Protecting Yourself after the Capital One Data Breach
It seems like almost every month there is news of yet another massive online data breach. Capital One is just the latest company to make headlines for failing to safeguard customers’ personal info. About 100 million credit card customers and applicants across the...
Indiana Court Upholds Child Support Calculation Involving Pass-Through Entities
Zausch v. Schnakenburg In a divorce case, the Indiana Court of Appeals reviewed a trial court’s post-judgment decision to modify the husband’s child support obligation upwards. The crux of the case was how to calculate the father’s income where he held minority...
Unequivocal ‘No’ to Unaffected Market Price—Delaware Supreme Court Strikes Down Aruba Networks
Verition Partners Master Fund Ltd. v. Aruba Networks, Inc. In a sharp rebuke, the Delaware Supreme Court overturned the Court of Chancery’s controversial decision in the Aruba Networks statutory appraisal case to use the unaffected market price as the sole indicator...
4th Circuit Upholds Brundle ESOP Valuation and Damages Findings
Brundle v. Wilmington Trust N.A. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals just affirmed the district court’s ruling against the trustee in the intensely contested Brundle v. Wilmington Trust ESOP case, including the district court’s valuation and damages findings. The...
The Clock May Be Ticking on Corporate Stock Redemptions
Though the individual federal income tax rates established by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) aren’t scheduled to expire until the end of 2025, some analysts think they could be repealed sooner. Next year’s presidential election and concerns over an increasing...
ESOP Court Denies Discovery of DOL Expert’s Prior Work for Government
Acosta v. Wilmington Trust In an ongoing ESOP litigation, the defendant trustee’s effort to obtain information on the DOL expert’s prior valuation work for the government was thwarted. In denying the trustee’s motion to compel, the court found the information was...
New Bankruptcy Relief Coming Soon
Even as companies continue to grow in size in the Portland area, small businesses continue to be a major part of the economy in the region and throughout Maine. Anyone who runs a small business knows that it’s not easy, and sometimes it can be hard to make ends meet....
Year-End Strategies to Reduce AGI
Like every summer in Maine, it went by much too fast. But now that fall is here and the end of the year is in sight, it’s a great time to think about crossing off a few of your financial to-do’s. One important project you can tackle is reducing your current-year...
In Misappropriation Case, Expert’s ‘Head Start’ Damages Calculation Survives Appeal
Sabre GLBL, Inc. v. Shan This damages case, which centered on an employee’s breach of fiduciary duties and other misconduct toward her former employer, and which went to arbitration, includes an informative discussion of the difference between head start damages and...
In Gatekeeper Role, Court Trains Attention on Expert Methodology, Not Conclusions
Acosta v. Wilmington Trust In this ESOP litigation, both parties tried to exclude the opposing side’s valuation expert testimony under Rule 702 and Daubert. The court noted that, at this stage in the proceedings, its focus was on whether the experts applied reliable...