Hultz v. Kuhn A Maryland divorce case illustrates the difficulties an appraiser charged with valuing a small company in the divorce context may face and how he or she may prevail in court. The wife was the sole shareholder in a tree services business. The issue at divorce was the size of the monetary award  Continue Reading »

Exelon Corp. v. Commissioner In 2016, Tax Court Judge Laro ruled on the legitimacy of a series of Section 1031 transactions involving Exelon, an Illinois-based energy giant. The court agreed with the Internal Revenue Service that Exelon was liable for a deficiency of nearly $432 million as well as an $87 million accuracy penalty. The  Continue Reading »

Noven Pharmaceuticals v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals When it comes to document discovery, the “why and “when” matter greatly, as a recent New York ruling centering on a valuation report makes clear. The issue was whether a valuation the defendant had commissioned months before the plaintiff filed suit was privileged or protected by the work-product doctrine. No  Continue Reading »

Ferraro v. Convercent, Inc. This Daubert case illustrates how courts may interpret the role of “gatekeeper” differently. The dispute featured a company that provided software-based services. The defendants claimed the plaintiff’s expert was unqualified because he lacked the necessary experience valuing that type of company, but the court found the law did not require this  Continue Reading »

Judges are alert to incongruities in valuations, as is clear from a recent condemnation case in which landowners hired three experts to calculate the compensation owed to them. The court excluded all experts under Daubert, and it had particularly harsh words for the valuation expert who was unable to support critical elements of the valuation.  Continue Reading »

Tucker Cianchette has won a nearly $6 million verdict against his father over the failed buyout of a Yarmouth car dealership, exposing a rift in one of Maine’s most prominent business families. Cianchette sued his father and stepmother, Eric and Peggy Cianchette, on a range of charges after the deal went sour. A Cumberland County  Continue Reading »

Cristofano v. Chahal Perhaps experts feel pressure from the hiring attorney or the client, perhaps they are unable to access key documents or information, or perhaps they simply lack valuation and litigation experience. Whatever the reason, case law provides too many examples in which valuation and damages experts have proffered opinions that were plainly counterfactual  Continue Reading »

Estate of Powell v. Commissioner  Given the unfavorable optics of a recent case, the Tax Court’s finding that the value of assets transferred from the decedent to a family limited partnership was includible in the value of the decedent’s gross estate is not surprising. What makes the decision noteworthy is that a majority of judges,  Continue Reading »

Bair v. Bair  When confronted with quantifying the appreciation of non-marital property, it is common for valuators first to classify the change in value as “active” or “passive” and then do the valuation. A Florida case shows that, when applied prematurely, this active/passive analysis may result in an improper valuation.   The parties fought over the valuation  Continue Reading »

Estate of Koons v. Commissioner (Koons II)  The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2013 Tax Court ruling in an estate and generation-skipping tax case that centered on the fair market value of a revocable trust’s interest in an LLC. The crux of the valuation was the marketability discount. Valuators can benefit from the  Continue Reading »