Expert category
Business damages and economic loss expert witnesses
Most states do not compensate business loss in a condemnation. A few do by statute, and in those states the economist or forensic accountant becomes a central witness rather than a peripheral one.
Scope
The questions this expert answers
Does this state allow the claim
The first question, and it decides whether this expert is central or irrelevant.
How much profit was lost, and why
Causation is the hard part: separating the taking from market conditions, management and everything else.
What does reestablishment cost
Defined categories of expense at a replacement site under the relocation programme, subject to statutory caps.
What is the business worth
Where goodwill is compensable, which is a minority position and narrowly drawn where it exists.
What does the property earn
Supporting the income approach to the real estate, which is a different question from the value of the business.
Is the loss permanent
Construction period disruption and permanent impairment are treated very differently almost everywhere.
Selection
What to check before engaging
| Criterion | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Credentials | CPA with forensic accreditation, or an economist with litigation experience |
| Condemnation experience | Business damages in condemnation differ from commercial damages generally |
| State knowledge | Whether and how this state compensates business loss, and on what conditions |
| Causation discipline | Isolates the taking\u2019s effect rather than attributing every decline to it |
| Data handling | Works from records that will be produced and tested, not management assertion |
| Concession | Willing to concede the part that is not attributable, which is what makes the rest credible |
In practice
The overreach that loses these claims
Business damages claims fail most often on causation. A business whose turnover declined during construction will attribute all of it to the project. Cross examination then establishes that the decline began earlier, that comparable businesses declined similarly, that a key employee left, that the market softened.
A credible expert concedes what is not attributable and quantifies what is. That is a smaller number and a far more durable one. An unqualified claim for every dollar of decline usually recovers nothing.
Keep the questions separate. What the real estate is worth is one question, answered by an appraiser. What the business lost is another, answered here, and only where the state permits it to be asked at all.
Listed experts
Experts in this category
The directory is being built. Experts practising in this category can write to editorial@eminentdomainexpertwitness.com. Listing is free, requires evidence of credentials and condemnation experience, and is not sold.
In the meantime, how to find an expert sets out the four routes that reach the same population, and the questions worth asking before you engage anyone.
Questions about this category
My business will suffer during construction
In most states that is not compensable, though the temporary easement is paid for and relocation benefits may apply.
What is the difference between business damages and goodwill
Business damages are usually lost profits over a period. Goodwill is the intangible value of the going concern. A state compensating one does not necessarily compensate the other.
Does the relocation programme cover lost profits
No. It covers defined moving and reestablishment expenses up to statutory limits. It is a separate programme from the compensation for the property.
Which states compensate business damages
Florida is the best known example and does so by statute. The provisions elsewhere are specific and narrowly drawn, so this must be checked locally.
Related
Other categories
Eminent Domain
The primary category. Valuation and testimony in condemnation and just compensation disputes, covering every discipline a taking can put in issue.
Real Estate Appraisal
Certified appraisers who value property for condemnation rather than for lending, working to USPAP and, on federally assisted projects, the Yellow Book.
Fair Market Value
Opinions on what the market would have paid at the valuation date, under the legal definition rather than a general sense of worth.
Real Estate Damages
Diminution in value, severance damages, cost to cure, lost rent and the loss that remains after a proposed cure.
Land Use and Zoning
Entitlement probability, zoning compliance after a taking, and whether the remainder can still be developed for the use it was valued on.
Land Surveying
Boundaries, easements, encroachments, right of way plans and the survey evidence a partial taking turns on.
The right expert is the one whose field actually covers the dispute
Start from what is contested, not from a list of names. The category pages explain which discipline answers which question.