Apr 27
Lost compensation is a method of capturing economic damages in personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful termination, failure to promote and other similar torts. Independent damages experts (often economists or CPAs) are often employed to calculate lost compensation because of their unique background/skill set in addressing such economic losses. However, the desire to minimize costs means …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2018/04/calculate-economic-damages-associated-with-lost-earnings-claims-accurately-and-efficiently/
Apr 25
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Exmark Manufacturing Company v. Briggs & Stratton Power Products Group, LLC (January 2018) validates that there is no clear-cut method to value a patented invention’s contribution to a larger, multi-component product (aka apportionment). Specifically, the Federal Circuit stated that “…apportionment can be addressed …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2018/04/federal-circuit-allows-flexibility-in-determining-royalty-rate/
Mar 28
The current tax season brings some small consolation to victims of Ponzi schemes and certain other financial fraud, with the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) allowing duped investors to obtain partial relief in the form of a theft loss tax deduction. Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) 165(a) provides that a theft loss incurred in a transaction entered …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2018/03/tax-deduction-available-for-ponzi-scheme-related-theft/
Dec 30
General Cable Corporation announced that it has entered into a joint settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and Department of Justice (“DOJ”) for a total payment of $82.3 million to address investigations into violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and separate allegations regarding financial restatements. In 2014, General Cable voluntarily …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2016/12/general-cable-settles-with-sec-and-doj-for-82-3-million/
Sep 16
Finjan, Inc. (‘Finjan”) vs. Sophos, Inc. (“Sophos”) is a patent infringement action involving 14 different claims related to six different patents for computer and network security technology. Many patented products, particularly those involving technology, use more than one patent. As described in this related article, a damage analyst in this situation will often need to …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2016/09/patent-feature-double-count-sinks-damages-calculation/
Sep 15
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or the “Commission”) protects whistleblowers through Rule 21F-17, enacted under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which states that “[n]o person may take any action to impede an individual from communicating directly with the Commission staff about a possible securities law violation.” Prior cases have highlighted that …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2016/09/severance-agreements-cannot-interfere-with-whistleblower-protections/
Sep 06
Business Insider has published its current listing of “The 50 Best Colleges in America”, which is based largely on government compiled data and student experience measurements compiled by Niche, an education research firm. The rankings were based on the following criteria: High-quality education On-time graduation rates Early-career earnings “a memorable and enjoyable campus experience that instills …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2016/09/business-insider-reports-on-top-colleges/
Sep 02
A recent article available at www.digitaltrends.com describes how virtual reality may soon allow jurors to explore crime scenes as they actually appeared. In the article, Dr. Mehzeb Chowdhury, a researcher in forensic science and criminal investigations at Durham University in the U.K.m describes his MABMAT robotic imaging system as capable of capturing every detail of an …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2016/09/virtual-reality-will-change-the-way-juries-view-evidence/
Aug 31
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has awarded $22.4 million to a former Monsanto financial executive, the second-largest whistleblower bounty ever provided. This amount represents the whistleblower’s share of the $80 million penalty paid. The anonymous whistleblower was a former Monsanto financial executive who reported violations of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”) and misstatements of corporate earnings. …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2016/08/monsanto-whistleblower-obtains-22-4-million-sec-award/
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2016/08/excel-default-settings-can-cause-significant-analysis-errors/
Aug 29
Excel Default Settings Can Cause Significant Analysis Errors
August 29, 2016
A recent study published in the scientific journal Genome Biology describes a concerning error rate in genetic studies caused by default settings in the commonly used spreadsheet software Microsoft Excel. The default cell formatting option in Excel will inadvertently convert gene symbols to dates and floating-point numbers. Examples include: gene symbol SEPT2 (Septin 2) is converted by …
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