http://duree.com/index.php/services/ Representative Services en admin@dureebartonpc.com Copyright 2009 2009-11-11T04:03:40+00:00 http://duree.com/index.php/services/public_utilities/ http://duree.com/index.php/services/public_utilities/#When:04:03:40Z Duree Barton principals have been actively involved in public utility rate regulation and management issues from the mid-1970s. Such engagements include: Analysis and evaluation of numerous public utility rate requests filed with state regulatory bodies, including evaluation of revenue requirements, class cost-of-service studies, rate design, cost-of-capital, fuel and energy cost recovery procedures, and the investigation of affiliated interest relationships. Evaluation of more than $1 billion in claimed damages by electric utility plaintiffs as a result of their natural gas pipeline supplier's curtailment of deliveries in response to regulatory mandates requiring that alternative customers be supplied in a period of supply shortages. Analysis and documentation of cost savings resulting from a multi-state utility’s use of affiliated companies for purchasing, construction, the provision of non-regulated services, and other “non-core” utility functions. Analysis of original 1880 – 1920 cost of hydroelectric facilities to identify and remove several million dollars of “fair value” markups from a utility’s rate base. As Special Master of the U S District Court, a management audit of a municipal gas and electric utility. Our findings and recommendations were adopted by the municipality. By agreement of the parties, the underlying litigation was dismissed shortly after our report and presentation process was complete. Services 2009-11-11T04:03:40+00:00 http://duree.com/index.php/services/special_master/ http://duree.com/index.php/services/special_master/#When:01:41:35Z Federal and State Courts have designated Duree Barton principals as Special Masters.  The appointment process was initiated by the parties who considered our extensive experience and expertise in forensic accounting analysis, damage quantification, accounting and auditing, and public utility regulatory matters. Our findings and conclusions have been adopted by the appointing courts. Such engagements include: Special Accounting Master - Colorado District Court – Evaluation and reconciliation of records associated with leased equipment used by the lessor in support of foreign and U.S. government contractors. The plaintiff (lessor) claimed several million dollars in unpaid rentals. We evaluated the work of party experts, identified differences, independently investigated the cause of such differences, provided our reconciliation and draft report to the parties, integrated their comments, and issued our final report to the Court. The Court adopted our findings and favorably cited our work, analysis, and report in its Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order Entering Judgment. Special Master - U S District Court - Colorado District – Performed a Management Audit of a municipal gas and electric utility. Our findings and recommendations, which were adopted by the municipality utility board and the town board, were presented at a public meeting.  The Magistrate Judge reviewed our report, attended the public presentation, and credited our presenting principal as an ombudsman.  By agreement of the parties, the underlying litigation was dismissed shortly after our report and presentation process was complete. Services 2009-10-30T01:41:35+00:00 http://duree.com/index.php/services/bankruptcy/ http://duree.com/index.php/services/bankruptcy/#When:01:41:04Z We have provided professional services in conjunction with Chapter 7 and 11 actions, and related adversarial proceedings, including: Consulting and plan evaluation on behalf of the Unsecured Creditors Committee of a Debtor-in-Possession oil and gas company. Evaluation of “equivalent value” in pre-bankruptcy transactions at-issue in a preference proceeding. Evaluation of the funding and operation of numerous trusts that the trustee asserted were grantor trusts and, therefore, subject to inclusion in the bankruptcy estate.  Our asset tracing, analysis, and evaluation supported the trustee’s claim.  The petitioner and trustee settled the claim with 75% of the cumulative trust value being included in the bankruptcy estate. Evaluation and analysis of the personal – corporate relationship of an individual petitioner to his corporation.  The court found that the corporation and petitioner defrauded a senior citizen investor, looked through the corporation to its shareholder/officer (the petitioner), found the petitioner responsible for the corporation’s debts, and found that the debt due the adversary action plaintiff would not be discharged.    Services 2009-10-30T01:41:04+00:00 http://duree.com/index.php/services/mining/ http://duree.com/index.php/services/mining/#When:01:39:05Z The quantification of mining economics and damages has been an ongoing part of our practice. Our work in such cases includes: Quantified the present value of mineral reserves subject to a federal government condemnation proceeding. We evaluated and considered mining plans and the related timing of extraction; mineral pricing based on time sequenced futures pricing; known mining, processing, and capital costs; and the income tax benefit of depletion. Evaluation of a 16-sentence contract addendum defining a “1.5% net-profits-interest” in a heap-leach gold mining operation, and application of its terms to at-issue accounting and cash flow distributions. Quantification of lost profits resulting from the shutdown of a potash mine when a recently repaired conveyor system failed. Analysis and evaluation of an electric utility’s cost of service for providing a large – nearly 100% constant – electrical load to an operating mine. A summary of our evaluation and findings were presented in a related public utility rate proceeding. Quantification of the royalty value of coal mined under the terms of a non-standard federal mining lease. Quantification of the value of a significant interest in a copper mine sold without regard for the plaintiffs’ right of first refusal. Consideration of proper auditing procedures for a public company's valuation and financial reporting of its acquisition of a foreign tin mine. Services 2009-10-30T01:39:05+00:00 http://duree.com/index.php/services/construction/ http://duree.com/index.php/services/construction/#When:01:38:58Z We have investigated, analyzed, and provided informed conclusions on behalf of owners and contractors in numerous real estate and related construction related cases. We have evaluated: Changed construction conditions, including environmental hazards. Delays resulting from a variety of causes. Owner interference, Contractor and subcontractor fraud. Failure to timely pay resulting in irreparable harm and loss of bondability. Improper real estate valuation and financial reporting by a public company. Real estate lost opportunity and mitigation of damages. Valuation of co-managing partner’s interest in approximately 100 real estate partnerships, and consideration of IRC §108 issues associated with the forgiveness of debt due from numerous former insolent partners. Services 2009-10-30T01:38:58+00:00 http://duree.com/index.php/services/environmental_and_reclamation/ http://duree.com/index.php/services/environmental_and_reclamation/#When:01:37:51Z Our participation in environment and reclamation cases includes: Evaluation of the cost to abate asbestos in a significant shopping mall after disturbance and contamination of much of the facility, the replacement value of destroyed tenant inventory, and lost profits to the real estate owner and each of the various retail tenants shutdown for the duration of the abatement process. Evaluation of corporate control over subsidiary operations in the early part of the 20th century in a proceeding intended to impose liability for Super Fund cleanup. Evaluation of surface restoration obligations and costs allocable to utility purchasers under their coal purchase contracts.   Services 2009-10-30T01:37:51+00:00 http://duree.com/index.php/services/securities/ http://duree.com/index.php/services/securities/#When:01:35:38Z We have worked on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants in a variety of securities related litigation matters.  Our work in such cases includes: Analysis and comparison of an investor’s portfolio, if left invested in the securities inherited, in contrast to a portfolio of much more volatile securities (including options) acquired at the direction of the investor’s broker.  The investor was not sophisticated. Analysis and evaluation of an investment portfolio, purportedly hedged to protect against a general decline in market values, in which a few securities were owned long, many put contracts were sold short, and a few call contracts were owned long.  Consideration was given to the weighted average beta of the underlying securities in a process that demonstrated the portfolio’s significant exposure to volatility and likely loss resulting from a small downturn in market prices. Evaluation of an investors claimed losses when a public company called and delisted its warrants.  We documented the speculative nature of the plaintiff’s claimed losses, and its failure to otherwise mitigate. Valuation of options that would have been acquired by a mezzanine debt investor but for an asserted breach by defendant in its obligation to close.  Asserted damages were based on an application of Black Scholes Option Pricing Model.  We evaluated the plaintiff’s actions, and documented that the plaintiff’s Black Scholes input assumptions were little more than speculation. Services 2009-10-30T01:35:38+00:00 http://duree.com/index.php/services/gaming/ http://duree.com/index.php/services/gaming/#When:01:34:54Z Our gaming related experience is broad and varied, including: Service as accounting and economic analysts to the Colorado Division of Gaming for approximately 10 years. Preparation of an annual evaluation of the financial and operating statements of the state’s various gaming entities. Preparation of summary information by gaming locale and casino size. Recommendations for taxation changes and participation in related open and executive session meetings of the Colorado Gaming Commission. Evaluation of damages claims of Central City casino interests against a their prior law firm in relation to economic facts and circumstances relevant to the construction of the Central City Parkway (I-70 connection).  We drew on our multi-year knowledge of gaming in Central City and Black Hawk in an evaluation and critique of damages claims asserted by the Central City casino interest. We also assisted a casino document its gaming controls for the purpose of obtaining another casino license. Services 2009-10-30T01:34:54+00:00 http://duree.com/index.php/services/oil_and_gas/ http://duree.com/index.php/services/oil_and_gas/#When:01:33:41Z We have participated in a significant variety of oil and gas related litigation, including: Quantification of the amount that would have been due from/to a plaintiff asserting a long-standing but denied “farm-in” right.  Data reprocessing for nearly 20-years of field development and operation was required. Determined the Fair Value of a dissenter’s ownership in an oil and gas entity (see the Dissenter’s Rights page). Quantification of take-or-pay damages. Quantification of lost natural gas production at the well head and at a related NGL processing facility caused by recurring compression equipment failures.  Quantification of the royalty applicable to “pipeline quality gas” requiring gathering, processing, and compression to meet this standard. Documentation of a natural gas field supplier’s 100% mitigation after its industrial customer gave notice and then stopped taking under a firm requirements purchase contract.  The supplier, without regard to its sale of the “released volume” at higher prices, claimed it was entitled to the “four corners” benefit of its contract.   Services 2009-10-30T01:33:41+00:00 http://duree.com/index.php/services/class_actions/ http://duree.com/index.php/services/class_actions/#When:01:33:22Z Class actions typical involve large data volumes and rather complex damage quantification models. We have served as experts in class action cases in which claims were asserted for falsified financial reporting, improper insurance premium collections, and improper calculation of cellular telephone billings.  We have analyzed and quantified: Data associated with business practices and events underlying class claims. Statistical sampling and estimation procedures for purposes of preliminary damage quantification. The number and similarity of potential class members. Statistical sampling and estimation procedures to test complex computerized processes applied in class-wide damage quantifications. Class member-by-member prejudgment interest. We have participated in class administration and applied sampling procedures to test the class administrator’s compliance with court ordered distribution procedures. Services 2009-10-30T01:33:22+00:00