Hovland Forensic

Successfully Challenging a Flawed Lost Profits Report

The Challenge:

Our client was facing a significant lawsuit where the plaintiff’s expert had produced a report claiming substantial lost profits. The client needed a forensic accountant to review and rebut this report, which purported to quantify extensive damages allegedly caused by our client’s actions. The initial review revealed that our client’s financial future hinged on challenging an analysis that appeared, on its surface, to be professionally prepared.

The Approach:

We conducted a meticulous, line-by-line forensic critique of the opposing expert’s report. Our analysis was not a mere disagreement with conclusions, but a systematic deconstruction of its methodological foundation. We identified several critical, fundamental flaws that rendered the report unreliable and inadmissible:
  • Lack of Methodological Transparency: The expert failed to disclose the core assumptions and methods used, preventing a clear understanding of how the damages figure was derived.
  • No Causal Link: The report did not establish a credible connection between the alleged actions of our client and the claimed lost profits, a foundational requirement for any damages claim.
  • Calculation Errors: The report contained basic mathematical and accounting errors in its damages calculation.
  • Ignored Capacity Constraints: The expert made no attempt to determine if the plaintiff actually had the operational capacity to achieve the projected sales, a fatal flaw in any lost profits analysis.
  • Unsupported Work-Life Expectancy: The analysis used an unreasonable work-life expectancy figure, projecting losses decades into the future without any factual basis, thereby inflating the damages claim exponentially.
We prepared a comprehensive rebuttal report that systematically detailed each of these critical failures, providing a clear, authoritative argument for why the opposing expert’s opinion should be disregarded.
 

The Results:

Our rebuttal report was effective. By exposing the profound methodological flaws and lack of factual support in the plaintiff’s case, we provided our client’s legal team with the powerful evidence needed to undermine the entire damages claim. The court ruled decisively in favor of our client. Our forensic critique was instrumental in achieving this victory, successfully defending against an inflated and unsupported multi-million dollar claim and protecting our client from a potentially ruinous judgment.

Need to Challenge an Expert’s Report?

When facing an inflated or methodologically unsupported damages claim, a rigorous rebuttal is your most powerful defense. Our expertise in litigation support and forensic accounting enables us to critically analyze opposing reports, identify foundational flaws, and provide the clear, authoritative analysis needed to protect your position. We specialize in constructing defensible arguments that withstand scrutiny.

Turn Evidence into a winning strategy