---
title: "Expert Testimony on Future Economic Losses Did Not Rely on Improper Assumptions"
meta:
  "og:description": "Court affirms that economic loss experts may assume continued legal U.S. employment for foreign workers based on their documented history"
  "og:title": "Expert Testimony on Future Economic Losses Did Not Rely on Improper Assumptions"
  author: "Expert Witness Profiler"
  description: "Court affirms that economic loss experts may assume continued legal U.S. employment for foreign workers based on their documented history"
---

# Expert Testimony on Future Economic Losses Did Not Rely on Improper Assumptions

Posted on July 10, 2025 by Expert Witness Profiler

This case concerns a maritime personal injury sustained by a Mexican citizen, who was legally working in the United States on a seasonal H-2B visa. To assess damages, Espinoza hired AsherMeyers, LLC, a dispute advisory and forensic accounting firm, to calculate his economic losses, which include his future loss of earning capacity, fringe benefits, and found.

Subsequently, partners [Harold A. Asher](https://expertwitnessprofiler.com/expert-witness/Harold-Asher/1512066) and [Jeffrey E. Meyers](https://expertwitnessprofiler.com/expert-witness/Jeffrey-Meyers/1538475) issued a joint report in which they opined that, based on Espinoza’s work-life expectancy of 7.5 years and his pre-incident earning capacity of $29,105 per year, his “loss of economic capacity” — which includes lost wages, fringe benefits, and found — totals $274,082.

In response, Westbank Fishing, LLC filed an instant motion _in limine_ seeking to exclude or limit Asher and Meyers’s testimony, arguing that it is speculative because it does not account for the fact that Espinoza was a seasonal worker who had an H-2B visa for the 2023 fishing season.

## **Accounting Expert Witness**

[Harold Alan Asher](https://expertwitnessprofiler.com/expert-witness/Harold-Asher/1512066) is a Certified Public Accountant. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, its Forensic and Valuation Services Section and the Louisiana Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Notably, Asher was designated a Certified Fraud Examiner by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners in February 1995 and a Certified Valuation Analyst by the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts in December 1995.

Throughout his career, he has served as a consultant and testified in a wide range of complex matters including commercial damages, lost profits, valuations fraud, personal injury damages, matrimonial disputes, business interruption claims, accounting malpractice, securities and FINRA disputes, breach of fiduciary duties and intellectual property infringement.

[Want to know more about the challenges Harold A. Asher has faced? Get the full details with our Challenge Study report](https://expertwitnessprofiler.com/order/add?eId=1512066&amp;pId=3).

## **Valuation Expert Witness**

[Jeffrey E. Meyers](https://expertwitnessprofiler.com/expert-witness/Jeffrey-Meyers/1538475) was designated a Certified Valuation Analyst by the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts in May 2009 and a Master Analyst in Financial Forensics cosponsored by the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts as of July 2010.

In addition, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners designated Meyers a Certified Fraud Examiner in February 2011. Meyers is a member of the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and the American Statistical Association.

He is routinely involved in a variety of complex issues relating to commercial damages, lost profits, personal injury damages, matrimonial disputes, business interruption claims, intellectual property impairment and fraud.

[Get the full story on challenges to Jeffrey E. Meyers’ expert opinions and testimony with an in-depth Challenge Study](https://expertwitnessprofiler.com/order/add?eId=1538475&amp;pId=3). 

## **Discussion by the Court**

In this case, Westbank did not challenge Asher’s or Meyers’s qualifications or the methodology they used to formulate their opinions. Instead, it argued that the experts improperly assumed Espinoza would have continued working in the United States, pointing to Westbank’s own inability to secure H-2B visas every year.

However, this argument overlooked the fact that Espinoza had previously worked legally in the U.S. under H-2B visas for other employers. The mere possibility that Westbank might not have been able to hire him in a future year did not preclude the likelihood that another fishing company could have done so.

Moreover, Westbank failed to cite — and the Court was unaware of — any authority holding that an economic expert’s testimony must be excluded or limited as speculative simply because it assumed a foreign worker, with a documented history of lawful U.S. employment, could continue working legally in the United States in future years.

After considering Asher and Meyers’s report and credentials alongside Westbank’s objections, the Court concluded that their education and experience qualified them to offer opinions on Espinoza’s future economic losses.

## **Held**

The Court denied Westbank’s motion _in limine_ to exclude or limit the testimony of Harold A. Asher and Jeffrey E. Meyers.

## **Key Takeaway:**

The Court saw no reason to disqualify the experts’ projections. In fact, it found no precedent requiring exclusion of economic loss testimony simply because it assumes that a legally employed foreign worker could stay in the workforce.

## **Case Details:**

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