely brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10D)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for soft tissue injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10E)
Case law summary re: non-pecuniary and pecuniary damages in sexual assault cases (see Appendix 11A)
Updated list of acronyms

December 2021 Release #30 (renamed "Release 2 12/2021")

The December 2021 update concentrates on:

Updated discussion comparing advantages and disadvantages of all available data sources, sections 1.IV.B:8, 1.IV.B:9 and 1.IV.B:10
average income by Aboriginal identity based on Statistics Canada's 2001 Census, 2005 Census, 2011 National Household Survey and 2016 Census, Tables 1-30(a) and 1-32
pension plans in Canada as of January 1, 2020, section 2.V:18
trends in retirement ages in Canada, section 4.II.G.2
retirement age and participation rates of older workers, section 4.II.G.2:34
impact of pension coverage on retirement planning, section 4.II.G.2:35
average exit age from the labour force, Figure 4-3
determinants of retirement, section 4.II.G.5:49
returning to work after retirement, section 4.II.G.5:50
discussion of the demographic, employment and income profile of Canadians with disabilities based on the results of Statistics Canada's 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability, sections 5.II.B.2:17, 5.II.B.3:24 and 5.II.B.3:25
initial findings from the 2017 CSD survey, section 5.II.B.2:17
econometric analyses of the 2017 CSD survey, section 5.II.B.3:24
comparison of 2012 and 2017 CSD results, section 5.II.B.3:25
comparison of 2017 CSD, 2012 CSD, 2006 PALS and 2001 PALS results, section 5.II.B.3:26
sample sizes and response rates of Statistics Canada's national surveys on disability (CSD and PALS surveys), Figure 5-15
distribution of Canadians with disabilities by severity of disability based on 2017 CSD results, Figure 5-16
distribution of Canadians with disabilities by age and severity disability based on 2017 CSD results, Figure 5-17
unemployment and participation rates for working-age Canadians by severity of disability based on 2017 CSD results, Figure 5-18
distribution of Canadians with disabilities by type of disability based on 2017 CSD results, Figure 5-19
unemployment and participation rates for working-age Canadians by type of disability based on 2017 CSD results, Figure 5-20
wage deficits by severity of disability based on 2017 CSD results, Table 5-13
wage deficits by type of disability based on 2017 CSD results, Table 5-14
distribution of disability by severity — comparisons of 2017 CSD and 2012 CSD results, Figure 5-24
distribution of disability by type — comparisons of 2017 CSD and 2012 CSD results, Figure 5-25
comparison of wage deficits by severity of disability, 2012 CSD and 2017 CSD results, Table 5-15
comparison of wage deficits by type of disability, 2012 CSD and 2017 CSD results, Table 5-16
distribution of disability by severity — comparisons of 2017 CSD, 2012 CSD, 2006 PALS and 2001 PALS results, Figure 5-26
distribution of disability by type — comparisons of 2017 CSD, 2012 CSD, 2006 PALS and 2001 PALS results, Figure 5-27
wage deficits by severity of disability — comparisons of 2017 CSD, 2012 CSD, 2006 PALS and 2001 PALS results, Table 5-17
wage deficits by type of disability — comparisons of 2017 CSD, 2012 CSD, 2006 PALS and 2001 PALS results, Table 5-18
the gender wage gaps — findings from the 2017 CSD, 2012 CSD, 2006 PALS and 2001 PALS results, Figures 5-18 and 5-20, Table 5-13 to Table 5-18
2017 Canadian Survey on Disability Questionnaire, Appendix 5C
additional case law reviewing the impact of disability on the loss of earning capacity, section 5.III.25
discussion on executive compensation, section 6.V:24
additional cases where experts have not been admitted due to "bias", section 15.II.B:7
forensic economists' professional standards (NAFE and AAEFE ethics' statements), section 15.II.B:4
updated case law discussing "confirmation bias" (section 15.II.B:5)
guidelines affecting economic experts in Canada, section 15.II.C
how economic experts are treated in Canadian courts, section 15.IV
Table 15-1: Assumptions Classified by Realm of Expertise
section 15.III:17: When economic or actuarial evidence has failed Canadian judges

RECURRING UPDATES

Updated Table 1-3(c): median market income by family type
Updated Table 1-4(a): yearly percent changes in earnings from 1991 to 2020
Updated Table 1-5: educational attainment by gender, Canada, 1995 — 2020
Updated Table 2-3(c): statistics on the magnitude of fringe benefits
Updated publication from Expectancy Data on the value of employer paid benefits in the United States
Updated Table 2-7: CPP contribution rates, 1984 to 2023
Updated Table 2-10: employer & employee contribution rates to various pension plans
Updated Table 3-1: average real annual percentage rates of change in the wage and salary index
Updated Figure 17: real wage gains and productivity growth
Updated Table 3-2(b): comparison of wage changes in various sectors versus the consumer price index (inflation), 1997-2020
Updated Table 3-3: unionization rates by industry sector, Canada, 2020
Updated sources of labour productivity growth in the Canadian business sector
Updated Table 3-5(b): industry variations in productivity growth, 1997-2010, Canada
Updated Table 4-1(a): life expectancy at birth and years to live at age 80 using Statistics Canada's 2017-19 mortality rates
Updated Table 4-1(b): life expectancy from 1981 to 2017/2019 by province and for Canada
Updated Table 4-3: participation rates in Canada by age, marital status (1990-2010), education level (1990-2020), and gender
Updated Table 4-4: historical participation rates of women by age of children, 1980-2019, and 2020 separately
Updated Table 4-7: average number of births per woman, 1961-2019, Canada
Updated Table 4-10: percentage of persons working part-time, by gender, education level and marital status, 1990 to 2020
Updated Table 4-11: percent of persons working part-time by occupation and sex, 1987 to 2020
Updated Table 4-12: reasons for working part-time, by gender and age, 2020
Updated Table 4-16: average duration of unemployment by weeks, by gender and region, 1976 to 2019 and 2020 separately
Updated Table 4-17: unemployment rates by gender, age and education level, 1990 to 2020
Updated Table 4-18: unemployment rates by occupation and gender, 1987 — 2020
Updated Table 4-20(a): reproduction of disability incidence rates, males & females, from the CPP
Updated Table 4-22: retirement age for public sector, private sector, and self-employed persons, Canada, males & females, 1995 to 2020
Updated section 4.IV.B: case law in which retirement age is a key assumption
Updated case law discussing loss of earning capacity and loss of a capital asset, section 5.III.A
Updated Table 6-2(a): percentage of self-employed males by province and class of worker, 2020
Updated Table 6-2(b): percentage of self-employed females by province and class of worker, 2020
Updated Table 7-11: results of the survey of financial security, 2016
Updated Table 8-1: Historical real interest rates, Canada, 1976-2020
Updated Table 8-2: Legislated real discount rates in Canada (2021 rates for Ontario and Saskatchewan)
Updated publications about historical, current and future forecasts of interest rates (section 8.IV:12)
Updated historical interest data and interest rate forecasts from the Bank of Canada, Canadian Institute of Actuaries, major chartered banks, Department of Finance, Policy and Economic Analysis Program ("PEAP") at the University of Toronto, US Congressional Budget Office, International Monetary Fund, and U.S. Federal Reserve (section 8.V:13)

ISSUES IN FOCUS articles (following chapter 15) have been updated by legal scholars:

IF:8 Condon, K. "What must be proven in demonstrating a failure to mitigate?" (Aug. 31, 2021)
IF:9 Rosenberg, D. "How have courts assessed pecuniary damages for reduced lifespan?" (Aug. 31, 2021)
IF:10 Rosenberg, D. "What principles govern the assessment of damages for loss of earning capacity?" (Aug. 22, 2021)

September 2021 Release #29 (renamed "Release 1 9/2021")

The September 2021 update concentrates on:

Updated Appendix 1-1: Comparison of Government Statistical Sources
Updated Appendix 1-3: Comparison of Sources — Trade and Professional Association Salary Surveys
Updated Appendix 1-5: Comparison of Sources — Private Sector Salary Surveys
Case law summary re: employability of spinal cord injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5-4)
Case law summary re: employability of brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5-5)
Case law summary re: treatment of the self-employed (see Appendix 6-1)
Case law summary re: housekeeping awards in fatality cases (see Appendix 7-1)
Case law summary re: remarriage as a contingency in loss of housekeeping and loss of dependency claims (see Appendix 7-2)
Case law summary re: loss of care, guidance and companionship (see Appendix 7-4)
Updated Table 9-6: hourly replacement housekeeping rates, Canada and provinces, 2021 dollars
Updated Table 9-7: housekeeping hourly rate for Canada, changes to rates, 1991 to 2021
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for mild to moderately brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-3)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for severely brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-4)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for soft tissue injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-5)
Case law summary re: non-pecuniary and pecuniary damages in sexual assault cases (see Appendix 11-1)

December 2020 Release #28

The December 2020 update concentrates on:

publications and discussion of labour productivity from the Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS), Statistics Canada, the University of Toronto's Policy and Economic Analysis Program (PEAP), the Conference Board of Canada, Department of Finance Canada, and Office of the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), sections 3.3.b, 3.3.c
Table 3-8, Forecasts of productivity rates by industry sector
section 4.2.a.ii: Sub-Standard Mortality: What to do when the plaintiff's life expectancy has been compromised
overview of the leading studies on compromised life expectancy conducted by medical experts, statisticians and actuaries in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, section 4.2.a.ii and Table 4-2(d)
section 4.2.a.ii case law review when catastrophic injuries result in sub-standard mortality, necessitating decisions by judges about the impact of a shortened life expectancy on loss of income and cost of care claims
Table 4-2(e): summary of Canadian decisions in shortened life expectancy cases (requires a "lost years" calculation)
Disability contingencies from Canada Pension Plan, disability program (using the CPP 2018 actuarial report), section 4.2.f.i.2, Table 4-20(a), Table 4-20(b), and Table 4-20(c)
section 4.2.f.i: Trends in retirement ages in Canada
section 4.2.f.i(a): Retirement age and participation rates of older workers
Figure 4-3: average exit age from the labour force
section 4.2.f.vii: Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS) (retirement ages by job title)
section 5.3.a: what happened in McColm v. Street? case law discussing the application of Statistics Canada's Health and Activity Limitation Survey (HALS), Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) and Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD)
section 5.3.e: information needed by forensic economists to apply the Wage Deficit approach
section 7.2.i: updated statistics on net worth of Canadians; why "accelerated" inheritances should not be deducted
Figure 10-2: why management/investment fees are not required
section 12.1, case law on the cost of raising children/dependency claims for children
section 12.2, theoretical bases for quantifying the costs of raising children
section 12.3, economic estimates for calculating children's dependency rates in fatality cases
section 12.3.1, the COST (or "budget") approach used to estimate child-rearing costs
section 12.3.2, the EXPENDITURE approach used to estimate child-rearing costs
Table 12-1: summary of dependency rates for orphaned children
section 12.3.3, costs for children NOT included in the cost of expenditure approaches, Table 12-2
section 12.4: Predicting children's span of financial dependency on parents
Table 12-3: young adults living at home by age group
Figure 12-1: proportion (%) of young adults aged 20-29 living with their parents
Table 12-4: age at first marriage
Tables 12-5 and 12-6: highest education level attained by percentage of population, 2005-2019, Canadian males and females
Table 12-7: highest education level attained by percentage of Canadian population aged 25 and over, 1990 and 2019

RECURRING UPDATES

Update Table 1-3(c): median market income by family type
Update Table 1-5: educational attainment by gender, Canada, 1995 - 2019
Updated statistics on the magnitude of fringe benefits (positive contingencies) (section 2.3.a)
Updated publication from Expectancy Data on the value of employer paid benefits in the United States
Update Table 2-7: CPP contribution rates, 1984 to 2023
Update Table 2-10: employer & employee contribution rates to various pension plans
Update Table 3-1: average real annual percentage rates of change in the wage and salary index
Update Figure 17: real wage gains and productivity growth
Update Table 3-2(b): comparison of wage changes in various sectors versus the consumer price index (inflation), 1997-2019
Update Table 3-3: unionization rates by industry sector, Canada, 2019
Updated sources of labour productivity growth in the Canadian business sector
Update Table 3-5: industry variations in productivity growth, 1997-2010, Canada
Update Table 3-6: reasons given for the existence of the inter-industry wage differential
Update Table 3-7: comparison of economic projections of productivity rates in Canada, 2017 - 2050
Update Table 4-1(a): life expectancy at birth and years to live at age 80 using Statistics Canada's 2016-18 mortality rates
Update Table 4-1(b): life expectancy from 1981 to 2016/2018 by province and for Canada
Update Table 4-3: participation rates in Canada by age, marital status (1990-2010), education level (1990-2019), and gender
Update Table 4-4: historical participation rates of women by age of children, 1980-2019, and 2019 separately
Update Table 4-10: percentage of persons working part-time, by gender, education level and marital status, 1990 to 2019
Update Table 4-11: percent of persons working part-time by occupation and sex, 1987 to 2019
Update Table 4-12: reasons for working part-time, by gender and age, 2019
Update Table 4-16: average duration of unemployment by weeks, by gender and region, 1976 to 2019 and 2019 separately
Update Table 4-17: unemployment rates by gender, age and education level, 1990 to 2019
Update Table 4-18: unemployment rates by occupation and gender, 1987 - 2019
Update Table 4-20(a): reproduction of disability incidence rates, males & females, from the CPP Actuarial Reports, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2012, 2015 & 2018 (updated with information the 2018 CPP Actuarial Report)
Update Table 4-20(b): cumulative probability of receiving a CPP award over career duration (age 20 to 65), average age of disability, and average years of lost income, males and females, Canada, 2018
Update Table 4-20(c): annual disability contingencies, males & females, 2018 CPP data
Update section 4.2.f.ii: findings from the 2002 General Social Survey (GSS)
Updated statistics on the average retirement age of public and private sector employees, section 4.2.f.ii(a)
Update section 4.2.f.iii: findings from the 2007 General Social Survey (GSS)
Update Table 4-22(d): retirement age for public sector, private sector, and self-employed persons, Canada, males & females, 1995 to 2019
Update section 4.4.b: case law in which retirement age is a key assumption
Updated case law discussing loss of earning capacity and loss of a capital asset, section 5.3.a
Update Table 6-2(a): percentage of self-employed males by province and class of worker, 2019
Update Table 6-2(b): percentage of self-employed females by province and class of worker, 2019
Update Table 7-11: results of the survey of financial security, 2016
Update Table 8-1: Historical real interest rates, Canada, 1976-2019
Update Table 8-2: Legislated real discount rates in Canada (2020 rates for Ontario and Saskatchewan)
Update publications about historical, current and future forecasts of interest rates (section 8.6.c)
Update historical interest data and interest rate forecasts from the Bank of Canada, Canadian Institute of Actuaries, major chartered banks, Department of Finance, Policy and Economic Analysis Program ("PEAP") at the University of Toronto, US Congressional Budget Office, International Monetary Fund, and U.S. Federal Reserve (section 8.7)
Updated case law discussing the importance of evidence of the plaintiff's actual housekeeping capacity and the expert's statistical analysis, section 9.2
Update Table 9-6: hourly replacement housekeeping rates, Canada and provinces, 2020 dollars
Update Table 9-7: housekeeping hourly rate for Canada, changes to rates, 1991 to 2020
Updated material outlining the rising cost of health care (section 10.2.b.i(1))
Updated discussion on the applicability of a management fee award (section 10.6)
Updated case law regarding sexual assault cases (section 11.4.a)
Update Table 12-2 (formerly Table 12-3): estimates of child-rearing expenditures excluded from budget and expenditure approaches
Update case law discussing the effect of an expert's bias in previous court decisions (section 15.2.b.i(1))
Update case law discussing "confirmation bias" (section 15.2.b.i(2))

ISSUES IN FOCUS articles (following chapter 15) have been updated by legal scholars:

"What is the recent treatment of wrongful death claims in Ontario with respect to pecuniary damages?" - Smith (updated March 13, 2020)

September 2020 Release #27

The September 2020 update concentrates on:

section. 10.6.a: Deducting management/investment fees as a tax expense is not an official tax deduction according to Canada Revenue Agency
Updated Appendix 1-1: Comparison of Government Statistical Sources
Updated Appendix 1-2: Comparison of Sources - Collective Agreements
Updated Appendix 1-3: Comparison of Sources - Trade and Professional Association Salary Surveys
Updated Appendix 1-4: Comparison of Sources - Educational Institution Graduate Surveys
Updated Appendix 1-5: Comparison of Sources - Private Sector Salary Surveys
Case law summary re: employability of spinal cord injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5-4)
Case law summary re: employability of brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5-5)
Case law summary re: treatment of the self-employed (see Appendix 6-1)
Case law summary re: housekeeping awards in fatality cases (see Appendix 7-1)
Case law summary re: remarriage as a contingency in loss of housekeeping and loss of dependency claims (see Appendix 7-2)
Case law summary re: loss of care, guidance and companionship (see Appendix 7-4)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for mild to moderately brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-3)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for severely brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-4)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for soft tissue injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-5)
case law summary re: the Ontario Court of Appeal's review of a jury's award of $1.5 million for past and future loss of income in a sexual abuse case (section 11.4.a)
Case law summary re: non-pecuniary and pecuniary damages in sexual assault cases (see Appendix 11-1)

December 2019 Release #26

The December 2019 update concentrates on:

Why the participation contingency's "voluntary" nature makes it hard to model from economic data, section 4.2.b
section 4.2.b.ii: Selection of data for the "participation contingency" (if applied)
"Nesting" the participation contingency data by 6 variables (gender, geography, age, education, occupation and prior work status), section 4.2.b.ii
Comparing broad population averages to tailored participation rate data (lawyers, judges), section 4.2.b.ii
section 4.2.b.ix: Guidelines for Applying Participation Contingencies
8 principles enumerating which categories of workers require a participation contingency, section 4.2.b.ix
Why an assumed retirement age is superior to using participation rates to model the retirement decision, section 4.2.e
New example of "years to work" and "years to live" from the Working Life/Life Expectancy Calculator, section 4.3.b
New example of how to convert an annual deficit to a present value lump sum from the Present Value Damages Calculator, incorporating "statistical working life expectancy" and "mortality", section 4.3.b
Earning capacity loss due to early retirement: Mossop v. Hogg (2019), section 5.1.a
Saskatchewan Court of Appeal affirms "loss of marriage benefit" award of $879,000: see University of Regina v. Biletski 2019 SKCA 44, section 5.1.c
section 5.1.e: Assessing the duration of income loss and imputing mitigating income
Why post-incident employability is a critical assumption in income loss calculations, section 5.1.e
Two key assumptions about post-incident employability: duration of loss and mitigating income, section 5.1.e
The importance of vocational opinions and how they can assist the quantum expert, section 5.1.e
Two cases where post-incident income was decided by the court: Kitching v. Devlin (2016) and Mossop v. Hogg (2019), section 5.1.e
Why the issue of full mitigating income must still be addressed even with a vocational opinion, section 5.1.e
How future income losses can be calculated without a vocational opinion using the "wage deficit" approach, section 5.1.e
The court's acceptance of using Canadian Paraplegic Association data in University of Regina v. Biletski 2019 SKCA 44 to assist in projecting Ms. Biletski's post-incident income, section 5.5.a
The "fairness principle" decided by the Alberta Court of Appeal in Baker v. Poucette ABCA 344 (no offset of dependency losses against housekeeping losses in fatality cases), sections 7.2.e & 7.2.e.iii
Example of expenditures on food in dollar terms vis-à-vis percentage terms between low-income versus high-income households, section 7.2.e.iv.2
Confirmation of using PCRs that vary by family income & family size: Journal of Forensic Economics 2018 article, section 7.2.e.iv.5
Why the actual records from consumer expenditure surveys (like the Survey of Household Spending) must be obtained to derive PCRs: Journal of Forensic Economics 2018 article, section 7.2.e.iv.5
The majority of forensic economists rely on peer-reviewed studies for PCR rates: Journal of Forensic Economics 2018 article, section 7.2.e.iv.5
Percentage of Canadian population that contribute to an RRSP or RPP (2016 & 2017), Table 7-15
Sources of data for the negative "health" contingency (Canada & the US), section 9.3.c
How the American and Canadian definitions of impairments to health compare, section 9.3.c
Distinguishing between the negative "health" contingency and the disability contingency, section 9.3.c
The court's discussion of the tax gross-up award in Biletski v. University of Regina (2017), section 10.5.a
86% of civil trials include testimony from expert witnesses, and counsel in tort cases hire the most experts, section 15.2.a
Expert persuasion in court: opinions from lawyers, judges and experts, section 15.2.a
Why tailoring economic data to the plaintiff is so important, section 15.2.b
section 15.2.b.i: Expert "Bias": Supreme Court of Canada's decision White Burgess Langille Inman v. Abbott and Haliburton Co. (2015)
section 15.2.b.i(1): Selected cases where admissibility was challenged but expert was permitted to testify
Justice Sopinka's comments in the Supreme Court of Canada's 1990 decision from R v. Lavallee as to the close match that is required between facts and evidence and the expert's assumptions, section 15.2.b.i(1)
section 15.2.b.i(2): Selected cases where experts have not been admitted due to "bias"
section 15.2.b.ii: Authorship of expert reports
section 15.2.c: Guidelines affecting economic experts in Canada
section 15.2.c.i: Commentary on requirements to list information relied upon to form opinion
section 15.2.c.ii: Commentary on requirement to succinctly summarize assumptions underlying opinion
section 15.2.c.iii: Commentary on requirement to describe or do research to arrive at expert opinion
Economic data and research critical to all quantum damages assessments to fulfill the civil court requirements to describe the research upon which an economic opinion is based, section 15.2.c.iii
section 15.2.c.iv Commentary on requirement to include a "range" of scenarios in opinion
How Alberta's Civil Practice Note no. 5 for economic experts concurs with the court rules governing experts in BC, Ontario and Nova Scotia, sections 15.2.c, 15.2.c.iv
How Alberta's Civil Practice Note no. 5 for economic experts mandates that the "worst-case" and "best-case" scenarios be presented in forensic economist's reports, section 15.2.c.iv
Updated Table 1-3: case law about "real and substantial possibility"
Updated shares of market income and government transfers for Canadian families, section 1.4.a.ii
Updated Table 1-3(c): median market income by family type
Updated Table 1-4(a): wage inflation factors for Canada, 1991 - 2019
Updated the court's comments regarding the issue of deductibility and collateral benefits (section 1.4.e)
Updated Table 1-5: educational attainment by gender, Canada, 1995 - 2018
Updated Table 2-10: employer & employee contribution rates to various pension plans
Updated Table 2-12: pension coverage of young and older workers
Updated Table 3-2(b): comparison of wage changes in various sectors versus the consumer price index(inflation), 1997 - 2018
Updated Table 3-3: unionization rates by industry sector, Canada, 2018
Updated publications discussing cross-sectional age-earnings profiles (section 3.3.e.vi(1))
Updated Table 4-1(a): life expectancy at life and years to live at age 80 using Statistics Canada's 2015-17 mortality rates
Updated Table 4-1(b): life expectancy from 1981 to 2015/2017 by province and for Canada
Updated Table 4-3: participation rates in Canada by age, marital status (1990-2010), education level (1990-2018) and sex
Trends in participation rates by gender based on marital status, age and education level (1990 - 2018)
Updated Table 4-4: historical participation rates of women by age of children, 1980-2018, and 2018 separately
Updated Table 4-10: percentage of persons working part-time, by gender, education level and marital status, 1990 to 2018
Updated Table 4-11: percent of persons working part-time by occupation and sex, 1987 to 2018
Updated Table 4-12: reasons for working part-time, by gender and age, 2018
Updated Table 4-16: average duration of unemployment by weeks, by gender and region, 1976 to 2018 and 2018 separately
Updated Table 4-17: unemployment rates by gender, age and education level, 1990 to 2018
Updated Table 4-18: unemployment rates by occupation and gender, 1987 - 2018
Updated Table 4-22(d): Updated average retirement ages by sector and gender, 1995 - 2018
Updated Figure 5-9: impact of disability on employment income
Updated Table 6-2(a): percentage of self-employed males by province and class of worker, 2018
Updated Table 6-2(b): percentage of self-employed females by province and class of worker, 2018
Updated Table 6-3: number of business establishments
Updated Table 8-1: Historical real interest rates, Canada, 1976-2018
Updated Table 8-2: Legislated real discount rates in Canada (changes in Ontario and Saskatchewan)
Updated historical interest data and interest rate forecasts description from the Bank of Canada, Canadian Institute of Actuaries, chartered banks, Department of Finance, and Congressional Budget Office (United States Government) (section 8.7)
Updated Table 9-6: hourly replacement housekeeping rates, Canada and provinces, 2019 dollars
Updated case law discussing the hourly replacement rate used to calculate loss of housekeeping capacity (section 9.3.b.iv)
Updated Table 9-7: housekeeping hourly rate for Canada, changes to rates, 1991 to 2019
Updated material outlining the rising cost of health care (section 10.2.b.i(1))
Updated case law discussing medical expense tax credits and the tax gross-up (section 10.5.a)
Updated Table 12-3: statistical estimates of annual costs set out in section 7 of the Federal Child Support Guidelines
Updated Table 12-3(a): expenditures on children from Statistics Canada's Survey of Household Spending 2017
Updated studies analyzing the gender wage gap, section 13.2.a
Updated Table 14-2: personal injury loss legislation across Canada
section 14.2.b: Nova Scotia Minor Injury Cap
Issues in Focus (following chapter 15) have been updated by legal scholars:
- "Have pecuniary damage awards increased in recent years?" - Rosenberg (Updated March 17, 2019)
- "What is the highest quantum of recovery, or damages, available to family claimants as a result of a fatal accident?" - Rosenberg (Updated March 19, 2019)
- "What are the amounts awarded to family members - specifically a spouse and/or child - for claims pertaining to loss of care, guidance and companionship?" - Rosenberg (Updated March 20, 2019)
- "Are the amounts awarded for catastrophic injuries increasing and what are the key factors to consider?" - Smith (Updated April 30, 2019)
- "What must be proven in demonstrating failure to mitigate?" - Condon (Updated November 1, 2018)

September 2019 Release #25

The September 2019 update concentrates on:

Updated Appendix 1-1: Comparison of Government Statistical Sources
Updated Appendix 1-2: Comparison of Sources — Collective Agreements
Updated Appendix 1-3: Comparison of Sources — Trade and Professional Association Salary Surveys
Updated Appendix 1-4: Comparison of Sources — Educational Institution Graduate Surveys
Updated Appendix 1-5: Comparison of Sources — Private Sector Salary Surveys
Case law summary re: employability of spinal cord injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5-4)
Case law summary re: employability of brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5-5)
Case law summary re: treatment of the self-employed (see Appendix 6-1)
Case law summary re: remarriage as a contingency in loss of housekeeping and loss of dependency claims (see Appendix 7-2)
Case law summary re: loss of care, guidance and companionship (see Appendix 7-4)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for mild to moderately brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-3)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for severely brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-4)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for soft tissue injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-5)
Case law summary re: non-pecuniary and pecuniary damages in sexual assault cases (see Appendix 11-1)

December 2018 Release #24

The December 2018 update concentrates on:

In chapter 9, VALUATION OF HOUSEKEEPING CAPACITY, we have added section 9.3.b.ii Combining rates with time use data ["Replacement Cost Method"] and section 9.3.b.iii Rates found in Statistics. Section 9.3.b.iii includes four sub-sections, entitled "Characteristics of the Published Wage Surveys in Canada", "Statistics Canada's 2001, 2006 and 2016 Censuses", "Government of Canada's JOB BANK website", and "Alberta Wage and Salary Survey". The new section 9.3.b.iii discusses the differences between using replacement rates for household work based on published and verified wage data for housekeepers across all regions in Canada versus "agency" rates, which are often obtained through small and biased internet samples for single regions only.
Updated Table 1-4(a): wage inflation factors for Canada, 1991 — 2018
Updated Table 1-5: educational attainment by gender, Canada, 1995 — 2017
Addition of U.S. fringe benefits data from Expectancy Data's Employer Paid Benefits (chapter 2)
Updated Table 2-10: employer & employee contributions to various pension plans
Updated Table 3-1: productivity rates from 1926 — 2017 (Canadian Institute of Actuaries)
Updated Table 3-2(b): comparison of wage changes in various sectors versus the consumer price index(inflation), 1997-2017
Updated Table 3-3: unionization rates by industry sector, Canada, 2017
Updated Table 4-1(a): life expectancy at life and years to live at age 80
Updated Table 4-1(b): life expectancy from 1981 to 2014/2016 by province and for Canada
Updated Table 4-3: participation rates in Canada by age, marital status (1990-2010), education level (1990-2017) and sex
Updated Table 4-4: historical participation rates of women by age of children, 1980-2017, and 2017 separately
Updated Table 4-6: average age of first motherhood, 1961-2016
Updated Table 4-7: average number of births per woman, 1961-2016
Updated Table 4-10: percentage of persons working part-time, by gender, education level and marital status, to 2017
Updated Table 4-11: percent of persons working part-time by occupation and sex, to 2017
Updated Table 4-12: reasons for working part-time, by gender and age, to 2017
Updated Table 4-16: average duration of unemployment by weeks, by gender and region, to 2017 and 2017 separately
Updated Table 4-17: unemployment rates by gender, age and education level, to 2017
Updated Table 4-18: unemployment rates by occupation and gender, 1987 — 2017
Updated Table 4-22(d): Update average retirement ages by sector and gender, 1995 — 2017
Updated section 4.4.b: case law in which retirement age is a key assumption
Updated Table 6-2(a): percentage of self-employed males by province and class of worker, 2017
Updated Table 6-2(b): percentage of self-employed females by province and class of worker, 2017
Updated Table 8-1: Historical real interest rates, Canada, 1976-2017
Updated Table 8-2: Legislated real discount rates in Canada (changes in Ontario and Saskatchewan)
Updated historical interest data and interest rate forecasts description from the Bank of Canada, Canadian Institute of Actuaries, chartered banks, Department of Finance, and Congressional Budget Office (United States Government) (section 8.7)
Updated Table 9-5: average hours spent on household production and childcare by employment status, gender, household composition and age of children, United States, 2016
Updated Table 9-8: hourly replacement housekeeping rates, Canada and provinces, 2018 dollars [changed to Table 9-6 in release #24]
Updated Table 9-9: housekeeping hourly rate for Canada, changes to rates, 1991 to 2018 [changed to Table 9-7 in release #24]
Updated Table 12-3(a): expenditures on children from Statistics Canada's Survey of Household Spending 2016
Updated section 15.2.d: guidelines affecting economic experts in Canada

September 2018 Release #23

The September 2018 update concentrates on:

Updated Appendix 1-1: Comparison of Government Statistical Sources
Updated Appendix 1-2: Comparison of Sources — Collective Agreements
Updated Appendix 1-3: Comparison of Sources — Trade and Professional Association Salary Surveys
Updated Appendix 1-4: Comparison of Sources — Educational Institution Graduate Surveys
Updated Appendix 1-5: Comparison of Sources — Private Sector Salary Surveys
Case law summary re: employability of spinal cord injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5-4)
Case law summary re: employability of brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5-5)
Case law summary re: plaintiffs with amputations (see Appendix 5-6)
Case law summary re: treatment of the self-employed (see Appendix 6-1)
Case law summary re: remarriage as a contingency in loss of housekeeping and loss of dependency claims (see Appendix 7-2)
Case law summary re: loss of pecuniary benefit reasonably expected from children (Appendix 7-3)
Case law summary re: loss of care, guidance and companionship (see Appendix 7-4)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for spinal cord injured plaintiffs (quadriplegic) (see Appendix 10-2)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for mild to moderately brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-3)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for soft tissue injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-5)
Case law summary re: non-pecuniary and pecuniary damages in sexual assault cases (see Appendix 11-1)

November 2017 Release #22

The November 2017 Update concentrates on:

BILETSKI v. University of Regina (2017) — jury verdict of $9 million
Baker Estate v. Poucette, 2017 ABCA 334 (set-off on dependency losses, accelerated inheritance)
Inclusion of landmark definitions of "human capital" and "earning capacity" (section 1.1)
Updated Table 1-4(a): wage inflation factors for Canada, 1991-2017
Updated Table 1-5: educational attainment by gender, Canada, 1995-2016
Updated Table 2-10: employer & employee contributions to various pension plans
Updated Table 3-1: productivity rates from 1926-2016 (Canadian Institute of Actuaries)
Updated Table 3-2(b): comparison of wage changes in various sectors versus the consumer price index(inflation), 1997-2016
Updated Table 3-3: unionization rates by industry sector, Canada, 2016
Updated Table 4-1(a): life expectancy at life and years to live at age 80
Updated Table 4-1(b): life expectancy from 1981 to 2011/2013 by province and for Canada
Updated Table 4-3: participation rates in Canada by age, marital status (1990-2010), education level (1990-2016) and sex
Updated Table 4-4: historical participation rates of women by age of children, 1980-2016, and 2016 separately
Updated Table 4-10: percentage of persons working part-time, by gender, education level and marital status, to 2016
Updated Table 4-11: percent of persons working part-time by occupation and sex, to 2016
Updated Table 4-12: reasons for working part-time, by gender and age, to 2016
Updated Table 4-16: average duration of unemployment by weeks, by gender and region, to 2016 and 2016 separately
Updated Table 4-17: unemployment rates by gender, age and education level, to 2016
Updated Table 4-18: unemployment rates by occupation and gender, 1987-2016
Updated Table 4-20(a): disability incidence rates (Canada Pension Plan actuarial reports)
Updated Table 4-20(b): cumulative probability of receiving a CPP award, average age of disability and average years of lost income, 2015
Updated Table 4-20(c): annual disability contingencies, 2015 CPP data
Updated Table 4-22(d): update average retirement ages by sector and gender, 1995-2016
section 5.2.a.iv: Statistics Canada's Surveys on Disability and Activity Limitations (new data from 2012 CSD)
sections 5.2.a.iv.4 and 5.2.a.v.6: 2012 CSD Survey
section 5.2.a.v.7: Comparison of 2012 CSD, 2006 PALS and 2001 PALS Results
Appendix 5-3: 2012 CSD Severity Scale Questionnaire (replaces PALS questionnaire)
Updated Table 6-2(a): percentage of self-employed males by province and class of worker, 2016
Updated Table 6-2(b): percentage of self-employed females by province and class of worker, 2016
Updated Table 7-11(a): offsetting accelerated inheritance and loss of inheritance
Updated Table 7-14: percentage net deductions (using a PCR of 20%)
Updated Appendix 7-1: housekeeping awards in fatality cases
Updated Table 8-1: Historical real interest rates, Canada, 1976-2016
Updated Table 8-2: Legislated real discount rates in Canada (changes in Ontario and Saskatchewan)
Addition of updated historical interest data versus interest rate forecasts description from the International Monetary Fund, Bank of Canada and National Association of Business Economics (section 8.6.c)
section 9.3.a: Measurement of Time Use
section 9.3.a.iii: Time spent by Canadians: 1986 to 2015 (presents recently released GSS Time Use Survey data)
Updated Table 9-1: time spent on paid work, household chores and childcare, 1986 to 2015
Updated Table 9-2: time spent on household chores, 2010 and 2015
Updated Table 9-3: time spent on childcare, 2010 and 2015
Updated Table 9-8: hourly replacement housekeeping rates, Canada and provinces, 2017 dollars
Updated Table 9-9: housekeeping hourly rate for Canada, changes to rates, 1991 to 2017
Updated Appendix 9-1: Diary of Household Activities
Updated Appendix 10-2: cost of care awards in quadriplegic cases
Updated Table 12-3(a): expenditures on children from Statistics Canada's Survey of Household Spending 2015

September 2017 Release #21

The September 2017 update concentrates on:

Updated Appendix 1-1: Comparison of Government Statistical Sources
Updated Appendix 1-2: Comparison of Sources - Collective Agreements
Updated Appendix 1-3: Comparison of Sources - Trade and Professional Association Salary Surveys
Updated Appendix 1-4: Comparison of Sources - Educational Institution Graduate Surveys
Updated Appendix 1-5: Comparison of Sources - Private Sector Salary Surveys
Case law updates re: employability of brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5-4)
Case law summary re: plaintiffs with amputations (see Appendix 5-5)
Case law summary re: treatment of the self-employed (see Appendix 6-1)
Case law updates re: housekeeping awards in fatality cases (see Appendix 7-1)
Case law summary re: loss of care, guidance and companionship (see Appendix 7-4)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for spinal cord injured plaintiffs (paraplegic) (see Appendix 10-1)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for mild to moderately brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-3)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for severely brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-4)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for soft tissue injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-5)
Case law summary re: non-pecuniary and pecuniary damages in sexual assault cases (see Appendix 11-1)

November 2016 Release #20

In addition to the updates to most chapters, release #20 also includes updated legal memorandums in the "Issues in Focus" section on:

The failure to mitigate
What principles govern the assessment of damages for loss of earning capacity?
How have courts assessed pecuniary damages for reduced lifespan?

The November 2016 Update concentrates on:

section 1.3: Commentary in the Case Law About "Real and Substantial Possibility"
section 1.3.a.i: Demonstrated Work History and Earning Capacity
section 1.4.c: Age-Earnings Profiles
Updated Table 1-3(a): wage inflation factors for Canada, 1991 - 2016
Updated Table 1-4: educational attainment by gender, Canada, 1995 - 2015
section 1.8: Wage Data on Aboriginals in Canada
section 1.9: Wage Data on Immigrants in Canada
Updated Table 2-3(b): prevalence of employer sponsored benefits
Updated Table 2-10: employer & employee contributions to various pension plans
Updated Table 3-1: productivity rates from 1926 - 2015 (Canadian Institute of Actuaries)
Updated Table 3-2(b): comparison of wage changes in various sectors versus the consumer price index(inflation), 1997-2015
Updated Table 3-3: unionization rates by industry sector, Canada, 2015
Updated Table 4-1(a): life expectancy at life and years to live at age 80
Updated Table 4-1(b): life expectancy from 1981 to 2010/2012 by province and for Canada
section 4.2.a.i: Life Expectancy Data on Aboriginals in Canada
Updated Table 4-3: participation rates in Canada by age, marital status (1990-2010), education level (1990-2015) and sex
Updated Table 4-4: historical participation rates of women by age of children, 1980-2015, and 2015 separately
Updated Table 4-10: percentage of persons working part-time, by gender, education level and marital status, to 2015
Updated Table 4-11: percent of persons working part-time by occupation and sex, to 2015
Updated Table 4-12: reasons for working part-time, by gender and age, to 2015
Updated Table 4-16: average duration of unemployment by weeks, by gender and region, to 2015 and 2015 separately
Updated Table 4-17: unemployment rates by gender, age and education level, to 2015
Updated Table 4-18: unemployment rates by occupation and gender, 1987 - 2015
Updated Table 4-20(b): cumulative probability of receiving a CPP award, average age of disability and average years of lost income, 2012
Updated Figure A: participation rate of those age 55 to 69, to 2015
Updated Table 4-22(d): update average retirement ages by sector and gender, 1995 - 2015
** NEW ** section 5.2.a.iv.4: 2012 Canadian Survey on Disability ("CSD")
Updated Table 6-2(a): percentage of self-employed males by province and class of worker, 2015
Updated Table 6-2(b): percentage of self-employed females by province and class of worker, 2015
Updated Table 7-20: young adults living at home
section 7.2.i.i: Accelerated Inheritance Offset Loss of Inheritance
Updated Table 8-1: Historical real interest rates, Canada, 1976-2015
Updated Table 8-2: Legislated real discount rates in Canada (changes in Ontario and Nova Scotia)
Addition of updated historical interest data versus interest rate forecasts description from the International Monetary Fund, Bank of Canada and National Association of Business Economics (section 8.6.c)
section 8.7: Selection of the Discount Rate (data from the Canadian Institute of Actuaries; GIC rates posted by chartered banks; Dept. of Finance survey; PEAP forecasts)
Updated Table 9-8: hourly replacement housekeeping rates, Canada and provinces, 2016 dollars
Updated Table 9-9: housekeeping hourly rate for Canada, changes to rates, 1991 to 2016
Updated Table 10-1: sample future cost of care
Updated Table 12-3(a): expenditures on children from Statistics Canada's Survey of Household Spending 2014
Supplement description of Ontario tort calculations (chapter 14)

September 2016 Release #19

The September 2016 update concentrates on:

Updated Appendix 1-1: Comparison of Government Statistical Sources
Updated Appendix 1-3: Comparison of Sources - Trade and Professional Association Salary Surveys
Updated Appendix 1-5: Comparison of Sources - Private Sector Salary Surveys
Case law updates re: employability of brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5-4)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for mild to moderately brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-3)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for severe brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-4)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for soft tissue injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-5)
Case law summary re: non-pecuniary and pecuniary damages in sexual assault cases (see Appendix 11-1)
Issues in Focus articles (following chapter 15) updated:
- "What principles govern the assessment of damages for loss of earning capacity?"
- "How have courts assessed pecuniary damages for reduced lifespan?"

November 2015 Release

The November 2015 update concentrates on:

Updated Table 1-3(a): wage inflation factors for Canada, 1991 - 2015
Updated Table 1-4: educational attainment by gender, Canada, 1995 - 2014
Table 1-5(a): proportion of men and women with a university degree
Updated Table 1-9(a): highest education level attained by percentage of registered Indians population
Updated Table 1-9(b): highest education level attained by percentage of other aboriginal population
Addition of case law research in chapter 1: Adams v. Canada (Attorney General), 2015 ABQB 527
section 1.6: Gender Differences in Data
Updated Table 2-10: employer & employee contributions to various pension plans
Updated Table 3-1: productivity rates from 1933 - 2014 (Canadian Institute of Actuaries)
Updated Table 3-2(b): comparison of wage changes in various sectors versus the consumer price index(inflation), 1997-2014
Updated Table 3-3: unionization rates by industry sector, Canada, 2014
Updated Table 4-3: participation rates in Canada by age, marital status (1990-2010), education level (1990-2014) and sex
Updated Table 4-4: historical participation rates of women by age of children, 1980- 2014, and 2014 separately
Updated Table 4-6: average age at 1st motherhood & fertility rates, 1961 - 2011
Updated Table 4-10: percentage of persons working part-time, by gender, education level and marital status, to 2014
Updated Table 4-11: percent of persons working part-time by occupation and sex, to 2014
Updated Table 4-12: reasons for working part-time, by gender and age, to 2014
Updated Table 4-13: average hours worked per week and weeks per year by occupation and gender, 2010
Updated Table 4-16: average duration of unemployment by weeks, by gender and region, to 2014 and 2014 separately
Updated Table 4-17: unemployment rates by gender, age and education level, to 2014
Updated Table 4-18: unemployment rates by occupation and gender, 1987 - 2014
Updated Table 4-22(d): Updated average retirement ages by sector and gender, 1995 - 2014
Addition of case law research in chapter 5 accepting the use of PALS data
Updated Table 7-14: percentage net deductions based on various combinations of income levels for survivor and deceased (using a personal consumption rate of 20% for 2-adult household)
Updated Table 7-15: summary of CPI forecasts, Canada, 2011-2015
Updated Table 8-1: Historical real interest rates, Canada, 1976-2014
Updated Table 8-2: Legislated real discount rates in Canada (changes in Ontario)
Addition of historical interest data versus interest rate forecasts description from the International Monetary Fund and Bank of Canada (chapter 8)
section 8.7: Selection of the Discount Rate (data from the Canadian Institute of Actuaries; GIC rates posted by chartered banks; Dept. of Finance survey; PEAP forecasts)
Updated Appendix 8-1: inflation rate forecasts
Updated Table 9-8: hourly replacement housekeeping rates, Canada and provinces, 2015 dollars
Updated Table 9-9: housekeeping hourly rate for Canada, changes to rates, 1991 to 2015
Updated Table 12-3(a): expenditures on children from Statistics Canada's Survey of Household Spending 2013
Updated Appendix 12-1: sources of income shown on Revenue Canada T1 general form
Updated Appendix 12-2: adjustments made to income for purposes of applying the federal child support guidelines
Addition of description of recent changes to Ontario No-Fault Calculations (chapter 14)
Addition of case law research in chapter 15: Westerhof v. Gee, 2015 ONCA 206 and Moore v. Getahun, 2015 ONCA 55

September 2015 Release

The September 2015 update concentrates on:

Updated Appendix 1-1: Comparison of Government Statistical Sources
Updated Appendix 1-2: Comparison of Sources - Collective Agreements
Updated Appendix 1-3: Comparison of Sources - Trade and Professional Association Salary Surveys
Updated Appendix 1-4: Comparison of Sources - Educational Institution Graduate Surveys
Updated Appendix 1-5: Comparison of Sources - Private Sector Salary Surveys
Case law updates re: employability of brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5-4)
Case law summary re: plaintiffs with amputations (see Appendix 5-5)
Case law summary re: treatment of the self-employed (see Appendix 6-1)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for mild to moderately brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-3)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for severely brain-injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-4)
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for soft tissue injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 10-5)
Case law summary re: non-pecuniary and pecuniary damages in sexual assault cases (see Appendix 11-1)
Issues in Focus (following chapter 15) updated:
- "What is the highest quantum of recovery, or damages, available to family claimants as a result of a fatal accident?"
- "What is the recent treatment of wrongful death claims in Ontario with respect to pecuniary damages?"

December 2014 Release

The December 2014 update concentrates on:

Updated Table 1-3(a): wage inflation factors for Canada, 1991 - 2014
Updated Table 1-4: educational attainment by gender, Canada, 1995 - 2013
Updated Table 1-14: percentage of women in various occupations (US), 2012
Addition of fringe benefits source in chapter 2: Estimates of Labour Income, Canada, 1961 - 2012
Addition of fringe benefits data for tradespeople from Merit Contractors Association (chapter 2)
Updated Table 2-10: employer & employee contributions to various pension plans
Updated Table 3-1: productivity rates from 1933 - 2013 (Canadian Institute of Actuaries)
Updated Table 3-3: unionization rates by industry sector, Canada, 2013
Updated Table 4-1(a): life expectancy statistics at birth and at age 80, Canada and Provinces, 2009-2011 data
Updated Table 4-2: life expectancy statistics for various countries to 2011
Updated Tables 4-6 & 4-7: average age at 1^st motherhood & fertility rates, 1961 - 2011
Updated Table 4-10: percentage of persons working part-time, by gender, education level and marital status, to 2013
Updated Table 4-12: reasons for working part-time, by gender and age, to 2013
Updated Table 4-16: average duration of unemployment by weeks, by gender and region, to 2013
Updated Table 4-17: unemployment rates by gender, age and education level, to 2013
Updated Table 4-18: unemployment rates by occupation and gender, 1987 - 2013
Updated Table 4-20(a): update Canada Pension Plan (CPP) disability rates with 2012 data
Updated Table 4-20(c): update annual disability rates by age and gender using 2012 CPP data
Updated Table 4-22(d): update average retirement ages by sector and gender, 1995 - 2013
Appendix 5-5: Case law on awards for amputees
Updated Tables 6-2(a) & 6-2(b): Percentage of self-employed persons, males and females, by province & class of worker, 2013
Updated Table 7-11: results of the Survey of Financial Security, 2013
Updated Table 8-1: Historical real interest rates, Canada, 1976-2013
Updated Table 8-2: Legislated real discount rates in Canada (changes in BC, Ontario and New Brunswick)
section 8.7: Selection of the Discount Rate (data from the Canadian Institute of Actuaries; GIC rates posted by chartered banks; Dept. of Finance survey; PEAP forecasts)
Updated Appendix 8-1: inflation rate forecasts
Updated Table 9-8: hourly replacement housekeeping rates, Canada and provinces, 2014 dollars
Updated Table 9-9: housekeeping hourly rate for Canada, changes to rates, 1991 to 2014
Update of USDA "costs of raising children" (chapter 12)
Updated Table 12-3(a): expenditures on children from Statistics Canada's Survey of Household Spending 2012
Issues in Focus (following chapter 15): "How have courts treated claims for loss of marriageability?"
Issues in Focus (following chapter 15): "What must be proven in demonstrating a failure to mitigate?"

September 2014 Release

The September 2014 update concentrates on:

Case law updates re: brain-injured plaintiffs
case law summary re: plaintiffs with amputations
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for mild and moderately brain-injured plaintiffs
Case law summary re: costs of care awards for severely brain-injured plaintiffs
Case law summary re: cost of care awards for soft tissue injured plaintiffs
Case law summary of general/aggravated & punitive damages in sexual assault cases
New this release
- Bibliography
- Glossary of Terms
- Recommended Reading list
Issues in Focus (follows chapter 15)
- Smith: "How have courts treated claims for ‘loss of marriageability’?"
- Condon: "What must be proven in demonstrating a failure to mitigate?"

December 2013 Release

The December 2013 update concentrates on:

Definitions of "earnings" and "market income", along with sources from self-employment and how they determine the benchmark salary [chapter 1]
Discussion of main data sources in Canada for forensic economists (Census and Working in Canada databases) [chapter 1]
Comments on 2006 Census data versus 2011 National Household Survey data [chapter 1]
Disadvantages of Census data along with rationales for reviewing other data sources, such as the sources in the Appendices to chapter 1 [chapter 1]
Earnings by occupation group and family type from Survey of Labour Income & Dynamics (SLID) [chapter 1]
table showing wage inflation factors from 1991 to 2013, by region, from Survey of Employment, Payrolls & Hours (SEPH) data [chapter 1]
section: Deductibility of CPP Disability Benefits, plus Issues in Focus memorandum by J. Smith on similar topic [chapter 1]
Updated statistics on the gender wage gap in section 1.6.b.ii [chapter 1]
Updated historical productivity rates from the Canadian Institute of Actuaries' Report on Economic Statistics, 1924-2012 [chapter 3]
Updated life expectancy statistics from Statistics Canada's 2007-09 tables [chapter 4]
Updated economic indicators for: [chapter 4]
- Participation rates by gender, age, marital status, education level and age of child(ren)
- Part-time rates by gender, age, marital status, education level
- Percentage of persons working part-time by occupation group and sex
- Reasons for working part-time, by age and gender
- Unemployment rates by gender, age and education level as well as by occupational grouping
- Duration of unemployment by region and historically
Information from Statistics Canada's General Social Survey 2007 (cycle 21) on Family, Social Support and Retirement which focused on the retirement intentions of Canadians aged 45 and older; and by demographic characteristic, and the reversal of early to later retirement ages [chapter 4]
Update of retirement ages by public sector, private sector and for the self-employed, by gender and historically (1995 to 2012) [chapter 4]
Analysis of historical interest rates from the Bank of Canada, short-term and long-term rates [Table 8-1]
Update of mandated real discount rates, by province [Table 8-2]
Addition of material regarding Ontario's mandated discount rate, affirming the "traditional" approach versus the alternative approach [chapter 8]
Revised forecasts for interest rates, based on the Canadian Institute of Actuaries' Report on Economic Statistics, 1924-2012, University of Toronto's Policy and Economic Analysis Program (PEAP)'s Policy Study 2013-3 [chapter 8]
Update of inflation forecasts (Consumer Price Index) from the Conference Board of Canada's Survey of Forecasters Survey Results; University of Toronto's Policy and Economic Analysis Program (PEAP)'s Policy Study 2013-3, and the Bank of Canada's target rate for inflation [chapters 7 & 8]
New hourly rates for housekeeping losses, by province [Table 9-8]
New hourly rates for housekeeping losses, Canada-wide average, from 1991 to 2012 [Table 9-9]
Overlap of housekeeping awards with cost of care awards: case law [chapter 10]
Update of USDA data on costs of raising children [chapter 12]
Inclusion of the "budget standard" approach to the cost of raising children [chapter 12]
Update of Table 12-3(a) regarding out-of-pocket expenditures on children from the 2011 Survey of Household Spending [chapter 12]
Impact on earnings of leaving the labour force to raise children [chapter 13]
Update Table 13-3 on the percentage of cases awarding spousal support [chapter 13]

September 2013 Release

The September 2013 update concentrates on:

Updates to case law on employability of spinal cord injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5-3)
Updates to case law on employability of brain injured plaintiffs (see Appendix 5-4)
Updates to case law highlighting the court's treatment of self-employed plaintiffs in assessing damage awards for loss of income, loss of earning capacity and/or loss of opportunity (see Appendix 6-1)
Updates to case law which looks at remarriage as a contingency in loss of housekeeping and loss of dependency claims (see Appendix 7-2)
Updates to case law which looks at the loss of pecuniary benefit reasonably expected from children (see Appendix 7-3)
Updates to case law highlighting the awards for and comments on loss of care, guidance and companionship (see Appendix 7-4)
Updates to case law on cost of care awards in paraplegic cases (see Appendix 10-1)
Updates to case law on cost of care awards in quadriplegic cases (see Appendix 10-2)
Updates to case law on cost of care awards in mild and moderate brain injury cases (see Appendix 10-3)
Updates case law on cost of care awards in severe brain injury cases (see Appendix 10-4)
Updates case law on cost of care awards in soft tissue injury cases (see Appendix 10-5)
Updates to case law examples of damages awarded in sexual assault cases (see Appendix 11-1)
2 new legal memoranda added to the Issues in Focus section (following Chapter 15), entitled:
- What are the amounts awarded to family members – specifically a spouse and/or child – for claims pertaining to loss of care, guidance and companionship?
- What is the recent treatment of wrongful death claims in Ontario with respect to claims for pecuniary damages?

December 2012 Release

The December 2012 update concentrates on:

Definition of "productivity" in the Canadian context: what is it, how is it determined, how does it affect the lives of Canadians, and how is it measured? [chapter 3, new sections]
Updated economic indicators for: [chapter 4]
- Participation rates by gender, age, marital status, education level and age of child(ren)
- Unemployment rates by gender, age and education level as well as by occupational grouping
Update of case law on "loss of earning capacity" or "loss of opportunity" (Sobolik & Perren), consistent with HALS/PALS research & the Pallos-type cases [chapter 5]
Updated research for spinal cord injured and brain injured plaintiffs [chapter 5]
Analysis of historical interest rates from the Bank of Canada, short-term and long-term rates [Table 8-1]
Revised forecasts for interest rates, based on the Canadian Institute of Actuaries' Report on Economic Statistics, 1924-2011 Economic Expectations 2012 31^st Annual Canadian Survey [chapter 8]
Update of inflation forecasts (Consumer Price Index) from the Conference Board of Canada's Survey of Forecasters Survey Results; University of Toronto's Policy and Economic Analysis Program (PEAP); and the Bank of Canada's target rate for inflation [chapters 7 & 8]
Information from Statistics Canada's General Social Survey 2007 (cycle 21) on Family, Social Support and Retirement regarding the proportion of Canadians who provide housekeeping assistance on an unpaid basis to individuals with a "long-term health condition or physical limitation" [chapter 9]
New hourly rates for housekeeping losses, by province [Table 9-8]
New hourly rates for housekeeping losses, Canada-wide average, from 1991 to 2012 [Table 9-9]
New example from the internet calculator Housekeeping Damages Calculator^TM showing how past and future economic losses can be computed online for a nominal fee (at www.browneconomic.com), based on time use data for activities such as sleeping, paid work, personal care, and leisure from Statistics Canada's 2010 General Social Survey
Update of case law using a productivity rate for cost of care services based on the cost of a wage-earner [chapter 10]
Update of section 10.2.b.i, "Evidence of rising health care costs in relation to the application of a productivity rate in cost of care calculations" - Canadian and US trends in the cost of drugs and health care [chapter 10]

August 2012 Release

The August 2012 update concentrates on:

Updated metrics (year of data, response rate, size of sample, number of job titles covered) pertaining to various salary sources in Appendices 1-1, 1-4, and 1-5 [chapter 1]
Updated pension statistics from Statistics Canada's publication Pension Plans in Canada January 1, 2010 [chapter 1]
Historical analysis of productivity rates from Canadian Institute of Actuaries' Report on Economic Statistics, 1924-2011 and forecasts of the productivity rate from the 2009 actuarial report of the Canada Pension Plan [chapter 3; Table 3-1]
Comparison of wages to changes in the CPI [chapter 3; Table 3-2(b)]
Updated unionization rates [Table 3-3]
Updated economic indicators for: [chapter 4]
- Participation rates by gender, age, marital status, education level and age of child(ren), historically and updated to 2011 [Tables 4-3 & 4-4]
- Unemployment rates by gender, age and education level as well as by occupational grouping, historically and updated to 2011 [Tables 4-17 & 4-18]
- Part-time work rates by gender and occupation, historically and updated to 2011 [Table 4-11]
- Reasons for working part-time by age and gender, for 2011 [Table 4-12]
- Duration of unemployment spells by gender and province, historically and for 2011 [Table 4-16]
- Retirement ages by gender and public/private sector and for self-employed, historical and updated to 2011 [Table 4-22(d)]
Distribution of establishments by size (number of employees) and industry sector for 2010 in Canada [Table 6-3(a) - new table]
New data on propensity of youth to remain living with parents [Chapter 7]
New cases reporting housekeeping awards in wrongful death cases [Appendix 7-1]
Analysis of historical interest rates from the Bank of Canada, short-term and long-term rates, updated to 2011 [Table 8-1]
New hourly rates for housekeeping losses, by province [Table 9-8]
New hourly rates for housekeeping losses, Canada-wide average, from 1991 to 2012 [Table 9-9]
New case law on cost of care awards, by type of injury (brain injury, paraplegic, quadriplegic) [chapter 10]

December 2011 Release

The 2011 update concentrates on:

Updated case law (5 new cases) on including EI benefits as part of without-incident potential employment income [chapter 1]
Prevalence of benefits and updated pension contributions are updated in Table 2-10, plus compensable contingency updates [chapter 2]
Historical analysis of productivity rates from Canadian Institute of Actuaries' Report on Economic Statistics, 1924-2010 and forecasts of the productivity rate from the 2009 actuarial report of the Canada Pension Plan [chapter 3]
Update of data for the disability contingency using 2009 Canada Pension Plan actuarial report [chapter 4]
Updates on rates for participation; unemployment; part-time work; and hours of work [chapter 4]
Updates on duration of unemployment, by gender and province [chapter 4]
New data from the 2006 Participation and Activity Limitation Survey ("PALS")and estimated wage gaps based on mild, moderate, severe or very severe disabilities [chapter 5]
2006 PALS wage gaps by gender, compared to 2001 PALS wage gaps, along with comparisons of 2006 & 2001 PALS surveys [chapter 5]
Comment on award for lost income due to delay in education: Brodie v. Canada (Attorney General), 2010 [chapter 5]
Percentage of self-employed updated by class of worker & gender [chapter 6]
Various comments on how to construct PCRs, including the use of before-tax income; why family budgets are not used; how economies of scale are incorporated; how PCRs vary by family size & income level [chapter 7]
PCRs calculated from 2007 & 2008 Surveys of Household Spending - update of 2000 PCRs [chapter 7]
Revised mandated discount rates across Canada [Table 8-2]
Comment on a different interpretation of rule 53.09(1) for Ontario's real discount rate, along with Slaght & Greenlagh cases [chapter 8]
Analysis of historical rates from Canadian Institute of Actuaries' Report on Economic Statistics, 1924-2010 [chapter 8]
New forecasts of real rates of return from the major chartered banks in Canada and the Department of Finance [chapter 8]
New forecasts of interest rates from Policy and Economic Analysis Program ("PEAP")'s Long-term National Outlook to 2040 [chapter 8]
New data on time use for housekeeping loss assessments from Statistics Canada's 2010 General Social Survey [chapter 9]
New time use data for American residents, from "Dollar Value of a Day" 2009 [chapter 9]
Estimates of unpaid work spent on housework and childcare from Statistics Canada's 2001 and 2006 Censuses [chapter 9]
Participation rates for seniors on heavy tasks; and the percentage of seniors who need help with housework [chapter 9]
Composition of household tasks for Canadian households [Figure 9-6]
New hourly rates for housekeeping losses, by province [Table 9-8]
New hourly rates for housekeeping losses, Canada-wide average, from 1991 to 2011 [Table 9-9]
New case law on cost of care awards, by type of injury (brain injury, paraplegic, quadriplegic) [chapter 10]

December 2010 Release

The 2010 update concentrates on:

updating sources of salary surveys and government sources (chapter 1 appendices);
decision from Palmquist v. Ziegler about not deducting CPP survivorship benefits in fatality cases (chapter 1);
update on the distribution of educational attainment in Canada, males & females, 1981 to 2006 (Table 1-4, chapter 1);
comment on valuing replacement costs for provincial health care premiums as fringe benefits (chapter 2);
case law on accepting the productivity increase by industry sector (chapter 3);
discussion on including "promotional" increases as per Waddams' The Law of Damages (chapter 3);
updates on rates for participation; unemployment; part-time work; and hours of work (chapter 4);
updates on duration of unemployment (chapter 4);
preliminary findings from the 2006 PALS, on type and severity of disability, and labour force activity and median employment income, by gender and province (chapter 5);
new divorce rates from Statistics Canada 2005 data - contingency in fatality cases (chapter 7);
tax gross-up: case law discussion on management fees and legal fees; subrogation; and assumption as to form of investment income (exclude equities) (chapter 7);
statistics about RRSP contributions when calculating net income and tax gross-up (chapter 7);
new discount rate & inflation rate forecasts (chapter 8);
time use data comparing trends by gender, 1986 to 2005;
update of housekeeping rates for each province and territory to 2010, and historically back to 1991 (Tables 9-8, 9-9);
new case law on cost of care awards, by type of injury (brain injury, paraplegic, quadriplegic) (chapter 10);
update on outcome of Morrow v. Zhang (Alberta minor injury definition) (chapter 14).

December 2009 Release

The 2009 update concentrates on:

wealth of sources to research wages from government internet sites and unions (appendices 1-1 and 1-2);
discussion on taxability of income, and taxability of lump sum awards as per CRA Income Tax Bulletin IT-365R2 (chapter 1);
more information on the source of wage inflation used from date of loss to date of trial (chapter 1);
new data on fringe benefits, by industry sector, obtained from Watson Wyatt (chapter 2);
comments on the undervaluation of fringe benefits (chapter 2);
research on historical 'productivity' rates from the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (chapter 3);
new productivity forecasts, by industry sector, from Informetrica (chapter 3, Table 3-8);
updates on working life expectancy, related to life expectancy; participation; unemployment; part-time work, and hours of work (chapter 4);
updates on case law related to the HALS/PALS approach (chapter 5);
new data on self-employment trends (chapter 6);
case law review on housekeeping, summarizing awards from recent cases, including the landmark decision from Ontario, McIntyre v. Docherty (chapter 9);
update of housekeeping rates for each province and territory to 2009, and historically back to 1991 (Tables 9-8, 9-9 and appendix 9-2);
new demonstrations of the online Housekeeping Damages Calculator (chapter 9);
new case law on cost of care awards, by type of injury (chapter 10);
case law on fringe benefits, retirement age and use of wage inflation data (chapters 1, 2 and 4);
summary of personal injury litigation by province, comparing injury caps, gross v. net wage loss, subrogation (chapter 14).

November 2008 Release

The 2008 update concentrates on:

new data on unemployment, non-participation & part-time rates (chapter 4);
new case law on brain injured plaintiffs (chapter 5); self-employed plaintiffs (chapter 6); housekeeping awards (chapter 9); and cost of care awards, by type of injury (chapter 10)
update of housekeeping rates for each province and territory to 2008, and historically back to 1991 (Tables 9-8, 9-9 and appendix 9-2);
evidence of rising health care costs in relation to the application of a productivity rate in cost of care calculations (chapter 10)
economic impact of sexual assault (using Canadian GSS cycle 18 data from 2004) - review of all 3 GSS cycles from 1993, 1999 and 2004 and summary of economic impact (chapter 11)

November 2007 Release

The 2007 update concentrates on:

comparison of wage changes for various sectors, including unionized ones (chapter 3);
new "disability contingencies" using 2006 CPP actuarial data to affect working life expectancy (chapter 4);
new interest rate & inflation rate forecasts (chapters 3 & 8);
new data on unemployment, non-participation & part-time rates (chapter 4);
retirement by sector and for self-employed, by gender (chapter 4);
new case law on brain injured plaintiffs (chapter 5);
update of housekeeping rates for each province and territory to 2007 (Table 9-8 and appendix 9-2);
new case law for cost of care awards, by type of injury (chapter 10)

December 2006 Release

The 2006 update concentrates on:

new data from Statistics Canada's 2002 General Social Survey (cycle 16) on retirement ages
new data on retirement & the baby boomer generation, and fringe benefits from Statistics Canada's The Canadian Labour Market at a Glance 2005
new rates for participation, part-time work, hours worked per week, weeks worked per year, duration of unemployment - by age, gender, education level, province, occupation group
new unionization rates & comparison of wage changes to major wage settlements
new forecasts for productivity factors
new forecasts for unemployment rates
historical interest rates revised, new forecasts of real discount rates & real return bonds (RRBs)
revised inflation rate forecasts (Consumer Price index)
new case law on brain injury plaintiffs, self-employed, cost of care awards
new housekeeping hourly rates by province & territory - updated to 2006

November 2005 Release

The 2005 update concentrates on:

New results on wage gaps from the 2001 PALS (Participation & activity limitation survey) - published nowhere else! Revolutionary yet simple method for deriving wage loss estimates (chapter 5)
PCR (dependency) rates by family size and income level - first time in Canada! Endorsed by Lutz, J. in Fullowka et al v. Royal Oak Ventures et al - Giant Mine explosion case (chapter 7)
Data and contingencies ideal for using in the income damages calculator at www.browneconomic.com > economic calculators > income damages calculator
New results on wage gaps due to sexual assault from the 1999 Statistics Canada data - update from 1993 results! (chapter 11)
Chart of cases on awards for loss of care, guidance and companionship for the past 20 years (chapter 7)
New housekeeping hourly rates by province & territory - updated to 2005 (chapter 9)
Revised chapter on economic loss methodologies across Canada - including no-fault regimes and after-tax regimes (chapter 14)
New productivity & interest rate & inflation rate forecasts (chapters 3 & 8)
New data on unemployment, non-participation & part-time rates - negative labour market contingencies (chapter 4)
New! research underlying Canadian spousal support guidelines (chapter 13)

December 2004 release

The 2004 update concentrates on:

Alberta's Bill 53 changes: "net" income loss calculations & deduction of collateral benefits as of Jan. 26, 2004; implications for self-employed & tax gross-ups (chapter 15)
comparison of fault & no-fault jurisdictional economic loss calculations (Alberta, BC, Ontario, New Brunswick)- chapter 15
Mohan economic expert report guidelines - to comply with Daubert-type voir dire hearings evaluating expert testimony in Canada (chapter 15)
impact of disfigurement on earnings (chapter 5)
new "disability contingencies" using CPP actuarial data to affect working life expectancy (chapter 4)
new productivity & interest rate & inflation rate forecasts (chapters 3 & 8)
new data on unemployment, non-participation & part-time rates (chapter 4)
new housekeeping replacement rates across Canada (chapter 9)
new case law on loss of fringe benefits (sick leave pay), mitigation, self-employed persons, "joint" dependency rate, spousal support, wrongful dismissal and sexual assault

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Novmeber 2003 release

The 2003 update concentrates on:

new data on fringe benefits in chapter 2
revolutionary working life expectancy tables in chapter 4
demonstration of on-line internet working life/ life expectancy calculator
new cases in chapter 5 for "loss of marriage benefit"
a revamp of chapter 7 for personal consumption rates (PCRs) using Canadian data, varying by income level- significant ramifications for dependency losses
distinction of income sources required in personal injury vis-à-vis fatality cases in chapter 7
housekeeping awards in fatality cases across Canada, 1990-2003 (appendix in chapter 7)
updates on interest rate forecasts and discount rate to use in provinces without mandated rates in chapter 8
new housekeeping rates, by province in chapter 9
additional cases on sexual abuse damages in chapter 11

Click here to see a detailed list of updates.

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October 2002 Release

Case law updated in 14 of 15 chapters

MacCabe Court of Appeal decision - impact on projecting earnings for females (chapter 1)
New case law affecting minors & young adults (chapter 1)
New productivity forecasts, industry-specific productivity forecasts, & explanation of productivity factors, inter-provincial differences in wages and industry-sector productivity forecasts as of 2002 (chapter 3)
New heads of damage: "loss of insurability"; loss of income for survivor after fatality of spouse ("Maccartney & Ruiz damages")
Advances in computation of remarriage and divorce contingencies (chapter 7)
Revised real discount rate assumption (3.50%) & long-term economic forecasts for the Canadian economy (chapter 8)
New section on "investment" or "management" fees in cost of care and fatality claims (chapters 7 & 8)
New life expectancy estimates as of 1997 and 1999 for Canada, provinces, and other countries (chapter 4)
Discussion on the CPI as a measure of inflation, and the concept of "core inflation" (chapter 8)
Valuable services award trends in Canada, 1990-2001, from 1300+ cases (chapter 9)
Housekeeping internet tool section (chapter 9)
New case citations on courts' evaluation of expert quantum evidence (chapter 15)
Cost of raising children- 2 new Alberta decisions (chapter 12)
New approaches to economic disadvantage in marital breakdown (chapter 13)
New approaches in Family Relief Act claims (chapter 13)
New data on 'special and extraordinary expenses' under sec. 7 of the federal child support guidelines (chaper 12)
Additional findings on pension plan coverage in Canada (chapter 2)
New data on amount & duration of spousal support awards (chapter 13)
Section on economists & actuaries as expert witnesses (chapter 15)
Particularities of Saskatchewan's Automobile Accident Insurance Act for no-fault claims (chapter 15)

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July 2001 release

This text merges Canadian case law principles and guidance with forensic economic data available to understand the impact of an interruption on an earnings stream, both for individuals and for families, and for wage earners and the self-employed, in the context of civil litigation. Other heads of damage are explored (loss of valuable services/housekeeping, future cost of care, tax gross-up) and damages arising from unique circumstances are addressed (wrongful death, sexual harassment, sexual assault, wrongful imprisonment, wrongful confinement, marriage breakdown). The role of expert evidence in Canada's civil litigation field is discussed, drawing on the author's 100+ testimonies in courts across Canada and the US. The text is updated annually for changes and advances in case law and economic data and methodologies.

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Research & Publications

Damages: Estimating Pecuniary Loss

By Cara L. Brown

Table Of Contents

June 2024 Release #35 (renamed "Release 1 06/2024")

December 2023 Release #34 (renamed "Release 2 12/2023")

June 2023 Release #33 (renamed "Release 1 6/2023")

December 2022 Release #32 (renamed "Release 2 12/2022")

June 2022 Release #31 (renamed "Release 1 6/2022")

December 2021 Release #30 (renamed "Release 2 12/2021")

September 2021 Release #29 (renamed "Release 1 9/2021")

December 2020 Release #28

September 2020 Release #27

December 2019 Release #26

September 2019 Release #25

December 2018 Release #24

September 2018 Release #23

November 2017 Release #22

September 2017 Release #21

November 2016 Release #20

September 2016 Release #19

November 2015 Release

September 2015 Release

December 2014 Release

September 2014 Release

December 2013 Release

September 2013 Release

December 2012 Release

August 2012 Release

December 2011 Release

December 2010 Release

December 2009 Release

November 2008 Release

November 2007 Release

December 2006 Release

November 2005 Release

December 2004 release

Novmeber 2003 release

October 2002 Release

July 2001 release