Innovation Ventures, L.L.C. v. Custom Nutrition Labs., L.L.C. This case involves a consideration of motions by both the plaintiff and the defendant to exclude the testimony of the other party’s expert witness based on Daubert and the Federal Rules of Evidence. Plaintiff’s expert testified on how to calculate lost profits based on the plaintiff’s market  Continue Reading »

Case digest The case implicates section 727 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which concerns a Chapter 7 debtor’s request for discharge. Objections to discharge are challenging to prove because the denial of discharge is the “death penalty” in bankruptcy. The objector has the burden of proving the debtor failed to disclose property, including a customer  Continue Reading »

Ryan Trust v. Ryan  In a bitter buyout dispute involving a thriving private family business and featuring two veteran appraisers, the Nebraska Supreme Court recently affirmed the district court’s decision to unreservedly credit the valuation testimony of the expert for the late majority shareholder. In contrast, the district court found the company’s expert’s valuations under  Continue Reading »

Island Light & Power Co. v. Sara Golvinveaux McGinnes Block Island Power Co. (BIPCO), founded in1925, was purchased in the 1980s by five individuals. By 2015, there were three shareholders: two doctors and the respondent, in this case, the Sara Golvinveaux McGinnes 2011 Trust. On Nov.11, 2016, the two doctors sold their shares in BIPCO  Continue Reading »

Oudheusden v. Oudheusden The Connecticut Supreme Court clarified this jurisdiction’s approach to double counting (or double-dipping in a recent decision). The court acknowledged that it had never been asked to determine whether the rule against double counting applied where the case involved the distribution of the value of the owner’s business and the consideration of  Continue Reading »

Hartman v. BigInch Fabricators & Construction Holding Co., Inc In 2020, the Indiana Court of Appeals overturned the trial court and found for the selling shareholder when it decided discounts were inappropriate in any compulsory, closed-market sale. The court did not think it mattered that a shareholder agreement specified a buyout based on specific valuation  Continue Reading »

Companies Estate of Warne v. Commissioner In a gift and estate tax dispute, the estate and Internal Revenue Service agreed to apply discounts for lack of control and marketability to the majority interests in several real estate holding companies. The U.S. Tax Court noted that, in prior decisions, the court found no discount for lack  Continue Reading »

Derek Scott Williams PLLC v. Cincinnati Ins. Co. Summary In this business interruption case resulting from mandatory shutdowns to control COVID-19, the court declined to grant a motion to dismiss the claim of the plaintiff as to coverage for loss of business income but does dismiss the claim of coverage under the civil authority provision  Continue Reading »

The key issue in the bankruptcy proceedings involving a debtor entity that owned two hotels was the value of the hotels, which would control the amount of the main creditor’s secured and unsecured claims. The valuation date was October 2020, a point when the effect of COVID-19 was keenly felt, particularly in the hospitality industry.  Continue Reading »

Aspro, Inc. v Commissioner The U.S. Tax Court recently agreed with the Internal Revenue Service that management fees a corporation paid to its three shareholders over a three-year period were not deductible since none of the fees were paid “purely for services” and the petitioner failed to show the fees were “ordinary, necessary, and reasonable.”  Continue Reading »