Housekeeping Damages Calculator ™
This online calculator will provide an estimate of the plaintiff’s (in an injury case) or family’s loss of housekeeping capacity (in a fatality case) from the date of incident to age 80 (the normal cut-off age for household services). These estimates will calculate the past housekeeping capacity loss (date of incident to date of valuation/mediation) and then project the present value of the future housekeeping capacity loss (date of mediation to age 80).
For methodological information about valuing housekeeping claims, see Brown’s Economic Damages Newsletter, "Valuing Household Rates in Civil Litigation and how they are used in the Housekeeping Damages CalculatorTM (HDC) at www.browneconomic.com", May 2024, vol. 21, issue #2.
The Sept/Oct 2012 edition of Brown's Economic Damages Newsletter reviewed the Canadian time use statistics on various kinds of activities (eg. paid work, sleeping, eating meals/personal care, television viewing and "active" leisure (sports)). The May 2016 edition reviewed recent case law on housekeeping losses. The September 2017 edition presents the most recent Canadian time use data on household chores.
The Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal quoted from Ms. Brown's article published in The Advocates' Quarterly in Driscoll v. Morgan 2007 CarswellNfld 205, 2007 NLCA 39, 267 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 344, 811 A.P.R. 344. Justices Welsh, Mercer and Cameron quoted from Ms. Brown's article entitled "Valuable Services Trends in Housekeeping Quantum Across Canada, 1990-2001" (2003) at p. 82, which described the average housekeeping awards by region. The calculator currently uses these hourly replacement rates.