Damage Assessment & Analysis

Avoiding often-costly litigation is always a priority, and this is especially true in these economic times. Pre-litigation damage assessment and analysis is required to minimize exposure. There is great value in the early organization and analysis of information so as to be able to assess potential risk and to be able to define strategy.

Many of the standard services offered by iBridge are now being used by law firms and corporations to mitigate risk and liability pre-litigation as well as after litigation is commenced. Some of these services are base services such as manually entering data from images onto spreadsheets, and working with IT organizations to acquire sample data for analysis. Verification of information is done field-by-field to ensure the resultant analysis is based on accurate data. Quality assurance of large data sets is performed during data acquisition and migration. Law firms specializing in labor and employment regularly use these services for damage assessment and advanced data analytics.

Specific Services

Specific services that might be of interest to labor and employment attorneys and firms include:

• Data entry services
• Data verification services
• Data acquisition, normalization, analysis and reporting
• 3D models for statistical analysis and modeling theory
• Building and testing algorithms to de-bunk standard search term results during document review and e-discovery production

Our professional services team provides:

• Early data analysis and testing
• Survey analytics
• Wage and hour damage analysis
• Risk analysis
• Sales and marketing analytics
• Retail analytics
• Statistical consulting

The following techniques are used in our analysis:

• Correlation analysis
• Multiple regression analysis (GLM, logistic, multinomial models)
• Forecasting techniques (regression, growth rates)
• Cluster analysis (segmentation analysis)
• Factor analysis
• Discriminant analysis
• Principal component analysis
• Probability theory concepts
• Statistical inference (t-test, ANOVA, F-test, Chi-Square, etc.)

Examples of Engagements

The following are two specific examples of engagements:

Labor and Employment: We were engaged by a large telecom and communications company to determine whether the misclassification of employees over a period of time was tied to a specific regional office or, rather, whether employees were misclassified across multiple regions. Our analysis was to be utilized in determining case strategy.  The company did not have a single  source of payroll.  We negotiated and worked with each payroll source, and acquired and normalized the data. We then provided analysis and extensive customized reporting to allow the company and its outside counsel to analyze the data and determine how best to proceed. We hosted the data for the six-month engagement.

Oil and Gas:  Another matter involved royalty payments for gas. Our data entry team researched and reviewed land record titles and other documents dating back to the early 1800’s. After we assembled a complete and accurate data set, we loaded it into a database and began cross-referencing it against mineral rights. This required our GIS (Geographical Information System) team to work with our database team to record changes in land formation (due to rivers changing course, etc.), and to also look at the strata below the surface to determine whether any significant geological shifts occurred over time. Because gas does not flow in a vertical plane, the issue was a fairly complex one to explain to a jury. The client was able to use our work to settle many claims very quickly by showing royalty payments were appropriately made.