Tune into this short podcast to hear from Diane Green-Kelly from the law firm Reed Smith, who represented Temple-Inland in the landmark unclaimed property case.
Background on the case:
In 2008, Temple-Inland was subject to an unclaimed property audit by the state of Delaware, spanning a 22-year timeframe (from 1986 - 2007). In response to a record request by a third-party audit firm, Temple-Inland was only able to provide complete records dating back to 2003. Delaware reviewed the 6 years of bank records that were available for the purpose of estimating a liability for the 17-year period under audit for which records were no longer available.
In those 6 years of records for 2 bank accounts, Delaware found only one check for $147.30 that was owed to Delaware and had not been reported. Yet Delaware’s estimation methodology produced an estimated liability of $2.1 million. That amount was reduced to $1.3 million after an administrative review, which Temple-Inland challenged in the litigation. On summary judgment, the Court held that Delaware’s audit “shocked the conscience” and violated Temple-Inland’s right to substantive due process. Before the court decided on a remedy, however, Delaware agreed to a settlement in which Temple-Inland paid nothing, and the portion of the audit of AR credits that was still ongoing was terminated, Delaware released Temple-Inland from all unclaimed property reporting liability, and reimbursed Temple-Inland for all its costs to challenge the assessment, including legal and expert fees.
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Partner, Reed Smith Diane is a partner in Reed Smith's Chicago office, and is a member of the firm's Global Regulatory Enforcement Group. She represents clients in a wide variety of industries that are engaged in commercial litigation and arbitrations, as well as administrative, regulatory and government proceedings. Her representations include cases involving antitrust, consumer fraud, privacy, Lanham Act, trade regulation, trade secrets, unfair competition, tortious interference, healthcare, and state attorney general actions, both in individual actions and in class actions. Diane is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell. Read more.
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Moderator National Practice Lead, Unclaimed Property Consulting, Georgeson As the National Practice Leader for Georgeson's unclaimed property consulting practice, Pam is responsible for business development and the management and delivery of consulting services. Pam brings over 20 years of diverse and extensive experience to clients of Georgeson’s unclaimed property services. Read more. |