BANKING & FINANCIAL

Accumyn’s expert provided testimony refuting a claim for over $60 Million in lost profits and value arising from potential hedging of natural gas production sales as part of a contemplated debt financing. The enterprise would have hedged natural gas price risk by means of forward fixed price sales of physical natural gas or swaps that would have extended over a multi-year period. Accumyn addressed the plausibility of the claimed economic damages in the context of actual forward market conditions at the time the alleged damages occurred. Accumyn discovered that the cost of unwinding underwater positions associated with existing forward physical natural gas sales was disguised. Accumyn showed that cash or credit was generated by selling gas based on the lower of the first of the month or the monthly average indices, at the option of the buyer and that these imbedded ‘lower of’ options as well as additional forward fixed price sales were in violation of a temporary restraining order.

Failure to timely exercise a Termination Agreement providing for the contemplated separation and distribution of assets from an existing natural gas exploration and production joint business venture agreement allegedly prevented both the funding of bank debt financing of plaintiff’s prospective remaining business interests as well as any allegedly prospective forward hedging of any related natural gas production. Accumyn reviewed standard terms and conditions required by bank lenders to oil and gas production companies and analyzed forward fixed price sales (i.e., hedging), including terms and condition, required credit support, and previous hedging patterns.

Accumyn prepared detailed analyses and provided expert services for a commercial insurance client in a business interruption and extra expense dispute with its insurance carrier following a fire at a funeral home. The client operated more than one funeral home facility, and was able to shift work to alternate facilities to process and prepare deceased for final disposition. The insurance carrier involved sought to minimize the loss of income and extra expense experienced to keep the client operational during reconstruction.

Accumyn’s work included a review of insurance coverages provided and computation of actual losses sustained, reviewing records of previous customers who experienced a subsequent death of a family member during the period of reconstruction, and found that many previous customers used competitor funeral homes during that period.   Separately, the cost to prepare deceased for final disposition grew significantly as transportation costs to other owned facilities and hiring of additional staff at those facilities grew substantially. The loss of income and extra expense was minimized by the insurance carrier, and the client was offered approximately $100,000 for its loss.

Final settlement, following Accumyn’s analysis of claim value computation by the insurance carrier and preparation of an expert report to the insurance carrier showing errors in its original settlement approach to the claim, resulted in payment to Accumyn’s client of approximately $350,000 – the value calculated in Accumyn’s report.

Provided expert report in connection with claims made by the receiver for a failed financial advisory group against a large multi-state bank for negligence, violation of account integrity, and conversion, by allowing an individual to improperly deposit of an official check purchased by an LLC (the financial advisory group) into an unrelated account of the individual at the same bank. Issues included industry standards of ordinary care, deposit account integrity, conversion, commercially reasonable standards on deposit account activity, teller operation standards, customary deposit relationship, identification of the customer, adherence to the bank’s own internal policies, and customary procedures for cancellation of an official check.