• Litigation Consulting - QuickRead Top Story

    Calculating Personal Damages: A Review of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Pfeifer Decision

    June 11, 2025

    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 fields of commercial damages, business bankruptcy, and divorce. The…

  • Litigation Consulting - QuickRead Top Story - Valuation/Appraisal

    Lost Profits

    February 24, 2021

    Moving Forward During COVID-19 The COVID-19 pandemic has brought difficulties and major lifestyle changes for most of us. This is particularly true for the business world. Some firms have been negatively impacted. Some businesses have benefitted from the change in our lifestyles. Because causation is an important consideration in commercial damages cases, experts assigned to estimate lost profits must consider the impact of COVID-19 on a business or industry when calculating damages for 2020 and 2021. Courts are aware of the impact COVID-19 has had on the economy and the public. This article addresses issues experts should consider when assessing…

  • Litigation Consulting - QuickRead Top Story

    Lost Profits and Discount Rates

    March 11, 2020

    What Do the Courts Want? Finding the methodology for determining the appropriate discount rate in a lost profits case can be a convoluted journey. The numerator (the lost profits) may be adjusted through modeling. The denominator (the discount rate) may be a risk-free rate, a rate of return on investments, or the rate of return commensurate with generating the lost profits had no wrongful act occurred. And, whether modeling is used to adjust the lost profits will impact the risk premia that affects the discount rate. Experts must review the facts of each assignment and apply an approach which they…

  • Financial Forensics - QuickRead Featured - QuickRead Top Story

    Analyzing Lost Earning Capacity for the Self-Employed

    August 17, 2016

    Income of Partners and Owners of Pass-through Entities (Part II of II) This is the second part of a two-part article where the author discusses the methodology for assessing the lost earning capacity of a self-employed person. This article provides an overview for analyzing the lost earning capacity of the self-employed and discusses why this category of work provides unique assessment situations. In this second part, the author discusses how to address fringe benefits, worklife, mitigation, the value of a business.

  • Litigation Consulting - QuickRead Featured - QuickRead Top Story

    Analyzing Lost Earning Capacity for the Self-Employed

    August 10, 2016

    Income of Partners and Owners of Pass-through Entities (Part I of II) This is a two-part article where the author discusses the methodology for assessing the lost earning capacity of a self-employed person. This, basically, is the same as that for a traditional wage and salary worker. Even though the methodology is the same, assessing the data for the self-employed is different. The loss calculations are not just based on W-2’s or payroll stubs as may be used for traditional wage and salary employees. Data from differing Internal Revenue Service forms used for reporting business income must be reviewed. In…