Case study:
Plaintiff made a claim of pervasive workplace hostility that was directed against her. One area we examined was that of other stressors in her life. We developed a personal history profile and did a background check into her civil and criminal litigation. We turned up stress factors including a bankruptcy filing for the woman’s boyfriend and police reports that her daughter had filed related to domestic abuse.

Business litigation research is conducted in the field through targeted surveillance, selective interviews and combing all relevant documentation to identify real property, business property, judgments and encumbrances, as well as business associations. Conducting business due diligence, we also confirm self-reported information on contracts, tax returns and Dunn & Bradstreet reports. In order to determine the legitimacy of real estate conveyances, we conduct site inspections and title searches and also interview claimants and analyze property condition and value.

Case study:
In a case involving a manufacturer who owed the client on an unfulfilled contract, the client sought to identify the debtor’s assets and their value. Our field investigation noted extensive construction at the manufacturer’s site. We reviewed real property and city building department records to arrive at a valuation for the construction additions. Surveillance also lead us to a rural site, where the target was collecting and training purebred horses. We researched the target’s horses and identified their actual sales history and value through a database maintained by a horse breeders association. The discovery of these two asset classes satisfied the client’s concern that subject had sufficient funds to warrant the expense of litigation.

Genealogy tracing for real estate quiet title matters requires
Internet research skills and use of databases developed by the
federal government. We have successfully completed family trees,
showing all deceased and living descendants of property owners – sometimes doing so when only a name and parcel location from the 1800’s has been provided. Probate and heir cases, likewise, require careful combing of public records and diligent work piecing together disparate facts gathered from interviews, original documents and secondary source materials.

Tamara Thompson has extensive experience investigating Landlord/Tenant disputes involving claims of wrongful eviction and owner move-in evictions by landlords. We have located and interviewed prior tenants who may support the plaintiff’s claim. We conduct on-site surveillance and activity checks to identify and track current occupants over time.

Case Study:
After one owner move-in eviction, we determined that the owner had converted the 2-unit residence to a childcare center. Posing as parents seeking childcare, we toured the interior and confirmed the current use of the building, the names of the proprietors, their relationship to the property owner, and the current residents.

Tracking the footprints of Internet activity is essential for background searches on litigants or witnesses. We round up facts and admissions from company and personal websites, blogs and newsgroups.

Case Study:
A woman asked me to develop some background on her adult son. She was anxiously anticipating a first-time reunion with him, years after she had relinquished him as an infant to adoptive parents. The personal profile I prepared included information culled from his Internet postings and provided details about the death of his adoptive mother, a divorce, places he had lived and worked and, most importantly to my client, the admission that he knew he was adopted.