Commercial disputes
Retained by counsel on both sides of the docket
In commercial litigation the financial question is rarely obvious from the pleadings. It may turn out to be narrow, or it may involve many interdependent parts across multiple entities, periods, and theories of recovery. Our job is to identify the financial questions that actually need answering, and then answer them to a reasonable degree of professional certainty based on the facts and circumstances of the matter.
Where we are typically engaged
- Breach of contract and supply disputes
- Lost profits on terminated agreements, disputed pricing and volume terms, and claims arising from failed performance.
- Shareholder, member and partnership disputes
- Valuation of the disputed interest, examination of distributions and related-party transactions, and analysis of claims of oppression or breach of fiduciary duty.
- Post-acquisition disputes
- Working capital and purchase price adjustments, earn-out calculations, and claims that the financial statements relied on in diligence were misstated.
- Business interruption and casualty
- Loss quantification following physical damage, including claims under first-party policies.
- Trade secret and restrictive covenant matters
- Quantification of losses attributable to diverted customers or misappropriated information.
- Government contracting
- Claims, terminations, and disputes over cost and pricing, including matters involving closely held contractors.
How the engagement runs
Early on, the most valuable thing we produce is usually not a report. It is an oral assessment of what the numbers will and will not support, delivered before positions harden and before a damages figure appears in a pleading. From there the work moves through discovery support, where we identify the specific records and data required and help frame requests, into an affirmative or rebuttal report, and then into deposition and trial testimony.
We are also frequently useful in mediation, where a schedule both sides can follow does more to move a number than an advocate’s argument about it.