Litigation Support Services

SOCOTEC professionals have an abundance of experience and knowledge in providing litigation support services. Our team of design experts, engineering experts, and construction experts have performed comprehensive detailed analysis on some of the world’s most complex projects. We are retained by clients, or their counsel, to provide assistance as consultants, analysts and as testifying experts during all phases of the litigation process and are able to assist in the resolution of construction disputes at all stages. SOCOTEC provides professional services to owners, contractors, engineering firms, architects, government agencies, financial institutions, insurance companies and legal counsel.

SOCOTEC is experienced in numerous dispute resolution forums, including United States Federal and State courts, Canadian courts, other various foreign courts, and arbitration forums such as American Arbitration Association (AAA), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), and London Court of International Arbitration.

Our litigation experience includes:

Calculation of Economic Damages
Calculation of Lost Profits
Claims Management
Data Organization, Storage, and Control
Deposition Assistance
Development of Damages and Financial Models
Demonstrative Graphics and Exhibits
Discovery Assistance
Document Management
Evaluation of Claim Pricing Methods and Damages Calculations
Expert Testimony
Expert Reports
Interrogatory Assistance
Interpretation of Financial, Accounting, and Other Business Records
Key Document and Issue File Set-up and Organization
Re-creation of Financial and Accounting Records
Reconciliation of Financial and Accounting records
Representation in Settlement Negotiations and Mediation
Review and Evaluation of Audits
Systemized Processes for Document Review and Analysis
Technical Issue Fact-finding and Analysis

Cost Analysis and Damages Calculations

SOCOTEC regularly conducts data gathering, fact-finding, cost analyses, and damage calculations. We understand how projects are funded, how pay requests are approved, how contractors keep their books, how to identify compensable cost overruns, and how to negotiate an equitable contract adjustment. We are intimately familiar with and have testified on matters including:

Equipment Costs and Stand by Rates
Field Office Overhead
Home Office Overhead
Labor Rates and Burdens
Lost Productivity
Labor Efficiency
Material Procurement
Mark-ups and Pass Through Costs
Other General and Administrative Expenses
Salaries
Small Tools

Our clients find us cost effective due to our hands-on experience and in-depth understanding of construction cost accounting systems. This knowledge makes us efficient when analyzing complex cost issues and allows us to provide to our clients with unique and innovative approaches to quantifying delay and disruption-related cost growth. We develop straightforward and easy to understand damages models and we are known to develop meaningful conclusions from complex cost data.

Our experience includes:

Evaluation of claim pricing methods
Evaluation and pricing of change orders
Calculation of discrete event damage and impact
Assessment of the cost impact of delay, disruption and acceleration
Assistance with the review and analysis of audit rights clauses within contractor and/or owner contract agreements
Evaluation of job cost reports, financial statements, budgets, bid documents, and time & material tickets
Assistance with the evaluation of betterments
Assistance with the evaluation of termination costs (amounts earned at the time of termination, amounts due, and costs to complete)

Entitlement Assessment

SOCOTEC professionals have lectured and taught at universities, conferences and seminars on all types of entitlement theories relative to construction contracts, and have been certified to offer continuing education credits by the MCLE, AIA, PMI, IACET, CPE, CA INS and 6-SIGMA accreditations. In addition, we have evaluated and/or have testified on claim entitlement types that have included:

Acceleration
Breach of Contract
Constructive Changes
Contract Termination (for Cause/Default and Convenience)
Defective and Deficient Specifications
Delay
Differing Site Conditions (Type-I and Type-II)
Disruption
Force Majeure Events
Implied Warranty
Interference and Denied Access
Late Owner Furnished Items
Labor Inefficiencies
Work Suspension

Demonstrative Exhibits and Graphics

Our extensive litigation experience combined with our creative approach to complex matters allows us to create graphic exhibits that illustrate the issues in a simple and easy to understand format. Our multimedia capabilities add clarity, organization, and persuasion to a presentation of the facts.

Our services include:

Preparation of Exhibits and Demonstrative Graphics
Multimedia Presentations
Interactive Timelines and Schedules
Animated Charts and Graphs
Document Images
Photographs
3-D Models

Information and Document Management

SOCOTEC has experience analyzing all types of contemporaneous project records. We routinely analyze records that include: contracts, bids, budgets and estimates, business plans, home office and consolidated operations accounting records, field cost records, job cost reports, change design information, order pricing, quantity and manpower reports, payment applications, production and productivity studies, scheduling data and many other documents.

Complex projects require the capture, coordination and filing of large quantities of varied types of project documentation. SOCOTEC not only has the experience to perform this function, but also the knowledge to understand the importance of this duty and contract requirement. We know from our experience with claims that contemporaneous records are vital to the efficient management of a project, in addition to the resolution of disputes and claims.