Damages and Valuation

Injury Damages

Hedonic Damages

Hedonic Damages

Hedonic Damages

Hedonic damages testimony offers an economic valuation of life or the loss of enjoyment, typically derived from willingness-to-pay studies and wage-risk premiums. Most courts exclude the testimony as unreliable.

The underlying studies were designed for regulatory policy.

Alternative Names:

Value of Life Damages, Hedonic Value

Why it Matters?

Exclusion is the usual outcome because the willingness-to-pay literature was developed for cost-benefit analysis of regulations rather than individual valuation, and the resulting figures vary enormously across studies. The methodology also cannot account for individual circumstances. Moving to exclude is straightforward where the testimony appears, and the more common current practice is arguing loss of enjoyment without economic quantification.

Frequently asked questions

Why is hedonic damages testimony excluded?

What is the current practice?