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16 J. Legal Econ. 91 (2009-2010)
The Last of Hedonic Damages: Nevada, New Mexico, and Running a Bluff

handle is hein.journals/jole16 and id is 95 raw text is: Thomas Ireland. 2009. The Last of Hedonic Damages: Nevada, New Mexico, and Running a Bluff. Journal ofLegal Economics 16(1): pp.91-109. The Last of Hedonic Damages: Nevada, New Mexico, and Running a Bluff Thomas R. Ireland I. Introduction The title of this paper is intended to suggest that only two states, Nevada and New Mexico, should still be regarded as battleground states in which there is good chance that hedonic damages testimony will be found admissible. The title also suggests that hedonic damages testimony will become less and less important in both of those states over the next few years. However, the running a bluff strategy means that a few plaintiff attorneys will continue to hire the few remaining economic experts who are willing to prepare hedonic damages calculations and to potentially testify about those calculations in courts of law in a number of other states. The first section of this paper will deal with basic definitions for hedonic damages testimony. The second section will deal with Nevada. The third section will deal with New Mexico. The final section will deal with the running a bluff' strategy of plaintiff attorneys in all states and legal venues. II. Forms of Hedonic Damages Testimony For purposes of this paper, the term hedonic damages testimony will refer to any type of testimony that attempts to place a dollar value on either lost enjoyment of life or loss of society or relationship. An extensive literature on this topic exists and will not be repeated here, but see Ireland and Ward (1996) and papers presented in two hedonic damages symposiums published in the Journal ofForensic Economics (2000 and 2007). In terms of testimony that is offered in courts of law, there are four basic types of hedonic damages testimony that might be offered in either personal injury or wrongful death circumstances, depending on whether or not state law allowed recovery by an estate for the lost enjoyment of life of a decedent: Ireland: Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, University of Missouri, St. Louis, Missouri. Ireland: The Last ofHedonic Damages: Nevada, New Mexico, and Running a Bluff' 91

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