Business Interruption and Lost Profits

Contact:  David Hanson -- dhanson@litecon.com, or

               Dr. Robert Trout -- robert@litecon.com

Lit.Econ LLP consultants have applied their knowledge of accounting, finance, statistics and economics to a wide variety of business interruption cases as well as general business lost profits cases. Our work has included analyzing economic losses in litigation cases involving issues in antitrust, environmental, intellectual property, breach of contract, torts, securities fraud, and many other areas of law. Our consultants have published books and journal articles concerning the application of economic theory to the measurement of damages in business loss cases.

HMC v. Case (Orange County) Determined economic damages for a business litigation case.   

Transamerica Investment Management v. Delaware Investment Advisors (San Francisco County) Determined lost profits related to the joint resignation of an investment management team which joined a rival organization and took billions of dollars of managed assets in the process.

Mytee Products v. Harris Industries (San Diego County) Determined the relevant market and economic damages for an antitrust case.

American Interbank v. Bankrate.com (Orange County) Estimated economic losses to an internet seller of mortgages in an antitrust case.  Testified for plaintiff at trial, and plaintiff was awarded $48 million in damages.

Eisenberg v. Guido (Los Angeles County) Testified about a theory of alter ego and the value of a business.

Sharpe v. McDonnell (Orange County) Valued a motorcycle production company as part of a business fraud case.  Testified at trial for plaintiff, who was awarded damages and other compensation valued at about $4 million.

Pritchard v. Ernst & Young (Dallas, Texas) Performed an analysis of the value of Daisytek over time, and the value of one of its subsidiaries, as part of an accounting malpractice case.

Perez v. Wooley (San Diego Coiunty) Testified about the economic losses related to an alleged breach of contract.

Redline Products v. Pro Chem (San Diego County) Prepared an economic loss report concerning lost earnings of a company that produces various cleaning products.  The company’s sales were interfered with by the actions of another market participant.

Pure Bio Science v. NVID et al.  (San Diego)  Testified about the economic losses to a company that was injured by false claims about one of its patents.

Bacus Labs v. Aperio (Federal District Court San Diego) Prepared a report on a hypothetical royalty rate for a company in the digital microscopic scanning industry.

Pasmoo v. Aroyo Seco (Los Angeles County) Estimated business interruption losses to a restaurant affected by construction activity in its building.

Amini Innovations v. Roberts (Los Angeles) Estimated business losses in an intellectual property case involving the furniture industry.

Re: USS POSCO, Inc (Pittsburgh, CA 2002) Estimated economic losses caused by a fire at a steel mill in California for its insurance carrier.

Collaborative Solutions v. ANSYS (Pittsburgh, PA.) Testified about the economic losses sustained by a franchisee in the computer software business.

Don De Castro v. Jackson Products (St. Louis, MO.) Testified about the economic losses associated with production of certain highway safety products in a patent infringement case.

Cooper v. Chapman University (Orange County) Testified about alleged economic losses sustained by a group of law students who attended Chapman University’s school of law.

Rincon Marine v. Chevron (Ventura County) Analyzed the economic losses associated with an alleged breach of contract by an oil company.

Re: EPA v. Casmalia Resources (Santa Barbara) Analyzed potential damages associated with a CERCLA case and probable impact on the owner and his estate.

Inland v. CT Produce (San Diego) Testified about the lost profits for a corrugated box company that was not paid for boxes sold to a Mexican produce company.

Re: Hunter Family Trust (Santa Barbara) Estimated value of potential liability for alleged environmental damages and possible impact on the assets of a family trust.

Engle, et al v. RJR Tobacco, et al (Dade Cty, FL.) Provided economic and financial consulting concerning punitive damages for a class-action product liability case.

Aguilar et al v. ARCO et al. (San Diego County) Testified about pricing issues in an antitrust case, including rebuttal of allegations of cartel pricing and other cartel behavior.

Rated R. Clothing v. California Fair Plan (Los Angeles County) Analyzed alleged losses to a business damaged by a flood. Determined value of business prior to the accidental flood, and economic losses from the incident.

Indian Child v. Riverside (Riverside County) Testified about the economic losses sustained by ten different plaintiffs that suffered economic losses resulting from a flood.

In Re Peabody Coal Co. (Arizona 1991-1994) Project Manager for a multi-discipline study of alternatives to moving coal from Black Mountain, AZ to Laughlin, NV, and to examine the economic feasibility of using an alternative source of water in a coal slurry pipeline from Black Mountain to Laughlin, NV.

Meade v. Bank of America (San Diego County) Testified about the economic losses to an estate from actions taken by the executor of the estate in the sale of certain estate assets to pay federal and state taxes.

ISK Biotech v. Veterans (Washington, DC) Analyzed costs of meeting EPA test standards, including interest and changes in costs over time, and devised method for allocating costs among product users.

Mattel v. Unique (Federal District Court Los Angeles) Testified about the business losses resulting from an alleged breach of a contract to purchase products from a manufacturer.

Spring Group v. Jacobs (Maricopa, AZ ) Testified about the economic losses resulting from a taking of employees and clients by a former manager of the plaintiff company.

Pioneer Mortgage Litigation (Federal District Court San Diego) Testified about the economic losses of certain investors in mortgage limited partnerships for a securities fraud case.

FKM v. Konica (Orange County) Testified about the economic losses to a terminated office products distributor.

Burlington Northern v. Underwriters (Federal District Court, Ft. Worth, TX) Prepared an analysis of the value to Burlington Northern from participating in an illegal boycott.

Estate of Adams (Federal Tax Court) Prepared an analysis of the value of a large estate consisting of numerous partnerships and companies owning resource properties in several states.

National University v. Square D (San Diego County) Testified about the business interruption losses resulting from a fire and damage to a communications line to certain NU campuses.

San Marcos WD v. UTC (San Diego County) Testified about the level of economic losses in a product liability case, concerning the installation of sewage treatment equipment.

Western Cities Broadcasting, Inc. v. Eldorado Communications (Jefferson Cty, CO.) Testified about business losses to a lessor of space on a communications tower resulting from a breach of contract by a lessee.

Boyle v. Hertz-Penske (Alameda County) Testified about the lack of statistical proof of age discrimination, and on economic losses incurred by a terminated employee.

Union Pacific v. Underwriters (Federal District Court, Los Angeles) Prepared an analysis on the value of settlement contracts from prior ETSI-Railroad litigation; also investigated antitrust issues included in the prior antitrust litigation.

Crusinbery v. Systematics (Federal District Court, Wichita, KA) Prepared a statistical analysis, using a logistic regression model, that supported a claim of age discrimination.

Main-On Foods v. Hoffman (Federal District Court, Los Angeles) Prepared report and exhibit on damages to Main-On resulting from a business interruption.

Bank of America v. Litton (Los Angeles County) Analyzed plaintiff damage testimony in a case involving alleged breach of fiduciary duty by the defendant.

Chemical Bank v. WPPSS and In Re WPPSS Securities Litigation (Federal District Court, Seattle, WA) Assisted plaintiff counsel in addressing financial issues and economic damages in multi-billion dollar 10-b(5) securities fraud case.

In re Cass County Warrant Litigation Settlement (Federal District Court, Lincoln, NB) Testified concerning a procedure for allocating the settlement funds from a proposed settlement to the plaintiff class members in a securities fraud case.

Tri-State Bank v. Dain Bosworth, Inc. (Federal District Court, Omaha, NB) Testified on damages to a class of plaintiffs in a federal securities fraud case.

Rowe v. Giftchecks (Federal District Court, Sacramento, CA) Testified about defendant's pricing actions and its cost structure in a predatory pricing case involving firms in the coupon distribution industry.

National Convenience Stores v. Town of Los Gatos (Los Gatos Town Council) Testified on the appropriate amortization period for a nonconforming structure (a convenience store) in Los Gatos.

Courville v. Oceanroutes (Santa Clara County) Testified on the business reasons, including a decline in the overall market for the firm's services, for terminating an employee in a wrongful termination case.

Wooten Construction Co. v. Featherlite et al. (Federal District Court, Albuquerque, NM) Filed an affidavit on the effects of bid rigging in the production and sale of prestressed concrete products in the state of New Mexico.

Schirer v. West Coast Oil et al. (Orange County) Testified on the market value of certain promissory notes, and on the appropriate discount to be applied to the sale of restricted common stock of a closely held company.

Associated Electric Power Company v. Southwestern Power Administration (Federal District Court, Tulsa OK) Prepared testimony on the value and cost of certain services provided by an electric utility.

Roger Schuster v. B. Hilton (San Diego County) Testified on alleged losses incurred by plaintiff in a contract termination case involving aircraft.

Conrad Asher v.Rhinox, Inc. (Los Angeles County) Testified on losses incurred by plaintiff in a breach of contract dispute involving sporting good equipment.