You have been hired by a defendant who is being sued by a business that is claiming that the defendant interfered with plaintiff's construction of a planned new tourist attraction. The plaintiff had already purchased the land for the attraction using cash, but it was unable to obtain the governmental permit to construct the attraction. The lawsuit claims the defendant's wrongful behavior was the cause for the plaintiff's inability to obtain the permit. You have received the report of the plaintiff's damage expert and have been asked to analyze it. The expert calculated plaintiff's lost profits over a five-year horizon (shown in the following table) and went no further, saying any forecasting after five years is speculative.

Assume the information in the preceding case, and you are now the plaintiff’s expert. The trial is taking place at the end of the second year. The statutory interest rate in the jurisdiction is 5 percent, and you believe the appro­priate discount rate for discounting future lost profits is 10 percent.

Required:

Calculate the amount of damages using the ex-post approach.

Plaintiff's Calculation of Lost Profits (in millions) Year Lost revenues Avoided operating expenses Lost profits roll 1 $5 1 2 $8 -6 2 3 $10 -7 3 4 $12 -8 4 47 5 $14 -9