Litigation

Decades of Expert Testimony

For more than three decades, ECONorthwest’s doctoral-level economists have influenced public policy by providing expert economics testimony in some of the largest litigation cases in the Pacific Northwest and the nation.

Our experts testified on the economic impacts of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in the late 1980s and were instrumental in the early 1990s northern spotted owl litigation. In the mid-1990s, our experts testified on behalf of Pearl Jam in the Ticketmaster litigation, and in the mid-2000s, in the MTBE environmental contamination litigation. In the mid-2010s, the next generation of ECONorthwest’s experts testified on behalf of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in the Keystone XL pipeline controversy. We quantified environmental damages to the State of Oregon in the Monsanto PCB litigation in the 2020s, resulting in the largest environmental damages recovery in Oregon history. Our team also assisted with the statistical analysis that documented civil rights violations against Asian Americans in the recent Harvard/UNC cases decided by the United States Supreme Court.

Areas of Expertise

We can deploy a wide range of best-in-class analytic tools and methods and know which ones are best for which questions.

Employment Disputes and Labor Negotiations

ECOnorthwest provides economic analysis for labor and management in litigation matters and labor contract arbitration. Our litigation support team has extensive expertise with wrongful termination cases, discrimination cases, and related employment matters. We assess claims for lost earnings and economic damages, and perform statistical analysis regarding discrimination claims. Our labor-related experience includes evaluating workers’ compensation claims, assessing pricing practices of organized labor, estimating the costs and benefits of labor regulation, and consulting on violations of employment-related contracts (e.g., non-compete agreements).

We help unions and employers prepare for arbitration negotiations by:

Assessing the relevant public interest in the negotiation and its relationship to an agency’s contract offer.
Applying economic theory to arbitration statutes.
Measuring total compensation for similar work in comparable communities.
Analyzing local and national labor market conditions and cost-of-living adjustments.
Assessing an agency’s ability to pay and ability to attract and retain qualified workers.

Contract Disputes

ECOnorthwest’s litigation support team can help attorneys resolve commercial contract disputes.

We have expertise in matters of:

Breach of contract
Business interruption
Damage calculation
Economic consequences
Lost profit appraisals
Real estate litigation
Tortious interference in business
Trusts and estates disputes

Antitrust Liability and Damages

Antitrust is one of the few areas of litigation in which proving liability involves economic information and testimony. ECOnorthwest staff have extensive experience conducting economic analyses and presenting written, deposition, and trial testimony on antitrust liability topics, including relevant markets, products, and geographies; market shares and market power of competing firms; and barriers to entry for new market entrants.

After establishing liability, proving antitrust damages involves showing harm to competition. Alleged antitrust actions harm competition by increasing prices above competitive levels, restricting supply below competitive levels, reducing the quality of goods or services, or some combination of the three.

ECOnorthwest has successfully presented testimony on antitrust harm to a range of goods and services, including: advertising services; agricultural commodities; construction services; forest products; hospital and healthcare services; natural gas and other petroleum products; recreation equipment; and many more.

Environmental Enforcement, Damages, Liability

ECOnorthwest has earned a reputation for excellence through an established history of applying economics to litigation involving environmental, natural resource, and energy-related issues. We specialize in evaluating the benefits, costs, and market impacts of natural resource management decisions and environmental regulations, as well as valuing economic damages from natural-resource injuries. We provide economic analysis in litigation at both the state and federal levels and for civil and criminal enforcement of environmental regulations.

We analyze a range of issues related to environmental cases, including the impacts of regulatory changes; the costs a party avoids by failing to comply with regulations; the economic gain they enjoy; and their ability to pay penalties. Our experts have also provided analysis for Native American tribes in cases where tribal claims to land or natural resources have been challenged.

We have performed economic analysis in matters related to:

Agriculture
Air Quality
Fisheries management
Gasoline additives (MTBE and ethanol)
Groundwater
Mining
NRDA
Oil spills and refining
Pesticide use
Petroleum pipelines
Radioactive and other hazardous waste
Recreation
Shipwrecks
Superfund (CERCLA)
Timber, forests, and clear-cutting
Trespassing

Economic Damages Assessment

ECOnorthwest’s litigation support team provides impartial valuation of economic damage claims. ECOnorthwest has substantial experience calculating the economic damages arising from all types of legal actions. Working for both plaintiffs and defendants, we produce impartial and rigorous assessments of claims for economic losses, applying professionally sound valuation methods to calculate past, present, and future damages. We also have experience providing analysis in connection with claims for punitive damages.

Over the last 30 years, we have calculated damages in a wide array of cases, including:

Breach of contract
Chemical and oil spills
Class-action lawsuits
Employment disputes
Franchise disputes
Hazardous-waste pollution
Land and development disputes
Lost business opportunities
Personal injury
Price discrimination
Product liability
Torts
Trespass and property damages
Wrongful death
Wrongful termination

Hospital and Healthcare Services

ECOnorthwest provides economic analyses and expert testimony on local and regional markets for hospital and healthcare services in regulatory and court proceedings. Our experience includes addressing economic aspects of:

The costs of acute-care hospital treatments
Local and regional markets for tertiary cardiovascular and neonatal care
Markets for diagnostic imaging services, including CAT scans and MRIs
Interactions between markets for physician services and insurance products
The factors that influence the costs of medical services and impacts on markets for insurance products.
Hospital certificate-of-need applications

Patent and Intellectual Property Valuation

ECOnorthwest has expertise in conducting analyses of lost profits and foregone royalties on a wide variety of patented technologies.

ECOnorthwest provides expert valuation of economic harm from patent infringement and intellectual property loss. Established case law contains the criteria by which courts identify and measure economic harm from patent infringement or other losses associated with intellectual property. These criteria differ depending on whether the patent holder has produced and sold the goods or services at issue, or licensed the patented technology to others. In the first case, economists measure economic harm as lost profits on foregone sales. In the second, we measure the foregone royalties on the manufacture and sale of patented goods or services by others. Our staff has presented analyses and opinions in written testimony and defended our work in deposition and trial testimonies.

Our extensive experience includes:

Applying the four Panduit factors that guide analyses of lost profits
Assessing reasonable royalties by identifying the appropriate royalty base
Applying the 15 Georgia Pacific factors that guide the determination of a reasonable royalty rate

Personal Injury and Wrongful Death

ECOnorthwest has substantial experience providing economic analysis in matters of personal injury and wrongful death. Our experts have provided support for representatives of both plaintiffs and defendants, producing impartial and rigorous assessments of claims for economic losses. We calculate income-related losses as well as other economic losses stemming from injury or death, such as increased medical expenditures, or reduction or loss of ability to provide services around the home.

We also provide consulting services separate from expert testimony to assist attorneys in evaluating a case:

Preliminary damage assessments
Development of the economic elements of a claim
Identification and collection of data
Deposition, discovery, or cross-examination support
Review of another party’s economic report

Our Experts

Our experienced expert witnesses, economists, and economic analysts provide rigorous economic analyses and clear, concise written and oral testimony. We help attorneys assess economic liability; calculate the present value of damages, harm, or impacts due to alleged acts; conduct market analysis; and manage and analyze data. Our experts have provided support for representatives of both plaintiffs and defendants, producing impartial and rigorous assessments of claims for economic losses.

Litigation

Decades of Expert Testimony

For more than three decades, ECONorthwest’s doctoral-level economists have influenced public policy by providing expert economics testimony in some of the largest litigation cases in the Pacific Northwest and the nation.

Areas of Expertise