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Practice Tip: Determining Damages to Entrepreneurs

By Chad L. Staller
January 31, 2008

According to Census Bureau figures, the United States is home to some 20 million sole proprietorships, so chances are good that an active trial attorney will eventually be confronted with a case involving a small-business owner. Determining the lost future income of a self-employed entrepreneur or sole proprietor
is not a simple task. My colleagues and I have analyzed damages to entrepreneurs in a multitude of varying scenarios and find that claims very often rely on inappropriate evidence. Moreover, they tend to confuse business loss with the individual's lost earning capacity. Here are some common problems encountered in determining damages to entrepreneurs.

Are Tax Returns Reliable?

One of the most common problems in determining lost income of entrepreneurs for litigation purposes is that earning capacity for litigation purposes may bear little resemblance to earnings listed in the individual's tax returns.

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