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 and Jeffrey E. Meyers 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 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.
Valuation Expert Witness
Jeffrey E. Meyers 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.
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:
| Case Caption: | Espinoza V. Westbank Fishing, LLC |
| Docket Number: | 2:23cv6204 |
| Court Name: | United States District Court, Louisiana Eastern |
| Order Date: | July 08, 2025 |
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