Christopher Bennett, PhD, PStat®

Chris Bennett is an economist and accredited statistician with expertise in damages estimation, financial modeling, data analytics, econometric and statistical analysis, and statistical sampling. He has been retained to provide testimony in federal and state courts on a range of issues including damages, class certification, and statistical sampling, on behalf of government agencies, law firms, and corporate clients. In his roles as both a testifying expert and consultant, Dr. Bennett has gained significant experience in a wide range of high-profile matters involving financial securities, structured products, contract claims, copyright infringement, the allocation of copyright royalties, and qui tam actions brought under the False Claims Act.

Prior to joining Bates White, Dr. Bennett was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at Vanderbilt University, where he conducted original research and taught courses in statistics and econometric analysis. His research has been published in leading academic journals, including the Journal of Financial Econometrics, the International Economic Review, the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, and the Journal of the American Statistical Association.

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PhD, Economics, University of Western Ontario
Thesis: “Essays on Estimation Risk and Stochastic Dominance in Economics”

MA, Economics, University of Waterloo
MRP: “Option Pricing with Two-State Stochastic Volatility”

BCom, Finance, Ryerson University

EXPERT Q&A SERIES

Dr. Bennett discusses his transition from the lecture hall to the courtroom.

• In United States of America ex rel. Gwen Thrower, Plaintiff, v. Academy Mortgage Corp., retained as a testifying expert on behalf of the whistleblower who alleged that Academy violated the False Claims Act by improperly originating and certifying mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration. 
• Retained as testifying expert on behalf of Wyndham Vacation Resorts, Inc. et al. in disputes over purported rule changes that allegedly had a deleterious impact on the profitability of time share rental businesses.
• Authored expert reports and provided deposition testimony on behalf of the plaintiffs in Adrian Bombin et al v. Southwest Airlines Co. Issues included developing a methodology for class member identification and the quantification of damages on a class-wide basis.
• Provided written direct and written rebuttal testimony and live trial testimony on behalf of the National Association of Broadcasters in In re Distribution of Cable Royalty Funds.
• Authored expert report and provided deposition testimony on behalf of the plaintiff in United States of America ex rel. Gwen Thrower, Plaintiff, v. Academy Mortgage Corp. Issues included designing a statistical sample to reliably determine pool-wide damages in connection with mortgage loans that allegedly violated the FHA’s origination and underwriting requirements.   
• On behalf of TWC Product and Technology, LLC, supported the expert in responding to a complaint filed by the People of the State of California, alleging that The Weather Channel (TWC) mobile app misled users by failing to provide transparent details about how TWC used app users’ location data.
• Retained as a testifying expert on behalf of plaintiffs in Phoenix Light SAF DAC et al. v. The Bank of New York Mellon to quantify damages related to claims of substandard servicing in the FNLC 2005-1 Trust.
• In the matter In re RFC and ResCap Liquidating Trust Litigation, led team supporting testifying expert with sampling and damages analyses arising out of more than 80 actions that were filed by ResCap after it exited bankruptcy protection to recoup billions of dollars in faulty loans and millions of dollars in legal fees for alleged contract breaches.   
• Testified before the Copyright Royalty Board on behalf of the National Association of Broadcasters In re Distribution of 2010–2013 Cable Royalty Funds.   
• On behalf of the Department of Justice (DOJ) in DOJ v. Quicken Loans, supported the expert’s written report and deposition testimony on sampling and damages.
• Supported testifying expert on behalf of investors in disputes over residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) trustees' alleged failure to properly address alleged breaches by sponsors, originators, and servicers.
• Advised the Department of Justice in its investigation regarding certain stated-income mortgage loans.
• In In re Puerto Rican Cabotage Antitrust Litigation, performed economic analyses to assess liability and damages, critiqued opposing expert analyses, and supported settlement discussions.