This appeal in a California court involved a dispute over an appraisal of the plaintiffs’ 15% interest in a grocery store the defendant operated. The plaintiffs alleged that the award of the superior court was obtained by fraud and that the arbitrator prejudiced their rights.
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Mirror Worlds, LLC v. Apple, Inc.
Federal district court tosses out a $208 million jury award for lack of sufficient evidence proving patent infringement and for lack of legally justified damages, including improper reliance on entire market value of accused products.
SEC v. Nutmeg Group, LLC
In an SEC case requiring valuation of restricted securities, court admits most of the testimony of parties’ experts; experts need not be specialists in given field and need not demonstrate familiarity with USPAP or SSVS to qualify under Daubert, court fin ...
In re Texans CUSO Insurance Group
Court confirms expert lost profit damages of $21.1 million based on careful calculation of earnout payments under breached sale and employment agreement.
Freestyle Martial Arts Corp. v. Soco
Successful lost profits analysis turns on clear evidence of lost revenue and other key assumptions.
Santa Monica Pictures, LLC v. CIR
The Tax Court valued a film library consisting of B grade films in connection with an economic substance analysis of a partnership transaction that resulted in substantial capital losses to the taxpayer.
Lippe v. Bairnco Corp. (II)
Follow exclusion of plaintiffs’ witnesses (see May 2003 BVU) the court denied plaintiffs’ motion to substitute a new valuation expert or submit a supplemental expert report, finding that defendants would be severely prejudiced.
AmBase Corp. v. United States
Federal Court of Claims accepts market value approach to valuing failed thrift in Winstar case, and rejects Gordon Growth model for failing to account for bank’s unstable earnings and its alternative investment opportunities in a “non-breach” world.
Kathryn Casey v. Amboy Bancorporation (Casey III)
The New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division affirmed a lower court’s calculation of fair value and its treatment of synergies in this dissenters’ rights action. It permitted the determination of fair value to be based on the highest feasible sale pr ...
In re: Appraisal of The Orchard Enterprises, Inc.
Delaware Chancery Court confirms its preference for the DCF approach in a statutory appraisal action as well as the CAPM for calculating the discount rate and the supply-side ERP, but rejects an adjustment to the size premium to account for the latter.
Stone v. Citizens Equity First Credit Union (In re Int’l Supply Co.)
The trustee of International Supply Company (ISCO) asked for avoidance and recovery of prepetition fraudulent transfers made to Citizens Equity First Credit Union. ISCO was insolvent when the transfers were made, and the transfers were for the benefit of the controlling shareholder. The court disallowed two of the fraudulent transfers. Some complaint counts against certain individuals were dismissed without prejudice.
In re: American Suzuki Motor Corporation
Bankruptcy court finds car dealer’s claim for fair market value of its franchise based on state law dealer statute is invalid under Bankruptcy Code; expert testimony only supports past lost profit damages for cars and parts and accessories in stock at tim ...
Slattery v. U.S.
U.S. Court of Appeals affirms Court of Claim’s award of $373 million for lost business value of troubled bank during savings and loan scandals, including a 50% control premium for lost enterprise/franchise value.
Stephanos v. Stephanos (In re Marriage of Stephanos)
Trial court adopts goodwill value determination of wife’s expert (residual method) as well as expert’s finding that none of goodwill in family business is personal to owner spouse; business’s success was not dependent on owner’s continued presence or his execution of a noncompete, court says.
Stratte-McClure v. Morgan Stanley
Court finds that Morgan Stanley failed to disclose its subprime exposure and losses, but dismisses complaint for lack of adequate allegations of loss causation, with leave to file amended claims.
Edgewater Growth Capital Partners, L.P. v. H.I.G. Capital, Inc.
Delaware Court of Chancery decides foreclosure sale of company to debt purchaser’s affiliate is commercially reasonable as to process and price under the UCC; plaintiff expert’s DCF analysis used “stale” and “unrealistic” data and his guideline company an ...
Olive Hospitality Inc. v. Woo
In Olive Hospitality Inc. v. Woo, 2006 BCSC 1554 (October 20, 2006), the Supreme Court of British Columbia determined the proper amount of damages in this breach of fiduciary duty case. In 2000, Olive Hospitality Inc. (Olive) was formed by a group of Kore ...
In re Dollar Thrifty Shareholder Litigation
Delaware Chancery declines to enjoin proposed merger between Dollar Thrify rental car company and Hertz, after rejecting plaintiffs’ DCF which incorrectly included synergies of the merger.
In re Nellson Nutraceutical (II)
Management deliberately manipulates projections, without experts’ knowledge; court determines enterprise value nonetheless, adjusting and weighting reports.
In re Global Technovations, Inc. (I)
Bankruptcy court voids $25 million acquisition based on valuations that used historic, 12 months' earnings prior to closing and rejecting expert who relied substantially on inflated, unreasonable management projections.
Lane v. Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Inc.
The Delaware Court of Chancery determined the fair value of a closely held, subchapter S corporation’s stock. The primary reason for the great differences in value determined by the opposing experts in this case resulted from the assumptions regarding the ...
Kinesoft Development Corporation v. Softbank Holdings Inc.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois declined to award future lost profits to a computer game developer and applied the new business rule in this breach of contract case.
ACP Master, Ltd. v. Sprint Corp.
In joint fiduciary-appraisal action centering on Sprint’s acquisition of minority interest in related entity, Chancery says merger was entirely fair and adopts respondent expert’s DCF analysis; huge value gap is 90% due to experts’ choice of projections.
Franconia Associates v. United States
Federal Court of Claims discusses adopts 11% discount rate in developing breach of contract damages, and discusses at length the determination of expectancy damages.
Alberta Permit Pro v. Terry Booth
In Alberta Permit Pro v. Terry Booth, 2007 ABQB 562 (September 19 2007), the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench considered the damage assessments in this breach of contract action. Terry Booth (Booth) owned Alberta Permit Pro (Alberta) until he sold it to 108 ...
Exelon Corp. v. Commissioner
Tax Court says taxpayer’s transactions fail to meet Section 1031 requirements for income tax deferral; legal advisor’s ongoing interference with appraisal process compromised asset appraisals undergirding transactions to the point they became “useless.”