Risk management expert witness Robert Maughan testifed on the damage real estate values sustained in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, as a result of historical contamination at the Inco refinery. The class action suit against the nickel giant led by Eric Gillespie on behalf on the plaintiff wants to establish the correlation between neighborhood property contamination, which first came to light in 2000, and falling real estate values in the city following Inco’s disclosure.
The expert witness is a program manager of risk management services for financial markets at Teranet and relied heavily on Teranet’s Real Estate Automated Value (REAV) System from 2005 forward and actual selling prices and MLS listings back to 1998 to chart market impacts in Port Colborne. His data showed a definite market downturn on real estate after 2000 when compared to the neighboring municipalities of Fort Erie and Welland.
Excerpted from www.wellandtribune.ca