Manufacturing and Distribution

Shareholder dispute - diminution of value. Manufacturer of nutraceuticals (barley green extract) - a Japanese family owned business. Founder transferred shares to his daughter and son-in-law in trust. Daughter exercised control of shares when father wanted to make changes in the company's operations (son-in-law was chief operations officer). Dispute ensued. We valued the company at specific dates to prove diminution of value. The case settled after deposition testimony.

Intellectual Property - Trademark Infringement. Manufacturer and distributor of massage tables claimed that a competing manufacturer confused the market place by using a similar logo on their massage tables. Plaintiff claimed lost profits and disgorgement of profits from plaintiff. We showed that the defendant was in a different market, the trademark (a world map or globe) was ubiquitous and that there was no basis for damages. After deposition the case settled.

Intellectual Property - Valuation. Manufacturer and distributor of diving equipment needed a valuation of their trademarks and patents for a year-end re-organization. Completed the valuation in a very short period of time in order to transfer the intellectual property at the appropriate value for tax purposes to a new entity.

Business Interruption. Plaintiff alleged defendants' products failures led to fire that burned facilities to the ground and caused business interruption, as well as permanent loss of some contracts. Critique of plaintiff's lost profits claim, including alternate calculations based on differing sets of assumptions about company, and industry performance.

Insurance Claims, Damage Calculations. For a manufacturer of asbestos products, calculated financial damages to business due to insurance company's failure to indemnify company against thousands of claims related to asbestos exposure.

Fraud. Company employee was a principal in several businesses, which had supply contracts with employer. Documents, which provided back up to invoices were falsified, leading to excess charges. Reviewed defendant companies' payroll records for evidence of misrepresentat0in of time worked on contracts. Tested validity of compensation records.

Shareholder Class Action Suit. On behalf of corporation defending a shareholder class action suit, reviewed internal documents for timing of certain events within the company, and compared to timing of public announcements of these events.

Lost Profits. Plaintiff, a manufacturing company, sued vendors of hardware and software and systems consultants it retained to assist with purchasing of new manufacturing system to run plant, which had severe scheduling bottlenecks, among other problems. Computer system never performed according to representations of sellers and company sued. Calculated plaintiff's lost profits due to failure of system to perform as promised.

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