Acme Aviation (AA) entered into an agreement with the Fast Deliveries (FD) for AA to fly packages for FD on an "as needed" basis. The agreement was for three years. After the first year, AA was not making any money on this agreement and notified FD that it would no longer honor the agreement. Fast Deliveries was forced to find another company to fly the packages that previously would have been flown by Acme. Fast Deliveries claimed that the cost of the new carrier added $250,000 a year to its expenses. Four years after Acme Aviation defaulted on the contract, Fast Deliveries filed for bankruptcy.

In a subsequent lawsuit, Fast Deliveries sued Acme Aviation for $6 million, claiming that AA's default on the delivery contract caused FD to incur significant additional costs, and this eventually forced them into bankruptcy. During discovery, the following issues were uncovered:

• FD used AA for about 20 percent of its deliveries during the one year the contract was operating.
• An internal AA memo states that the marketing manager said, "I don't care what our legal obligations are under the contract with FD, we are losing money so end it." (the contract).
• During the three years prior to the start of the AA/FD contract, FD had earnings (losses) of $125,000, $(150,000), and $(175,000) respectively.
• In an AA internal memo, the company stated that it had lost about $300,000 in the first year of the FD contract due, in part, to the varying volume of deliveries requested by FD throughout the year.
• AA fired the marketing person who secured the FD contract and used the FD contract as an example of poor analysis of potential sales contracts as part of the documentation for the firing.
• An FD accounting department analysis of FD's delivery costs showed that direct costs of delivery were $140,000 per year higher for the delivery service used to replace AA. The other $110,000 of additional costs was corporate overhead allocated to the delivery service contract.
• FD's financial statements showed that it had losses of $(175,000) and $(260,000) during the two years after the end of the AA contract but before FD filed for bankruptcy.
• FD's asset book value at the date bankruptcy was filed was $3,500,000, but the estimated liquidation value of its assets was estimated at only $1,000,000.
• An FD accounting department analysis estimated that during a six-month period after AA defaulted on the delivery contract, FD had trouble finding acceptable delivery alternatives. As a result, the analysis found that the firm lost approximately $800,000 in delivery sales.

The issue of liability here is primarily a legal one. There is little chance that accounting issues will be addressed in determining liability. For purposes of this conflict, assume that the three-year contract was binding and that AA is liable for damages resulting from the two years it did not honor the contract.

Question: You are an expert that has been hired by Acme Aviation to develop a damage estimate for them that you will defend in deposition and at trial if necessary. Using the information provided prepar a preliminary damage estimate and explain the basis for your opinion on each item. Identify any questions or information you would like to see or analyze to support your damaged estimate.