Counsels’ Guide to Risks and Uncertainties that Depreciate Damage Estimates in Seafood Production/Marketing Cases

Whitepaper

TASA ID: 390

Counsels’ Guide to Risks and Uncertainties that Depreciate Damage Estimates in Seafood Production/Marketing Cases

The arrival of the dreaded and presumed cannibalistic “Asian tiger shrimp” along shores in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and Southern Atlantic Coast points out a simple, but often overlooked proposition [1]. Seafood harvesting and processing operations are risky, and plaintiff’s damage estimates that do not account for risks and uncertainties are overstated, hence ripe for challenges [2].

For example, if the tiger shrimp have their way and begin to eat their smaller pink cousins, any lost income projections for shrimp harvesters and processors will be too optimistic. The income projections and damage estimates of shrimp harvesters following the British Petroleum oil spill, which are often based on historical earnings, should be revised downward in light of the new reality of the tiger shrimp. Plaintiff’s damage estimates in seafood cases almost always ignore income-depreciating sources of risks and uncertainty. 

The following article outlines the risks and uncertainties in different types of seafood production/harvesting operations, so defense attorneys might better know where to look for errors of omission in plaintiff’s damage estimates. Seafood production/harvesting companies live in a different world today, where risks and uncertainties that were unknown in the previous century might become commonplace [3].

Click here to read more.