When valuing an owner’s interest in a closely-held company, the calculation and applicability of a discount for lack of marketability is among the most fertile grounds for sharp disagreement. One open question: should the DLOM account for any contractual restrictions on a controlling owner’s ability to transfer his or her control?
Continue Reading Fueling the DLOM Debate: Control Transfer Restrictions and the Discount for Lack of Marketability

Read about the accounting principles, methodologies, and standards that apply in business valuation proceedings in this week’s New York Business Divorce – the final installment of a three-part series.
Continue Reading Basics of Valuation Proceedings – Litigating an Appraisal from Start to Finish – Part 3

New York’s highest court last week handed down its long awaited decision in Congel v Malfitano, in which the court tackled a number of highly important issues affecting partnership dissolution and valuation cases. Get the full story in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading New York’s High Court Takes Fresh Approach to Wrongful Dissolution, Sustains Valuation Discounts, Limits Damages in Partnership Case

If you’re a business appraisal aficionado, you won’t want to miss this week’s New York Business Divorce featuring two recent decisions by the Delaware Chancery Court involving fair value and insolvency determinations.
Continue Reading Delaware Chancery Court Rulings Address Valuation and Insolvency Disputes

Should courts apply a marketability discount in determining the fair value of interests in realty holding companies? In downstate New York, the answer may vary depending on whether the court lies within the First or Second Departments of the Appellate Division. This week’s New York Business Divorce has the story.
Continue Reading A River’s Divide: Time for the Manhattan and Brooklyn Appellate Courts to Agree on Marketability Discount in Fair Value Proceedings

Business Divorce Stories is the title of the latest episode of the Business Divorce Roundtable podcast highlighted in this week’s post, featuring short interviews with business appraiser Tony Cotrupe and attorney Jeffrey Eilender sharing their first-hand accounts of business divorce cases involving break-ups of two businesses, each co-owned by a pair of brothers.
Continue Reading Business Divorce Stories: Podcast Interviews with Business Appraiser Tony Cotrupe and Attorney Jeffrey Eilender

This 7th annual edition of Summer Shorts presents brief commentary on three must-read decisions in business divorce cases involving the use of special litigation committees in derivative actions by LLC members; dissolution of a family-owned real estate holding corporation and LLC; and a Delaware case in which Chancery Court ordered dissolution of a deadlocked LLC co-owned by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.
Continue Reading Summer Shorts: Three Must-Read Decisions

This week’s New York Business Divorce travels to the Land of 10,000 Lakes a/k/a Minnesota where a recent court decision in a high-stakes stock valuation case generated some fairly sharp criticism of the expert appraisers whose values differed by almost 400%.
Continue Reading Appraisers’ Valuations Are Light-Years Apart, But Does That Make Them Hired Guns?

New Jersey’s approach to the marketability discount in statutory fair value cases has been called a “business appraiser’s nightmare.” A recent decision by a New Jersey trial court, in which it applied a 25% marketability discount to penalize a 50% owner found guilty of oppression against the other 50% owner, adds fuel to the debate. Check it out in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Has New Jersey Gone Off Its DLOM Rocker?

It’s time for another deep dive into fair value jurisprudence, courtesy of Justice Richard Platkin’s recent decision in the Digeser v. Flach case in which he addresses a number of valuation issues contested by the opposing business appraisal experts. Don’t miss it in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Business Appraisers Spar Over Tax Rates, Market Approach and Other Key Issues in Fair Value Buy-Out Case