In a recent issue of the BVLaw Alert, we published a short piece about a shareholder dissent/oppression appellate decision in Tennessee regarding the valuation of a “high-end” car dealership. Our headline noted, “Court Tweaks Blue-Sky Method in Valuing a Car Dealer.” We received a question from a reader asking whether the rule of thumb blue-sky method was explained in the case. Read more >>

Do business valuation standards have any value in court? Our legal editor shares insights gleaned from several cases on just this topic. Read more >>

Well a firestorm hit the legal world of special purpose acquisition corporations (SPACs) when the Delaware Court of Chancery (Lori W. Will, VC) denied motions to dismiss various allegations of some of the public stockholders of Churchill Capital Corp. Read more >>

Two new cases exemplify the need to know the law in the jurisdiction of your case in a marital dissolution (divorce). Read more >>

It appears that the courts are rejecting Daubert standard and FRE 702 challenges more frequently. Take a deep dive into potential reasons for this with our legal editor, Jim Alerding. Read more >>

Lately, there has been chatter about the demand for experienced business valuation forensic litigation specialists exceeding the supply of such people. Read more >>

Most people do not realize how different it is appearing in court through virtual technology compared to being there in person. Valuation experts who have not yet had the “pleasure” of attending virtual hearings may be concerned about it—and rightly so. In person, you are in control of how you look and sound, but, when you are online, you are at the mercy of technology, which can make you look good—or very bad. Fortunately, at the recent AAML/BVR Virtual Divorce Conference, valuation experts and attorneys shared their experiences and tips for testifying in a virtual world. Read more >>

Mark Twain said there are “lies, damned lies and statistics.” Some valuation experts may be uncomfortable using statistics in an engagement. But you don’t have to be a statistics guru to successfully use them when the engagement calls for it. For instance, many damages litigations include the use of regression analyses and/or statistical sampling. Both are statistical methods of determining the amount of damages in a dispute. Read more >>

It happens more than you think. Smart experts who know what to say sometimes falter in how they say it. How can you ensure this doesn’t happen to you as an expert? In a recent article published in BVR’s Business Valuation Update, expert Deborah Johnson, MC, covers the secrets to expert testimony that engage and persuade the court including what jurors want, a polished preparation, hard skills vs. soft skills, and more. Read more >>

As a busy business valuation professional, you may not always have the time to attend training events. We’ve compiled the top five tips from recent BVR webinars on the most timely and important topics in the profession. Read more >>

We recently reported on a case in which annotated expert draft reports were subject to discovery notwithstanding Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(4). Valuation professionals who frequently work on federal cases also need to know that Rule 26 does not protect expert notes and nonattorney communication, as an important 11th Circuit ruling explains. Read more >>

Federal discovery rule 26 expressly protects draft expert reports from discovery. But experts testifying in federal court know that this protection is by no means absolute. Questions as to the scope of protection persist, and a recent discovery ruling in a patent infringement case makes clear that concern over the strength of protection is warranted. Read more >>

A new book not only gives judges and attorneys a reference guide of fundamental business valuation concepts, but it's also a refresher course for valuation experts, and it will help them prepare for court. Read more >>

The use of the Delaware block method in Tennessee recently came under attack in a case involving a closely held Nashville, Tenn.-based media company whose controlling shareholders had pursued a squeeze-out merger and later asked the trial court for a judicial appraisal of the dissenting shareholders' interest. Read more >>

A recent bankruptcy-related case in front of the California Court of Appeal raises important questions about how one quantifies the value of a dated piece of art, a film, for which there never was a market in the first place. Read more >>

Double dipping is a tricky issue because different states have developed different approaches to it. Valuators specializing in divorce issues must know the controlling case law in the state in which they practice. A recent decision by the Washington state Court of Appeals clarifies its state's analytical framework in a case featuring a successful management consulting business the husband had set up and grown during the marriage. Read more >>

In a statutory appraisal action, the Delaware Court of Chancery recently found the deal price did not reflect fair value because the sales process was suboptimal. Certain other methods the parties' experts used also were inadequate to the task, the court said. Read more >>

U.S. Tax Court Judge David Laro frequently has cautioned experts not to give in to hiring attorneys who want to shape the appraisal. Although federal and state discovery rules offer some protection for attorney-expert communication, there is a risk of exposure and with it a risk of damage to the expert’s work product and reputation. A recent Section 1031 case, which Judge Laro handled, illustrates what happens when the communication is discovered. Read more >>

Appraisers working on litigated disputes face special challenges. Several workshops at the recent AICPA conference in Nashville provided insights and survival tips that benefit both the seasoned financial expert witness and the upstart. Read more >>

A drawn-out damages case in which a startup compression sportswear company sued the defendant "private label" manufacturer over an abandoned licensing deal promised to make the plaintiff rich but ultimately ended with nominal damages. Read more >>