Opinion ID: 163083
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Revenue Comparisons

Text: 137 The 1995 Study contained tables showing that revenues per employee were lower for Hispanic, Asian, Native American, and women-owned construction firms in the Denver MSA than for majority-owned firms. CWC argues that this data on revenues is flawed. In his expert report, CWC expert, LaNoue, asserted that prime contractors report gross revenues differently than subcontractors: a subcontractor counts only those revenues earned by its own employees while a prime contractor also includes amounts it receives but pays out to subcontractors. At trial, LaNoue testified that all the evidence suggests that white, male-owned firms are more likely to be prime contractors. Thus, CWC argues that the revenue comparisons contained in the 1995 Study overstate the revenues of majority-owned firms. 138 CWC's argument rises or falls on the correctness of the statement in LaNoue's expert report that MWBEs, as newer, smaller firms, tend more often to be subcontractors than prime contractors. LaNoue did not identify any study or other evidence upon which he based his statements. In fact, availability data reported in Table 2 of the NERA Study appear to contradict LaNoue's statement. That data shows that both MBEs and WBEs are almost equally likely to be prime contractors as they are to be subcontractors. When an expert opinion is not supported by sufficient facts to validate it in the eyes of the law, or when indisputable record facts contradict or otherwise render the opinion unreasonable, it cannot support a jury's verdict. Brooke Group Ltd. v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 509 U.S. 209, 242, 113 S.Ct. 2578, 125 L.Ed.2d 168 (1993). 139 LaNoue's statements, at best, provide tenuous support for CWC's argument. However, Denver does not challenge the district court's finding, apparently based on LaNoue's unsupported testimony, that small minority firms most often work as subcontractors. Concrete Works III, 86 F.Supp.2d at 1070. Thus, we must credit CWC's argument but conclude it is only marginally persuasive and further note that Denver's reliance on the revenue-per-employee data was minimal. 140 To support its related argument that majority-owned firms have greater revenues per employee because they are larger and more experienced, CWC offered the testimony of Craig Long. Long, who has worked in the Denver construction industry for twenty-eight years, testified that larger and/or more experienced firms are more competitive and more profitable per employee because they, inter alia : (1) have more access to cash so they can take advantage of early-payment discounts; (2) can obtain lower prices from suppliers if they have established long-term relationships with them; and (3) can obtain credit at lower rates. We have already concluded, however, that M/WBEs are less able to benefit from the advantages Long describes because of discrimination. 141 CWC also argues that the revenue comparisons are flawed because they do not identify the source of the revenues. CWC takes the position that Denver cannot use evidence of revenue differences to show that it is a passive participant in marketplace discrimination unless it can demonstrate that all revenues were derived from work done in the Denver MSA. It appears uncontested that Denver's studies did not exclude revenues that Denver-based firms earned on projects outside the Denver MSA. See id. (noting that the data used in the NERA Study do not limit revenues to what was earned by work done in Colorado). LaNoue testified that ascertaining the source of firm revenues is important because it identifies the entities or individuals responsible for the discrimination. Given our conclusion, supra, that Denver's other evidence supports the conclusion that it is a passive participant in marketplace discrimination, CWC's criticisms regarding the source of revenues are irrelevant.