The Korein Tillery law firm is suing Advanced Analytical Consulting Group and two economists alleging that in separate litigation they failed to complete methodology that would calculate damages, yet they charged escalated fees for their work.
The firm filed its lawsuit through its attorney Aaron Zigler against Advanced Analytical Consulting Group, Inc., of Massachusetts, Daniel S. Levy, Ph.D., and Audrius Girnius, Ph.D. in March in St, Clair County Circuit Court.
Korein Tillery also is represented by Robert J. Sprague of Sprague and Urban in Belleville.
St. Clair County Associate Judge Chris Kolker is presiding over the case and has scheduled a mandatory status conference for May 15 at 9 a.m.
The suit alleges that in May 2015, Korein Tillery contacted Levy, the national managing director at Advanced Analytical, about providing expert methodology services that would calculate monetary damages for litigation the firm is or was pursuing. The underlying case is not yet identified in court filings.
Levy proposed a specific methodology to calculate the damages and claimed that by following it, he could ultimately calculate damages for the entire case, the suit says.
In July 2015, an attorney from Korein Tillery met with Levy to further discuss the proposal. Levy allegedly again stated the he would be able to calculate damages for the entire case.
Girnius, the senior economist at Advanced Analytical, participated in several phone calls over the next two months and reiterated the promises regarding the work that could be performed based on the proposed study.
Based on these assurances, Korein Tillery states that it entered into a contract with the defendants in August 2015 to conduct the proposed study.
The defendants began performing the study in late August 2015, the suit says. By September 2015, Korein Tillery claims the defendants nearly doubled the cost estimate for their work.
By November 2015, Advanced Analytical allegedly sent invoices for approximately twice the amount originally estimated and the defendants again “substantially” increased the cost estimate.
“Despite this overbilling, Defendants continued to make promises regarding the quality or usefulness of their work, and continued to mislead KT as to their ability to provide competent expert services in the litigation,” the complaint states.
In early February 2016, the firm claims the defendants were paid for the work performed and Levy agreed that the payment would satisfy all of Advanced Analytical’s invoices to that date. They also agreed to perform the remainder of the work for a capped amount.
Shortly after receiving payment, the defendants allegedly informed Korein Tillery that they had failed and could not estimate damages in the manner promised.
The defendants were then advised that their services were no longer required as a result of their “egregious misconduct,” the suit states.
Korein Tillery alleges the defendants engaged in unfair or deceptive acts when they made false representations before and after they entered into a contract for the study, knew their representations were false or with reckless disregard as to their truth or falsity and made the representations with the intent to induce the firm to enter into the contract and to continue paying for their services.
The firm also claims that its reliance on the alleged misrepresentations was reasonable and “it had no independent way of verifying the truth or falsity of those misrepresentations.”
Korein Tillery accuses the defendants of concealing their alleged misrepresentations until after they were paid in February 2016.
The firm further argues that the defendants acted with gross negligence because they knew of a “high potential” risk of harm but proceeded to act with conscious disregard to the risk of harm, the suit states.
Korein Tillery seeks an unspecified amount in damages.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 17-L-98