Recently there has been a rise in the use of staffing agencies, so the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has sought to redefine the relationship between the employees of such an agency and the agency’s client. To do that, the NLRB had to broaden the legal test that makes a worker a “joint employee” of both  Continue Reading »

Reedy-Huffman v. Huffman, 2015 Alas. LEXIS 56 (May 20, 2015) Hire a valuation expert. That’s the message the Alaska appeals court sent in a ruling involving a professional practice caught up in a divorce. The opinion also includes a good summary of the state’s position on goodwill. ‘Evidentiary void’: The husband was a licensed naturopathic  Continue Reading »

American Eagle Waste Industries, LLC v. St. Louis County, 2015 Mo. App. LEXIS 168 (Feb. 24, 2015) The latest dispute in the long-running litigation between several garbage disposal companies and a Missouri county focused on the trial court’s damages findings. The county argued damages were based on inadmissible and unreliable lost profits testimony from the  Continue Reading »

In re Mauer, 2015 Iowa App. LEXIS 172 (Feb. 25, 2015) Double counting remains a preoccupation for divorce courts across all jurisdictions. Recently, the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision to circumvent the problem by endorsing one expert’s use of the asset approach to value the owner spouse’s eye clinics. Using an  Continue Reading »

Russell v. Allianze Life Insurance Co. of North America, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1946 (Jan. 8, 2015)  “Trust, but verify,” is a motto that has stood politicians in good stead. Valuators should take it to heart as well, as illustrated by a Daubert case in which an experienced expert abandoned his standard operating procedure to  Continue Reading »

The United States District Court for the District of Wyoming dismissed a lawsuit seeking to declare Indian tribes exempt from employer penalties under the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) shared responsibility provisions. The tribe argued that Congress didn’t intend to cover tribal employers. Facts of the case The Northern Arapaho Tribe, a federally recognized Indian tribe,  Continue Reading »

What happens if you’re the owner of a limited liability company (LLC) that generates tax losses, and you don’t spend a lot of time in the activities of the business? The losses might be classified as passive, and your ability to currently deduct them might be severely restricted by the passive activity loss (PAL) rules.  Continue Reading »

Employment at will issues are often hashed out in the courtroom, defending against them, especially those involving wrongful termination lawsuits, require significant industry expertise. This, combined with exhaustive research and complete analysis, are key elements to a successful outcome in court. When it comes to wrongful termination cases, there are some specific things that litigation  Continue Reading »

Wisniewski v. Walsh, 2013 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 724 (April 2, 2013) Children learn that bad behavior has consequences. An appellate court recently taught a similar lesson to a troublemaking shareholder whose doings forced a buyout. Three siblings each owned a one-third interest in a family business. They had a falling out, and one sued  Continue Reading »

Valuation experts receive a lot of advice on how to guard against an attack from the opposing side, but sometimes an attack can come from the expert’s own client. A recent case shows how an appraiser who sued a client over unpaid fees was put on the defensive. Costly divorce: The client hired an accounting  Continue Reading »