Our Services |
Our Services |
Nickerson & Associates has served as experts in over 850 cases since 1978. Our work has included damage estimation, statistical analyses, and large data analysis. We have worked on hundreds of individual employment cases and number class actions including scores of wage and hour cases.
We are known for our careful analysis, attention to detail, matter-of-factness and clarity in our testimony and our reports. If you are looking for damage calculations, economic analyses, or an expert to make sense out of massive amounts of data, we can help. Below you can find our main service categories. If you are interested in seeing an in-depth description of how N&A constructs damages and exposure analyses, please see our Exposure Tool page. |
We don’t over-embellish. We understand that our work is just a piece of a larger litigation puzzle and that if the audience doesn’t get it the first time, it is likely never looked at again. We keep it simple. |
Class Action Wage & Hour AnalysisWe create a data-driven picture of employee activity that gets to the heart of off-the-clock and missed break issues.
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Because of the data-intensive nature of wage & hour cases and our expertise in this area, Nickerson & Associates has been engaged to analyze time card, payroll, and other business records in over 200 cases. Our assignment is typically to create usable databases that allow us to estimate potential damages and exposure and create a data-driven picture of employee activity. Our analyses often allow us to see when people arrive, when they go through security, when they begin or end work related activities, when they go outside to smoke, and when they use the internet for personal reasons, allowing us to get to the heart of off-the-clock and missed break issues. We often find that the allegations made in pleadings and declarations are contradicted by facts embedded in business records and data. In the context of class certification, we have written a number of reports describing how certain business data are insufficient to show liability or damages in light of the due process requirements of Dukes and the limited employer lunch period mandate required by Brinker. These reports have contributed to denial of class certification or class decertification in several cases. We understand Rule 23 class certification requirements and have worked on matters pertaining to donning and doffing, employee misclassification, discrimination, off-the-clock work, missed or interrupted meal periods, and consumer class actions. To read a more in-depth description of our exposure analyses for wage & hour analyses, please see our Damages & Exposure Tool page. Testimony & ConsultationWe are often called upon to assess the integrity of arguments based on available data. Unlike many experts, we also enjoy testifying.
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We are often called upon to provide consultation regarding the integrity of an argument based on available data or prepare a variety of hypothetical damage assessments based on different assumptions. Unlike many experts, we also like to testify in court. Testifying allows us to use our teaching skills to help people understand important aspects of the case. Within the legal community, we have been retained as consulting experts rather than testifying experts on a variety of matters. As consulting experts, we work with counsel in formulating strategy, reviewing documents and data, and estimating potential exposure. We can work to keep counsel and their clients informed of any potential future liability while maintaining confidentiality and allowing for non-disclosure of any materials discussed. Nickerson & Associates even has the capacity to work as both testifying and consulting experts simultaneously and can keep these two experts’ work and output completely autonomous for purposes of discovery and trial. Database DevelopmentWe specialize in constructing large databases with high integrity and usability. Good data and organization are the heart of any informative analysis.
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By developing databases with high levels of integrity, we provide more accurate analyses, are able to more carefully review and critique the work done by other experts, and can provide our clients more complete and more quickly accessible information. For example, we can turn thousands of separate PDF pay stub records involved in a class action lawsuit into a single clean, coherent database in a format from which high-level insights can be easily drawn. Using existing electronic data, we have constructed databases as large as nearly one billion records and upwards of 160 variables in each record. We have also constructed computerized databases using non-electronic information as the primary source. In one age discrimination case against a federal agency, we constructed a sound, analytical database from 80 boxes of job applications, personnel files, and employment decision records. |
Economic & Statistical AnalysisWe apply economic reasoning and theory to analyze real-world events to inform important decisions for government entities and businesses.
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We are often asked to apply economic reasoning and theory to analyze real-world events. We have, for example, forecasted timber harvests in light of environmental laws, studied the effect of an oil spill on fishery permit prices in Alaska, and analyzed the effect of corporate restructuring plans on the age and gender distribution of employees. In the public policy arena, we have carefully analyzed and constructed simulations of the effect of agency rules on the distribution of state contracts across contractors and the effect of such policy on individual firms. We are also frequently asked to perform quantitative econometric and statistical analyses to test for the inference of causality or relatedness with desired levels of certainty. Employment decisions, environmental damage, and forecasting typically lend themselves to this type of analyses. We have performed business valuations, impact analyses measuring the effect of proposed or implemented policies, and business loss estimations for insurance claims and contract disputes. In these types of valuations, we apply tried-and-tested techniques and modeling to produce rational and well-founded estimates. We often discuss with clients our opinion regarding the appropriateness of using statistical analyses in certain circumstances and have been asked on numerous occasions to assess others’ statistical work and the integrity of data. Our careful and objective critiques of opposing experts have even led to complete exclusion of their reports and consequently the arguments based upon them. Damages & Exposure AnalysisWhether you need a rough estimate for overall exposure or a detailed and comprehensive analysis of damages owed, we can help.
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Examples of damage assessment include economic loss in individual employment cases, development of structured settlement methodologies in class action consumer and wage & hour cases, class loss estimates for corporate restructuring employment cases, and estimates of losses in contract disputes. On a number of occasions, we have been asked to develop computerized loss estimate systems to be used in settlement discussions. Furthermore, in almost every case, we are asked to review the damage calculations of an opposing expert. Sometimes those calculations look fine. Just as often, we find errors that significantly change the damage estimate. To read a more in-depth description of our exposure analyses, please see our Damages & Exposure Tool page. Settlement AdministrationNickerson & Associates has performed this work for classes as small as 35 to as large as one hundred thousand members.
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Nickerson & Associates has worked alongside court-appointed settlement administrators and has served as the settlement administrator for a number of class action settlements. We have performed this work for classes as small as 35 to as large as one hundred thousand members. Within these responsibilities as neutral third parties, we have located and notified class members, responded to class members’ inquiries, calculated individual awards, disbursed both the class awards and attorney’s fees, and managed settlement accounts. Furthermore, we have been responsible for implementing and ensuring compliance with stipulations set out in court orders, contractual agreements, and collective bargaining agreements between unions and employers. |