Adjusting alleged inflation for confounding effects

Individually named defendants engaged Brattle to examine alleged false and misleading representations related to a restatement announcement by a company in the steel and automobile industry. Our team examined loss causation measuring inflation per share of both equity and debt securities using event studies. Brattle also performed an econometric analysis to measure materiality from reviewing trading records of named defendants and establishing how trading patterns are connected to loss causation. Our research showed that the price impact could not be attributed to management reputational effects as alleged by the plaintiffs. Brattle's analysis of confounding effects established that the theory of damages was flawed. The case settled favorably for the company and the named defendants.