Damage Analysis Articles

May 2013 A recent ruling in a New Jersey federal court will no doubt serve as a warning for litigants who decline to employ the [...]

April 2013 Every fan loves his sport.  There is much debate over which sports are growing in popularity and which are on the decline.  Although [...]

March 2013 The Seventh Circuit decided Espenscheid vs. DirectSat, Inc., (No. 12-1943, February 4, 2013), upholding the district court’s decision to not certify a class [...]

March 2013 Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner is one of the foremost legal scholars in the United States, particularly on economic matters. He has written [...]

March 2013 The article “Chocolate Consumption, Cognitive Function, and Nobel Laureates” recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) demonstrates that even published [...]

December 2012 “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” is an American game show that is based on the UK program of the same name.  When [...]

December 2012 In a unanimous opinion, the California Supreme Court clarified that trial courts may use either California Evidence Code Sections 801(b) or 802 to [...]

November 2012 Plaintiffs often desire short cuts to damage measurements.  Given the cost of using experts employing proper methods and data, the temptation is obvious.  [...]

October 2012 In re: Apple vs. Motorola, the parties sued each other for patent infringement involving smartphones.   Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner, sitting by designation, [...]

September 2012 In LaserDynamics v. Quanta Computer, Case No. 11-1440 (Aug. 30, 2012) the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned an $8.5 [...]

September 2012 This week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a report required by Section 917 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer [...]

June 2012 Patent law (35 U.S.C. § 284) allows for lost profits in patent infringement cases, but requires damages of at least a reasonable royalty [...]

May 2012 In Newell Rubbermaid, Inc. vs. The Raymond Corporation (No. 10-3912, April 3, 2012), the Sixth Circuit evaluated the trial court’s exclusion of Plaintiff’s [...]

April 2012 In Tussey vs. ABB. Inc. (Case No. 2:06-CV-04305-NKL, March 31, 2012),  a United States District Court for the District of Western Missouri decided [...]

March 2012 After a jury trial, ATA Airlines (ATA) won a nearly $66 million verdict against Federal Express Corporation (FedEx). FedEx appealed that ruling.  In [...]

February 2012 Regression analyses are commonly used in litigation because of their ability to ascertain both liability and damages.  However, the ability to communicate this [...]

February 2012 “If you’re going to play the game, boy, ya gotta learn to play it right” From “The Gambler”, famously recorded by Kenny Rogers [...]

February 2012 Regression analysis is a statistical technique that is commonly used in litigation because of its unique ability to ascertain both liability and damages.  [...]

November 2011 Lost profits are typically understood to yield higher damages than reasonably royalties, but this is not always the case. Higher reasonable royalty damages [...]

November 2011 The District Court appointed an independent expert on the issue of damages pursuant to Rule 706 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. The [...]

October 2011 In early September 2011, a trial court ordered a new trial involving a jury verdict in which Oracle obtained a $1.3 billion verdict [...]

Published in Los Angeles Lawyer, April 2003   Expert witnesses are more important than ever. Most complicated cases do not settle until after the experts [...]

Published in Los Angeles Lawyer, April 2005   In many respects, the cross-examination of an expert witness is the same as for other witnesses. Some [...]

Published in Los Angeles Lawyer, November 2004   In the vast majority of circumstances, your deposition results can be improved by adding a few questions [...]

Published in Los Angeles Lawyer, April 2004   If you want to improve your chances of success, commit these ideas to stone. Then follow them [...]

Published in Los Angeles Lawyer, November 2002   The following suggestions result from my experience serving as a witness, watching hundreds of other expert witnesses, [...]

 In September and October 2008, the IRS issued two pronouncements that address when litigation settlement payments with governments are deductible. These settlements could occur under [...]

October 2007 In September, the House of Representatives approved the most sweeping changes to the United States patent law in over 50 years. If ultimately [...]

September 2007 In a landmark decision that overturns long-standing precedent, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) unanimously heightened the test to determine [...]

November 2006 In Aero Products vs. Intex Recreation (no. 05-1283, Fed Cir. October 2, 2006), the Court held that damages arising from the same sales [...]

July 2009 A jury in the Eastern District of Texas found that Abbott Laboratory’s best-selling drug, Humira, violated a patent on Johnson & Johnson’s Remicade. [...]

July 2007 Calculating patent infringement damages just got harder, and the allowable damages a lot larger. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) [...]

May 2009 The Supreme Court in eBay v. MercExchange, 547 U.S. 388 (2006) overturned the Federal Circuit’s “general rule” of automatically issuing a permanent injunction [...]

April 2011 In monetary terms, the biggest decision made by the Supreme Court in the current session is a case that they decided NOT to [...]

September 2009   Many lawyers admit that they are not “a numbers person”. If you are one of these folks, you need to hire an [...]

April 2010 In ResQNet.com, Inc. v. Lansa, Inc., Nos. 08-1365, -1366, 09-1030 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 5, 2010), the United States Court of Appeals for the [...]

March 2010  Lehman Brothers is the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. A report by a U.S. bankruptcy examiner investigating the collapse of Lehman Brothers blames [...]

February 2010 On September 15, 2009, the Judicial Conference approved rule changes under federal Rule 26 regarding expert reports and the discoverability of communications with [...]

January 2011 The Federal Circuit ruled in Uniloc USA, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp. (January 4, 2011) that the widely used but fatally flawed 25 percent [...]

In re: Commissioner vs. Banks and Commissioner vs. Banaitis, the Supreme Court ruled (8-0) that contingency attorney fees paid by an individual must be included [...]

November 2009 Since late 2006, over two dozen federal lawsuits have been filed against some of the country’s largest employers. Many of these cases were [...]

June 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) recently issued a study of what has occurred with financial (usually damages) experts since the 1999 Supreme Court decision in Kumho [...]

June 2011 Although the case at issue involves insider trading, the limitations involving disgorgement as a monetary remedy could be applied to many other circumstances. [...]

June 2010 In an April 20, 2010 ruling that has not received the press attention that it deserves, the Ninth Circuit upheld a trial court [...]

May 2009 The newest phase of “sick house” litigation appears to be here. Drywall imported from China is releasing sulfur compounds that provide a rotten [...]

December 2006   In the legislative session that just ended, Civil Code 3426.4 was amended to permit recovery of costs by a prevailing party in [...]

April 2009 In an April 2009 written Order following a three-day hearing, federal judge Cormac Carney criticized Irell & Manella for “ethical failures” arising from [...]

September 2007   In McKenzie-Willamette Hospital vs. PeaceHealth (no. 05-35627, September 4, 2007), the Ninth Circuit established a new test regarding whether bundled transactions were [...]

October 2003   A 2002 case, Energy Capital Corp. v. United States (302 F.3d 1314; 2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 16447), provides guidance on three issues [...]

Here are items you need to determine when selecting a financial expert to address your damages calculation:

September 2010   A plaintiff with a large verdict against accounting giant KPMG lost its award because the appellate court could not find evidence that [...]

March 2011 A Lone Pine order is a case management device in which the judge requires the plaintiff to make a prima facie showing of [...]

June 2011 Investors in Chinese companies have depended upon outside auditors, institutional investors, and global investment banks as substantiation for the notion that their financial [...]

July 2005 In two rulings issued in June 2005, the California Supreme Court interpreted the U.S. Supreme Court guidance on punitive damages.  It was the [...]

July 2006 The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has been allowing patents on tax strategies.  So far, the PTO lists 43 issued patents, and [...]

May 2007 California’s Fourth Appellate District certified for publication a significant decision addressing the constitutionality of punitive damages awards. In a decision that will apply [...]

April 2005   In enacting its new punitive damages tax, California failed to consider the plaintiff’s likely federal income tax impact. As a result, plaintiffs [...]

March 2007 On February 20, 2007, Philip Morris won a (perhaps temporary) victory when the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a $79.5 million punitive damage verdict [...]

June 2011   Based on results of its May 2011 survey, the Associated Press (AP) reported that President Obama hit his highest approval rating in [...]

May 2007 The obligation to retain and produce drafts of expert reports in discovery is becoming a common dispute area. Using current word processing technology, [...]

June 2010   Statisticians describe independence as whether the occurrence of one event or characteristic makes it neither more nor less probable that other event(s) [...]

February 2009   The first piece of legislation signed by President Obama is the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (“FPA”). This anti-discrimination law [...]

February 2011   Statisticians describe independence as whether the occurrence of one event or characteristic makes it neither more nor less probable that other event(s) [...]

March 2011 The recent political standoff in Wisconsin over the collective bargaining rights and benefits of public union employees received significant national attention and will [...]

March 2009   Unfortunately, current difficult economic times are forcing many employers to lay off employees. Employers considering a reduction in force (RIF) can reduce [...]

March 2011  Most national polling organizations are independent and do not have an agenda they want to advance. Independent and accurate polling is the basic [...]

February 2011   U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its required annual Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program report. The report [...]

February 2011   Opinion polls (surveys) are used extensively to understand almost everything that cannot be looked up as a scientific fact. Polls are reported [...]

Sampling is an accepted way of making estimates at a much lower cost and when done properly, statistics can provide useful information regarding the likelihood [...]

September 2006 In September 2006, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) issued proposed new ethics rulings.  Because these are reissued proposals that incorporate [...]

July 2008 Initial commentators of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on punitive damages involving the Exxon Valdez oil spill (Exxon Shipping v. Baker, No. 07-219) [...]