Helen Ziegler Benjamin v. Island Management
In a family dispute featuring related closely held companies and claims of breach of fiduciary duty and mismanagement, court, based on financial testimony from plaintiffs’ expert, orders inspection of defendant company’s records, including general ledger, fee agreements, and executive compensation.
Financial Expert Testimony Persuades Court to Order Inspection of Company Records
In a family dispute featuring related closely held companies and claims of breach of fiduciary duty and mismanagement, court, based on financial testimony from plaintiffs’ expert, orders inspection of defendant company’s records, including general ledger, fee agreements, and executive compensation.
Galasso v. Cobleskill Stone Products
New York appellate division upholds the trial court’s order to disclose a valuation report, finding the appraisal was relevant to the litigation and done for estate tax purposes and therefore was not “of a legal character”; the attorney-client privilege does not apply, court says.
Court Explains Why Valuation Report Is Discoverable
New York appellate division upholds the trial court’s order to disclose a valuation report, finding the appraisal was relevant to the litigation and done for estate tax purposes and therefore was not “of a legal character”; the attorney-client privilege does not apply, court says.
Springer v. Library Store
Court upholds lower court ruling that there was no mismanagement of corporate assets; plaintiff failed to show excessive officer compensation and was properly precluded from using testifying expert to introduce another appraiser’s report on excessive rent.
Court Clarifies Application of Rule 703 to Expert Testimony
Court upholds lower court ruling that there was no mismanagement of corporate assets; plaintiff failed to show excessive officer compensation and was properly precluded from using testifying expert to introduce another appraiser’s report on excessive rent.
Damages testimony undergoes Daubert treatment in class certification stage
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.
Admissibility Does Not Depend on Personal Knowledge of Facts
Appeals court says expert’s lack of personal knowledge of information undergirding lost profits calculation does not disqualify his opinion, as long as he can show experts in his field would rely on this information and it is otherwise reasonably reliable ...
Am. Eagle Waste Indust., LLC v. St. Louis County
Appeals court says expert’s lack of personal knowledge of information undergirding lost profits calculation does not disqualify his opinion, as long as he can show experts in his field would rely on this information and it is otherwise reasonably reliable ...