U.S. District Court (Colorado) Rules on Motions to Exclude Testimony of Expert Witnesses

February 14, 2024 | Court Rulings, Valuations

City of Fort Collins v. Open Int’l, LLC, 2023  Before the U.S. District Court—Colorado are five motions to exclude certain witnesses by  both parties.   Facts “This is a breach-of-contract case arising from Defendants’ alleged failure to deliver  Open SmartFlex (OSF), a Customer Information System (CIS) software product intended  for use in administering Plaintiff’s broadband utility  Continue Reading »


New York Appellate Court Affirms Award of Value of Husband’s Class B Units in Lieu of Actual Distribution of Share of Units to the Wife

January 31, 2024 | Court Rulings, Valuations

Lieberman-Massoni v. Massoni, 2023 In this New York appellate court case, the appellate court affirms the trial court’s divorce opinion that the awarding of a percentage of the value of the husband’s B-unit shares rather than awarding the shares themselves was proper under the Domestic Relations Law No. 236, nor was the wife entitled to  Continue Reading »


On Liquidation Tax Matters, Partner Would Not Receive Any Proceeds, Thus the Interest Received Would Be a Nontaxable Profits Interest

January 17, 2024 | Court Rulings, Valuations

ES NPA Holding, LLC v. Comm’r, T.C. Memo 2023-55 The Tax Court ruled that the Class C units were a profits interest because, applying the fair  market value of the LLC at the time of receipt, the partner would not receive any proceeds  from a liquidation at that time. Any proceeds in excess of fair  Continue Reading »


Value of Husband’s Business Affirmed Based on Trial Judge’s Reasonable Discretion

January 3, 2024 | Court Rulings, Valuations

In re Marriage of Bainbridge, 2023 In this case, Troy Bainbridge appealed the decree dissolving his marriage to Amanda Bainbridge. The appellate court did not err in its award of spousal support and determined  that the value of the husband’s company was proper because it found the wife’s expert  persuasive. The judgment of the trial  Continue Reading »


Idaho Supreme Court Affirms Magistrate Judge’s Opinion Regarding Personal Goodwill

December 20, 2023 | Court Rulings, Valuations

Lamm v. Preston, 2023 This was a tip of the iceberg Idaho Supreme Court decision on a very complex divorce case. This particular decision related to the magistrate court’s order, upheld by the district court, as to the fair market value of one of the parties’ business, Black Sage Acquisition LLC. The magistrate court determined  Continue Reading »


Delaware Court Grants in Some Cases and Denies in Others Motions to Exclude Expert Witnesses and Certain Evidence to be Presented

December 6, 2023 | Court Rulings, Valuations

LCT Capital, LLC v. NGL Energy Partners LP This case dealt with motions related to an ongoing case in the court. The court offered both orders and opinions to resolve the issues at hand. The plaintiff had a Daubert motion to exclude the opinions of the defendant’s rebuttal expert, Lori Lancaster, and the defendant’s Daubert  Continue Reading »


U.S. District Court Partially Excludes Witness in Securities Value Case and Allows Rebuttal Witness

November 22, 2023 | Court Rulings, Valuations

In re Navidea Biopharmaceuticals Litig. A pharmaceuticals company, Navidea, sued its former CEO, Michael Goldberg, for, among other things, breach of contract and for a declaratory judgment establishing the contractual rights and obligations of the parties. These issues related to an agreement reached between the parties in settlement of their dispute. This resulted in counterclaims  Continue Reading »


Illinois Appeals Court Affirms Trial Court’s Acceptance of Real Estate Value in Absence of Wife’s Submission of a Competing Value

November 8, 2023 | Court Rulings, Valuations

In re Trapp, 2022 IL App The primary issue, for valuation purposes, of this Illinois appeal of a divorce decree was the appeal court’s affirmation of the trial court’s decision to accept the valuation of the husband’s business valuation expert, Neil Gerber, as to the value of Trapp Properties Inc. Trapp Properties’ primary assets were  Continue Reading »


Taxpayer Is Denied Charitable Deduction for a Conservation Easement, and Gross Valuation Misstatement Penalties Are Applied

October 24, 2023 | Court Rulings, Valuations

Brooks v. Comm’r The IRS (respondent) issued a notice of deficiency to Kenneth M. Brooks and Anita Wolke Brooks (petitioners) in which the respondent disallowed carryover charitable contribution deductions relating to the petitioners’ interest in the Kenneth Brooks and Anita Wolke Brooks Family LLC’s noncash charitable contribution of a conservation easement. The questions were whether  Continue Reading »


U.S. District Court Decides Some Issues for Government and Some for Defendants But Very Little in Damages in an ERISA ESOP Case

October 11, 2023 | Court Rulings, Valuations

Walsh v. Preston, 2022  Background. On Dec. 30, 2014, the plaintiff, Walsh (Secretary of Labor), filed this action pursuant to ERISA against the defendants. The complaint alleged the following: (1) breach of fiduciary duties; (2) engaging in prohibited transactions; and (3) co-liability of defendants. “The Secretary’s claims relate to two (2) separate transactions between Robert  Continue Reading »