5.4 Damages Arising in the Future—Discount to Present Cash Value

[Any award for future economic damages must be for the present cash value of those damages.]

[Noneconomic damages [such as [pain and suffering] [disability] [disfigurement] [and] [specify other noneconomic damages]] are not reduced to present cash value.]

Present cash value means the sum of money needed now, which, when invested at a reasonable rate of return, will pay future damages at the times and in the amounts that you find the damages [will be incurred] [or] [would have been received].

The rate of return to be applied in determining present cash value should be the interest that can reasonably be expected from safe investments that can be made by a person of ordinary prudence, who has ordinary financial experience and skill. [You should also consider decreases in the value of money that may be caused by future inflation.]

Comment

There must be evidence to support this instruction. See Monessen Sw. Ry. Co. v. Morgan, 486 U.S. 330, 339-42 (1988); see also Passantino v. Johnson & Johnson Consumer Prods., Inc., 212 F.3d 493, 508-09 (9th Cir. 2000).