Our Beginning in the Litigation Arena
Our beginning in the litigation arena was not intentional but came about in an effort to provide some much needed service to a client going through a divorce in Judge Munson's court in Pulaski County. We had worked extensively in the merger and acquisition area and were well grounded in what companies were worth. The client had an electrical construction company that needed to be valued and we were able to provide that service to him. His attorney was a gentleman by the name of Dale Price. Getting to know him was one of our greatest personal and professional experiences.
In the course of the divorce, the wife moved to an island in the Caribbean and commuted back and forth when necessary. Depositions were taken the night before the trial was to begin and a settlement was reached late in the evening. As soon as the settlement was read into the record, the wife departed for the Caribbean. The next day my client was informed that she suffered an accident and slipped into a coma. She had been transported to Miami and was on life support. Over the next few weeks the hospital recommended that life support be removed but due to the nature of the case, no one could determine who her nearest relative was. There was mass confusion about when a divorce is final and if they were still legally married. Eventually the needs of the family overcame the legal ramifications and my client traveled to Miami to give the needed approvals.
In addition to the timing of the divorce subsequent issues arose that caused the case to be revisited almost in its entirety. The case began a long and arduous legal journal up and down the legal system until many years later the case was finally able to be put to bed. It is now the authority on when a divorce is finalized.
During this time, we became close friends with Dale Price and he proceeded to hire us on all of his cases. We went on to obtain several certifications in business valuation and litigation support. Now 18 years later, our practice has grown to be one of the main lines of service we provide with a wide variety of cases, disputes and valuations.
60 percent of the firm's litigation work is marital or family law, the remaining percentage is comprised of forensic and fraud accounting, explanation of complex financial structuring and operations, personal injury damage calculations and commercial damages. We believe that litigation related activities should remain unbiased so therefore, we will testify for either the plaintiff or defendant.
This month's Journal of Accountancy explores "Wading into Litigation Support", how CPA consultants can uncover the flaws in an opposing side’s expert witness reports. One statement in this article really rings true; once a CPA takes the stand as an expert witness, his or her qualifications and work product are exposed to intense scrutiny. Reputation and quality of product when rendering an opinion before your client, the court and opposing counsel is a constant challenge and should never be tossed up to fate. Litigation support and expert witness work is interesting, challenging and very rewarding, but there a perils lurking there that a CPA is not exposed to in normal type of attest work.
