Development of Actuarial Loss of Earnings Tables in the Caribbean
The Smart Tables® is a tool that will be used to assist in the valuation of loss of future earnings in cases involving injury, disability and death. It will produce multipliers that are based on actuarial principles. The Smart Tables® methodology requires calibration to individual jurisdictions’ economic and demographic characteristics. It also requires review over time to ensure that the chosen factors remain appropriate.
Why do we need an Actuary?
“It would be possible by calling an actuary to state precisely what would be the cost of an annuity to bring in the estimated annual sum over the assumed period of life … why the jury should not not get such help as they could have I am quite at a loss to understand.”
(Harman L.J., Money v. Woodfield [1964] W.L.R. 16)
Some Test Case Studies
Khadija Primus v. Trinidad and Tobago Postal Corporation, CV 2019-04194, Unrep. Jud [TT]
Traditional Methodology:
$694,675
Using The Smart Tables® Methodology:
$928,085
Kester Hernandez v. The Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago et. al., CV 2011-01821, Unrep. Jud [TT]
Traditional Methodology:
$1,158,921
Using The Smart Tables® Methodology:
$1,351,480
The Great Northern Insurance Company Limited v Johnson Ansola Civ. App. 121
Traditional Methodology:
$218,400
Using The Smart Tables® Methodology:
$234,565
Meet the Team
Stokeley Smart
Director and Senior Lecturer of the Actuarial Science Program, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine
The Hon Mme Justice Nadia Kangaloo
High Court Judge of the Judiciary of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
Kyle Rudden
Managing Director of KR Services Limited
The Smart Tables® Methodology
Personal injury awards aim to place the injured person, as far as reasonably possible and acknowledging life’s uncertainties, in the financial position they would have been in had the wrongful act not occurred. A major component of this is “loss of future earnings,” which reflects the injured party’s reduced ability to earn income after the award date. Courts typically estimate an award that, if invested, would fairly replace the income the person was likely to earn, using either the lump-sum method or the multiplier/multiplicand approach.