Goodwill impairment does not appear often in litigation, but a court case in Tennessee will go forward after a judge ruled not to dismiss the plaintiff’s claims. The plaintiffs brought a class action suit on behalf of those who purchased stock in Tivity (the defendants), which acquired Nutrisystem in 2019, and one of the claims involves goodwill impairment.

Inflated assets: The plaintiffs allege that the defendants impaired goodwill by inflating its assets and carrying a goodwill value that exceeded its implied fair value. They further allege that the defendants knew of multiple triggering events for impairment of goodwill but failed to impair and write down both the goodwill and the Nutrisystem trade name. In their motion to dismiss, the defendants countered that the claim failed to allege a misstatement, but their arguments were “unpersuasive,” so the case will proceed, the court ruled.

The case is Strougo v. Tivity Health, Inc., 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141711, __ F.Supp.3d __, 2021 WL 3209567 (July 29, 2021). A case digest analysis and the full opinion are available on the BVLaw platform.