Personal damage quantification
FORECAST OF BUSINESS GROWTH
ROWENA JONES / RAF
Cape Town High Court/Advocate van Heerden/Attorneys Sohn Wood – Ms Marie Wood
During this loss of support claim, Summit Forensic Accountants was called in to assess the Deceased’s business operations – a school bus service, pool maintenance service, and lucky packet manufacturing concern. Each business was carefully examined and, using collateral evidence as varied as a memo sent by Pick n Pay’s Regional Manager to local school principals regarding the transport of schoolchildren, our report was used to arrive at an acceptable settlement.
RECONSTRUCTION OF ACCOUNTING RECORDS
HL VAN DEN BERG / RAF
Grahamstown High Court/Advocate Schoeman/Attorneys Neser & Associates – Mr Andre Neser
In this case, the Plaintiff had gone out of business as a result of injuries sustained during a serious accident. This, together with his use of multiple bank accounts and the fact that he started several ventures in an effort to remain financially viable, meant that the case was characterised by a serious lack of accounting information. By working with the Plaintiff, Summit Forensic Accountants was able to reconstruct his business records, enabling him to successfully negotiate a pre-trial settlement.
HIGH COURT APPEARANCE
AG BLACKBEARD / RAF
Cape High Court/Advocates McClarty SC & Eagles/Attorneys Smith Tabata Buchanan Boyes – Mr Gerhard Kotze
Summit Forensic Accountants represented the Plaintiff, Mr Blackbeard, who had sustained severe head injuries in a motorcycle accident. As a result of this trauma, he was no longer able to look forward to a future in his father’s prosperous engineering group of companies.
The court accepted that in time the Injured would have stepped into his father’s shoes and earned a generous remuneration package. While our evidence, which showed that the business had a successful past and promising future, was resisted by the Defendant’s expert, Judge H Erasmus accepted our view and awarded the Plaintiff a multi–million rand compensation.
NO ACCOUNTING RECORDS
PEDRO DE LIMA / SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE
Cape High Court/Advocates Donan SC & Eagles/Attorneys Bowman Gilfillan – Mr A Gordon
Mr De Lima was forced to sell his fish and chips shop when he was paralysed by a gunshot wound to the spine. The incident was the result of the South African Police issuing a gun licence to the perpetrator without conducting due diligence. While the Plaintiff insisted that the shop had produced profits of R50,000 per month, the business, which had been purchased 12 months prior to the incident, reflected monthly profits of just over R1,000 in its first annual financial statements.
By looking at ten years’ worth of fish and chip shop ‘For Sale’ ads in the Cape Argus, all of which contained monthly profit and selling price figures, Summit Forensic Accountants showed that these businesses sold for an average of 17 times their monthly profits.
Given that the Plaintiff had sold for R850,000, Summit could confirm that the monthly profits were indeed in the region of R50,000. Based on this evidence, Judge Berton Fourie awarded a multi-million-rand compensation to the Plaintiff.
Commercial damages & Business valuations
COMMUNICATION OF COMPLEX DATA
TRIACTIVE CC / VOORHOEDE TRUST
Cape Town Arbitration/Advocate Tyler/Attorneys Hayes Inc. – Ms C Marais
Summit Forensic Accountants represented the Plaintiff – the owner of Triactive adventure centre – who was claiming compensation from the Voorhoede Trust. The trust had unlawfully evicted the business from leased farmland in the Caledon area and while the business was relocated, it suffered financially as a result of the enforced move. Summit provided evidence to this effect and the Arbitrator, Attorney Smith, awarded the Plaintiff compensated.
DETAILED ANALYSIS OF TRANSACTIONS
QUADRANT / ESTATE LATE DG PAYNE
Cape Town High Court/Henkes Nolte Ironside Attorneys – Mr J Henkes
This matter concerned the late owner of Quadrant and the company’s shareholders, who disputed the Deceased’s loan account in the business – an amount of R12 million. The case was a complex one given that Quadrant existed within a group of companies and the loan account concerned several of the companies in this group. Through analysis and debate with the Plaintiff’s forensic accountant, Summit Forensic Accountants proved that the R12 million was not in fact owed and the matter was brought to a close.
EXAMINATION OF RECORDS
LR TOWNLEY-JOHNSON / ACTIVATE MARKETING
Summit Forensic Accountants was engaged by Ms. Townley-Johnson to settle a dispute concerning the state of her loan account in Activate Marketing. She had funded the business and asked us to inspect its books and records to ensure that everything was in order. The matter was amicably settled after Summit’s involvement, without the need for legal intervention.
Matrimonial dispute resolution
EXAMINATION OF COMPLEX FINANCIAL INFORMATION
MARCUS / MARCUS
Cape Town High Court/Advocates Weinkove SC Buchanan SC/Spilkin’s Attorneys – Mr Spike Spilkin
Summit Forensic Accountants was brought in by the Plaintiff to establish her husband’s net worth. Our analysis began with a detailed examination of the family’s lifestyle expenses, after which we investigated the possibility of the Defendant having sizeable offshore assets. This seemed likely, considering that his art collection had been valued at R22 million and given his emigration to the UK. The only proof that existed at the time was a selection of bank statements with overseas addresses.
By enforcing discovery through the court and analysing available information, we established the Defendant’s estate in an amount of some R50–R60 million. On day one of the trial, Judge Traverso insisted on the forensic accounting experts meeting while she heard unrelated evidence. The matter settled later that day upon obtaining agreement to the format and result of our calculations.
EXAMINATION OF COMPLEX FINANCIAL INFORMATION
TATHAM / TATHAM
Cape Town High Court/Advocate Weinkove SC/Attorneys Abe Swersky & Partners
Summit Forensic Accountants represented Mrs Tatham in this matter. Our brief was to establish the value of her interests, which comprised numerous properties, as well as those of Mr Tatham, who owned shares in diverse corporate entities. The matter was settled in pre-trial discussions between the parties.