Commercial Litigation Support

As a commercial litigation expert, we quantify lost profits, lost business value, and the economic damages that decide contract and business disputes. The analysis connects to our economic consulting and valuation, intellectual property litigation, and securities litigation support work. Discount-rate and market inputs are grounded in published SEC and market data.

What a commercial litigation expert quantifies

Commercial damages turn on what the record will actually support. We say which of these applies before you retain us, not after:

• Lost profits — but-for revenue, avoided costs, and the growth assumption that gets attacked first.
• Lost business value — going-concern valuation where the enterprise itself was impaired rather than a stream of profits.
• Price erosion — the margin lost to conduct that moved the market price, separated from ordinary competitive pressure.
• Credit damages — increased cost of capital, lost financing, and the downstream effect on operations.
• Property and use — damage to real and business property, loss of use, and crop loss both annual and perennial.

How lost profits are measured

A lost-profits opinion has to survive a reasonable-certainty challenge, so each step is built from the record and stated so it can be tested:

• But-for revenue: what the business would have sold absent the conduct, from its own history (before-and-after), comparable businesses or markets (yardstick), or the contract terms.
• Incremental costs: only the costs that would have moved with the lost sales are deducted, not the whole cost structure.
• Growth assumptions: tied to the company’s own track record and industry data, with the sensitivity shown.
• Mitigation: recovered sales, replacement business and avoided costs are credited against the claim.
• Business interruption: the interruption period and the recovery after it, separated from seasonality and market conditions (see below).
• Discounting: future lost profits reduced to present value at a rate matched to their risk; past losses brought forward with prejudgment interest where the law allows.

The method is worked through in our guide to lost profits calculations. In California the model is also built to the Sargon standard for lost-profit evidence; see California economic damages.

Claim types we work

• Business interruption
• Breach of contract
• Business torts and breach of fiduciary duty
• Antitrust and competition
• Intellectual property and patent infringement
• Debtor and creditor disputes
• Shareholder and securities disputes
• Product liability
• False advertising and price erosion
• Tax disputes

Where the claim spans more than one of these — and commercial claims usually do — the analysis has to avoid double-counting the same loss under two theories. That is often the first thing opposing counsel probes.

What we need to start

For the conflict check, party names only. Nothing privileged.

Once engaged, the analysis typically runs on financial statements, tax returns, general ledger detail, customer and contract records, and industry or market data for the but-for comparison. Where a company kept thin records, that shapes the method rather than defeating the claim, and it is better established early than at deposition.

Where the dispute is seated outside the United States, see our work on commercial damages and quantum in Dubai, the UAE and international arbitration.

Business interruption damages

Business interruption claims turn on three things: the length of the interruption period, the revenue and margin the business would have earned without it, and what it saved or made up during and after it. We build the but-for revenue from the business’s own history and records, apply the cost structure that would actually have been incurred, and separate the interruption’s effect from seasonality, market conditions and everything else moving in the business at the same time.

The same analysis applies whether the claim is against a counterparty, a tortfeasor or, in coverage disputes, measured against the policy’s own definitions. Our wildfire work applies it at scale: see a claim inventory, not a claim. For California practice, see lost profits under CACI 3903N.

Frequently asked questions

Lost profits or lost business value — which applies?

Lost profits fit where the business survived and earned less. Lost business value fits where the enterprise itself was destroyed or permanently impaired. Claiming both for the same loss is the most common error we are retained to rebut.

Can you work as a rebuttal expert?

Yes. A meaningful share of our commercial work is rebutting an opposing expert rather than building an affirmative case. Tell us which role you need at the conflict-check stage — the scope and the timeline differ.

Do you work for defendants?

Yes. We are retained by both plaintiff and defense counsel and apply the same method either way.

What are your rates?

We send the rate schedule and a full CV with the proposal after the scoping call, so you are pricing against a defined scope rather than a number in the abstract.