Melissa is a Partner with Stonehill Group, LLC. Prior to joining Stonehill in January 2002, Melissa was a leader in the litigation services practice in the Minneapolis office of a Big Four accounting firm. Melissa also spent five years with a major national dispute consulting firm. She has over twenty-eight years of experience assisting clients involved in commercial litigation and business disputes.
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GENERAL EXPERIENCE:
Assisted counsel and management with many aspects of commercial litigation related to economic damages, including discovery issues, settlement proposals, analysis of economic damages and preparation of expert witness testimony and cross examination. Services provided include damages exposure analysis, evaluation or determination of claims for economic loss, valuation of businesses and business segments, industry-specific and regional economic research and allocation of product liability indemnity and defense costs to insurance asset bases, among others.
Experienced in commercial disputes involving:
- Breach of Contract
- Business Interruption
- Contract Termination
- Copyright Infringement
- Dealer – Distributor Termination
- Employment Discrimination
- Fraud
- Insurance Claims and Litigation
- Lost Profits
- Patent Infringement
- Product Liability
- Securities Fraud
- Shareholder Disputes
- Theft of Trade Secrets
- Trademark Infringement
Provided expert testimony in U.S. Federal Court, Minnesota District Court, and AAA arbitration and FINRA arbitration.
OTHER FINANCIAL EXPERIENCE:
Provided assistance to clients in a variety of financial consulting matters, including evaluation of portfolio performance and risk, cash flow projections and discounted cash flow analyses, valuation of businesses, securities and other corporate assets, quantification of business interruption losses to assist in insurance recovery, calculation of required reserves for future product liability and environmental claims, and performance of economic studies to determine historical growth and profitability in a variety of industries and geographical areas, among others.
SELECTED CASE EXPERIENCE:
- Testified for plaintiffs in deposition regarding lost royalty income in a trademark infringement matter involving food products.
- Testified for plaintiffs in U.S. District Court regarding lost profits and lost royalty income in an architectural copyright infringement matter.
- Testified in U.S. District Court regarding reasonable royalty damages as expert witness in a patent infringement matter involving a medical device.
- Testified in U.S. Bankruptcy Court regarding alleged lost profits suffered in a breach of contract dispute. Assisted multi-national retailer of consumer electronics in defending against plaintiff’s claims of economic damages.
- Assisted defense counsel as expert witness in rebuttal of damages claims resulting from alleged patent infringement of a sporting goods patent.
- Calculated lost profits and reasonable royalty damages as expert witness in a patent infringement matter involving a computer device.
- Testified at AAA arbitration regarding economic damages suffered in a purchase price dispute related to the sale of a company. Damages were awarded to client in amount calculated in expert report.
- Performed forensic accounting analyses to assist counsel in quantifying corporate assets misappropriated by a former officer and the theft’s potential tax impact on the company.
- Testified for defense in deposition regarding alleged lost wages and benefits related to age discrimination allegations resulting from a reduction in force. Performed statistical analysis to determine if alleged discrimination occurred. Class was decertified prior to trial.
- Calculated lost profits and reasonable royalty damages as expert witness in a patent infringement matter involving a medical device. Case was settled prior to trial.
- Calculated potential economic damages for defense as expert witness in several securities fraud matters against broker / dealers. Cases were settled prior to NASD arbitration hearings.
- Assisted plaintiff’s counsel in calculation of economic damages resulting from theft of trade secrets by former executive in a start-up medical device company. Case was settled prior to trial.
- Assisted defense counsel in rebuttal of economic damages claim resulting from alleged trademark infringement in agricultural industry. Trademark claims were dismissed prior to trial.
- Analyzed business interruption and property losses suffered by international grain processing company resulting from flooding of company facilities and railroad lines in the Pacific Northwest. Assisted management in negotiations with insurance carrier and claims adjusters.
- Performed forensic accounting analyses to assist counsel in detecting allegedly fraudulent practices by independent personal accountant.
- Allocated asbestos liability and defense costs to insureds’ asset bases on an on-going basis after settlements of personal injury asbestos suits.
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