Results of the “2017 Private Capital Markets Report" from Pepperdine University Graziadio School of Business and Management. BVR is a research sponsor in Pepperdine’s efforts in developing a private cost of capital method as a legitimate alternative to looking to the public markets. 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 >>

For the second time in March 2017, a court found an ESOP trustee liable for causing the plan to overpay. The most recent decision chronicles in exhaustive detail how the trustee failed the plan in terms of ensuring that no more than fair market value would be paid for the seller’s shares. Read more >>

Only after a thorough due diligence is done can an analysis be made of what intellectual property is worth. Read more >>

Appraisers have to consider each of the valuation approaches, but the income approach is the only way to value a solar company, says a valuation expert in the industry. 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 >>

Inadequate trustee performance was at the center of a recent case, featuring a nontraditional ESOP structure. The court found that, if the trustee had engaged with the underlying valuation, it would have discovered numerous weaknesses and prevented the ESOP from overpaying for the company stock. Read more >>

A recent Wisconsin case illustrates that a shareholder agreement in place is no guarantee for a smooth buyout of the minority shareholder. The case also includes a caution to experts to strive for clarity in their expert reports. Read more >>

Missouri's governor recently signed into law a bill in favor of adopting the Daubert standard applicable to the admissibility of expert testimony. The move by the governor apparently is the first in several major tort reform measures he hopes to accomplish during his term. Read more >>

The business judgment rule has featured prominently in a number of recent breach of fiduciary duty cases in front of the Delaware Court of Chancery. Under the rule, the court must not interfere in a transaction if a majority of the minority shareholders approved the deal and the vote was “uncoerced and fully informed.” Read more >>

What do you think of this method a valuation expert and forensic accountant uses for allocating goodwill between its enterprise and personal components? Read more >>

Class actions have their own rules, including when it comes to expert testimony. An unresolved issue is whether damages expert testimony is subject to a Daubert inquiry at the class certification stage, before the court has approved the request to proceed as a class action. The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to give clear guidance, but defendants are increasingly proactive and move to exclude the testimony at the beginning of the litigation in an attempt to thwart class certification and knock the case out early. Read more >>

Tennessee does not consider personal goodwill in a solo proprietorship a marital asset. But what about trail income, the money a financial planner makes from managing his or her clients’ funds and portfolios? In Fuller v. Fuller, the owner-spouse argued the goodwill analysis applied to the treatment of trail income as well. The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently disagreed. Read more >>

"In a good valuation, the numbers are bound together by a coherent narrative, and storytelling is kept grounded with numbers," says Dr. Aswath Damodaran (Stern School of Business, New York University). Read more >>

Here's a roundup of the latest business valuation professional and firm news, originally published in Issue #174-2 of BVWire. Read more >>

In adjudicating a New Jersey family dispute that escalated into an oppressed shareholder action, the trial court recently found the oppressing shareholder had created a situation that mandated the application of a discount for marketability (DLOM) in order to achieve a “fair and equitable” outcome. Read more >>

BV experts take the stand in a high-stakes Tax Court case that pits the IRS against the estate of Michael Jackson. Read more >>

Here's a summary of the latest business valuation professional and firm news, originally published in Issue #174-1 of BVWire. Read more >>

A wrap up of the latest business valuation professional and firm news, originally published in Issue #173-4 of BVWire. Read more >>

The Federal Circuit recently found a reasonable royalty calculation that took into account the plaintiff’s profit margin was not a lost profits analysis in disguise. The plaintiff’s expert did not try to circumvent the “but for” causation requirement that applied to a lost profits claim. Read more >>