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Features of the Online Damages Model The Online Damages Model is designed to capture all of the basic economic principles that affect the actual damages amount for employment disputes and other disputes where loss of employment earnings or reduced earnings capacity is claimed as an element of damages. The ODM includes the following: 1.) analytical features applying generally accepted economic principles, 2.) functional features promoting ease of use and 3.) technical features ensuring operating security and reliability. Features Main Menu Analytical Features
Functional Features
Technical Features
Analytical Features · Project But-For Earnings A key element to loss of earnings calculations is determining what the plaintiff would have earned but-for the incident in dispute. The ODM assists counsel in calculating the but-for earnings stream, including base wages and other forms of compensation, from the date of incident through anticipated retirement or a self-selected catch-up date. Other forms of compensation include bonuses and overtime, as well as the non-cash compensation of fringe benefits, retirement contributions, Social Security and Medicare. The ODM provides added guidance in valuing non-cash compensation such as fringe benefits and retirement contributions. In situations where case specific information regarding the value of benefits is unavailable, the ODM automatically applies national averages derived from labor market research for these inputs. Counsel has several options in selecting the base wages growth rate necessary for projecting future But-for earnings. These options include selecting a growth rate based on the plaintiff's historical base wage growth rate at the defendant employer, manually inputting a growth rate based on information supplied to counsel by their client, or utilizing the labor market growth rate based on the employment cost index. After establishing a baseline base wages growth rate, the ODM presents the user with the option of applying human capital factors to the baseline growth rate, if the plaintiff's date of birth and education level are known. Utilizing human capital factors provides a more accurate assessment of but-for earnings for long-term projections. Return to Features Main Menu 
· Estimate Job Search Duration In employment matters, determining the expected length of a job search period is often the subject of dispute. Typically, these disputes are related to when the job search should have commenced and, once the search is underway, how long should it take for the plaintiff to find appropriate mitigating employment. Recognizing that in some instances, job searches do not commence immediately upon separation from the defendant employer, the ODM provides the option for counsel to select the date when the plaintiff's job search should commence. This feature assists counsel in matters where the plaintiff is claiming that an injury and/or emotional issues prevented them from searching for new employment immediately following his or her separation. In situations where the plaintiff's job search activities are considered inadequate or when the plaintiff has not found mitigating employment at all, the ODM assists counsel in determining the expected length of the job search period based on labor market conditions at the time the search commences. Once the job search commencement date is determined, the ODM utilizes the Current Population Survey data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to provide the option of selecting a job search duration based on the median or average weeks of unemployment from the date when the job search is indicated to begin. It should be noted that even in situations where labor market job search statistics are not utilized in the analysis, these statistics are still useful for comparing and assessing the plaintiff's job search relative to the labor market as a whole. In addition to these options of determining a re-employment date based on labor market data, counsel also has the option of self-selecting a job search period, which represents a customized alternative based on case specific facts. A final alternative is choosing a 26-week job search period from separation, which corresponds to the maximum length of time unemployment benefits can be received in most states. Given these alternatives, counsel should consider the plaintiff's demographic attributes, case specific facts, and a comparable position sought, prior to selecting the job search option that is most appropriate. Return to Features Main Menu
· Estimate Comparable Mitigation Wages In many matters alleging employment earnings damages, the plaintiff fails to secure mitigating employment, becomes employed in a position which is not comparable to that previously held in regards to job duties and/or wage level, or takes a position which is comparable in duties, but pays less than the labor market wage for workers with the plaintiff's years of experience. If any of the situations mentioned above occur, then any estimate of employment earnings damages based on the actual offset earnings of the plaintiff would overstate economic damages. Resolution Internet has conducted considerable research related to labor market wages for over 300 occupations listed in the census codes. These occupations were collapsed into 100 functional job titles, and a national median wage was derived. Counsel may use the median wage statistic as a comparison for assessing if the plaintiff is earning less than the relative labor market wage for that occupation. Another feature available in the mitigation wages section of the ODM is an adjustment for years of experience. Since the median wage is the 50th percentile of workers employed in any particular occupation, it is a useful approximation of the overall labor market wage rate for any given occupation. However, there may be situations where the plaintiff is either highly experienced or has virtually no experience, and consequently the median statistic for all workers may not reflect the appropriate wage rate for the plaintiff. Resolution Internet has incorporated labor market research related to the impact experience level, based on years of prior employment, has upon median earnings into the ODM. This gives counsel the option of selecting the median earnings of a subset of workers whose experience more closely resembles the plaintiff. The result is more accurate assessments of offset earnings potential and damages. A final feature related to estimating labor market wages is the ability to adjust the mitigating wages for wage differences that relate to geographic location. This feature assists counsel in a better understanding of what the plaintiff earnings in the local area where the offsetting job is anticipated to be located, either based on the location of the former employer or some other case-specific information. Return to Features Main Menu
· Calculate Mitigating Earnings Based On Hypothetical Employment After assisting counsel in determining the expected length of the job search period and the expected labor market wages for the plaintiff, the ODM calculates the mitigation earnings streams, including base wages and other forms of compensation such as bonuses and overtime as well as the non-cash compensation of fringe benefits, retirement contributions, Social Security and Medicare. The ODM provides added guidance in valuing non-cash compensation such as fringe benefits and retirement contributions. In situations where case specific information regarding the value of benefits is unavailable, the ODM automatically applies national averages derived from labor market research for these inputs. Similar to the but-for earnings calculation, the mitigating earnings projection provides several options related to selecting a future growth rate for mitigating wages. One key option related to mitigating growth rates is selecting convergence, where the ODM calculates the growth rate necessary for the but-for and offset earnings streams to merge at a given future point in time. When convergence occurs, the plaintiff has achieved catch-up and economic damages cease. Other options include selecting a growth rate based on the plaintiff's historical base wage growth rate at the mitigating employer, manually inputting a growth rate based on information supplied to counsel, or utilizing the labor market growth rate based on the employment cost index. After establishing a baseline base wages growth rate, the ODM presents the option of applying human capital factors to the baseline growth rate, if the plaintiff's date of birth and education level are known. Return to Features Main Menu
· Calculate Mitigating Earnings Based On Actual Employment The ODM provides counsel with the option of utilizing the plaintiff's actual mitigating earnings as the offset. Instead of assuming a job search followed by securing a new position at the labor market wage, counsel may enter past mitigating earnings from the plaintiff's W-2s or 1099s, from one or multiple post termination employers. In addition, counsel may entering the plaintiff's current employment information to project a future mitigation earnings stream in accordance with the processes previously described in projecting but-for and comparable mitigating earnings based on labor market statistics. Return to Features Main Menu
· Calculate Convergence Growth Rate In general, labor market wages will achieve equilibrium among the various employers competing for workers with a given set of skills and experience. If an employer underpays its employees relative to competing employers in the labor market, it would be at risk of loosing workers to a higher paying competitor unless the wage was increased to a market rate. Also, human capital research shows that employees typically get pay increases relative to increases in their productivity. Since most productivity gains occur early on at a new employer, the expectation is that the employee would see correspondingly larger pay increases during their first few years with a new employer. These principles are essential when considering whether or not the plaintiff should catch-up to the prior labor market earnings held in a specified time frame. Resolution Internet's ODM provides counsel with the option of assuming that the plaintiff will catch-up to their but-for earnings stream in a specific number of years rather than continuing the calculation to an anticipated retirement or worklife expectancy without converging the earnings streams. The ODM computes the growth rate necessary to achieve convergence, thereby reflecting a more accurate assessment of damages by accounting for actual employment trends seen in the labor market. Return to Features Main Menu
· Present Value Calculations In a court of law all damages figures must be reduced to a lump sum present value. This becomes especially important when the calculation projects damages far out into the future as present value factors have a greater significant over a longer time frame. In addition to performing the present value calculation, the ODM presents several features related to the present value calculation. The most important feature is providing assistance in selecting the appropriate discount rate. Resolution Internet has researched historical risk-free rates and built-in rate selection criteria based on the duration of the calculation. There are different economic theories available for determining the date to which damages figures should be valued towards as well as the compounding frequency. Guidelines are provided to assist in selecting these present value factors, however there is no specifically preferred method which is superior. Counsel may test the sensitivity of the calculation to changes in the present value discount rate by manually adjusting the rate and reviewing the output. Return to Features Main Menu
Functional Features · Case Saving Resolution Internet offers the ability to save case-specific facts and assumptions to a secure database allowing access to case information at later dates. Cases may be saved from any page within the ODM by simply clicking the 'Save Case' button prominently displayed at the top of each page within the ODM. Case information stored in the database may be retrieved by clicking on the 'Access a Saved Case' link located on the ODM Home page to be reviewed and altered as desired. The Case Saving feature works with full and partial case data and ensures access to case information anytime, anywhere. Resolution Internet does not allow multiple copies of the same case to be saved to the database. However, a case may be re-accessed and saved over the previous information in the database an infinite number of times without incurring any additional fees. Resolution Internet always recommends printing a case report for your records. It is important to note that Resolution Internet utilizes the most current labor market data in order to calculate the economic damages output. This labor market data is updated once annually in order to reflect the current labor market information. Saved cases reflect the factual and assumption-based inputs last entered into the ODM for a specific case. As such, the ODM's economic damages output based on these assumptions may vary to reflect any changes in labor market data that may occur as part of Resolution Internet's annual labor market data upload. Return to Features Main Menu
· Case Maintenance Critical ODM case administration functions and information can be accessed through the Case Maintenance feature. Individual cases are maintained by the 'Case Manager', which initially is the user who sets up the case in the ODM. The Case Manager may designate or take away rights for one or more additional registered Resolution Internet users to access a case. Case Managers may also delete the case from the database. In addition, the Case Maintenance feature provides important case information, such as Case ID number, date created and date last saved. Finally, Case Sharing functionality, described in the following paragraph, is administered through the Case Maintenance feature. Return to Features Main Menu
· Collaborative Case Accessing and Sharing The ability to provide case access to multiple users is quintessential to the collaborative nature of litigation strategy development. Resolution Internet enables cases to be shared by specified users who are designated by the Case Manager. The specific rights granted to users vary from simply being able to view a previously saved case in a read-only fashion to altering and re-saving (i.e. "writing") case-specific information to the ODM. Though only one user may alter and save a case at any one time, case viewing is available at any time to any number of users as specified by the Case Manager. The date the case was last saved as well as the name of the last person who saved the case are indicated when accessing any given case by clicking on the 'Access a Saved Case' link located on the ODM Home page. The collaborative element available in the ODM promotes economic damage analysis to be conducted by a team of lawyers and paraprofessionals by enabling multiple Resolution Internet users to access the same case without incurring any additional fees. Return to Features Main Menu
· Assumptions Worksheets The Online Damages Model requires information related to a specific economic litigation case in order to compute the economic damages output. Resolution Internet's Assumptions Worksheet simplifies the process for gathering this information, making use of the ODM much easier. The Assumptions Worksheet may be downloaded by clicking the 'Assumptions Worksheet' link from the ODM Home page. The Assumptions Worksheet may be used as a guideline in the discovery process as well as a resource for tracking information for economic damages assessment. Return to Features Main Menu
· ODM Tutorial Resolution Internet provides an illustrative tutorial depicting the step-by-step process of completing a sample wrongful termination case in the Online Damages Model. This tutorial describes the over-arching purpose of each page present in the ODM as well as identifying specific areas of interest in order to produce a robust economic damages analysis. Additionally, the Online Tutorial displays visual images of the actual pages contained within the ODM in order to provide a more thorough understanding of this litigation support tool. Return to Features Main Menu
Technical Features · Platform At the foundation of Resolution Internet is a robust platform consisting of a Microsoft SQL Server database with a Microsoft NT operating system. This highly robust combination ensures high-performance, scalability and reliability. Return to Features Main Menu
· Website Security Resolution Internet employs firewalls, encryption software, and other security software to prevent unauthorized access to our systems and data. In certain areas Resolution Internet uses industry-standard SSL-encryption to protect data transmissions. Physical access to our servers is restricted. Unauthorized access to server hard drives where data is stored is prevented. In addition, in certain areas Resolution Internet account information is password-protected for added privacy and security. Modifications and/or updates to personal information can be made after logging in to the site. Please do not send financial information, for example, credit card numbers and passwords, directly to Resolution Internet via e-mail. Return to Features Main Menu
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