A Review of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Pfeifer Decision For those interested in working in the personal damages area, a review of the U.S. Supreme Courts’ Pfeifer decision is essential. It provides a great outline as to what the courts expect from an expert’s work. This article reviews the Pfeifer decision and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ Culver II decision, which expands on the definitions for discounting methods approved by the U.S. Supreme Court. The field of litigation support provides a wide range of options for accounting and financial experts to work. Opportunities abound for work in the…
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The Present Value of Future Lost Profits, and the Time Value of Money Experts estimating the present value of a business’ future lost profits have much less direction from the courts than their counterparts estimating the present value of a person’s lost earning capacity. Professional literature has attempted to fill this gap providing many articles discussing the differing methods for analyzing lost profits (e.g., yardstick, before-and-after, but for) or how to determine the discount rate by applying a weighted cost of average capital, equity rates of return, or some form of risk premium build-up. This article moves away from these…