Expert’s Inability to Defend Income Analysis ‘Is Decidedly Troubling,’ Court Says
Judges are alert to incongruities in valuations, as is clear from a recent condemnation case in which landowners hired three experts to calculate the compensation owed to them. The court excluded all experts under Daubert, and it had particularly harsh words for the...
Appeals Court Upholds Grocery Store Buyout Ruling and Fair Value Determination
Lund v. Lund A protracted Minnesota buyout dispute involving the heirs to a local grocery store empire may have reached the end. The state appeals court affirmed most of the district court’s rulings, including the buyout order and fair value determination. The...
Hiring Minors to Work at Your Business? Know the Rules
Summer is fast approaching, which means many small businesses here in Maine are gearing up for their busiest time of year. Of course, an increase in workload requires an increase in labor to handle it — and that often means hiring teenagers who are out of school for...
Exploring the Cashless Movement in Retail
Cash payments aren’t as obsolete as cassette tapes and VCRs, but they’re definitely becoming less popular. Only 30% of all retail transactions were completed using cash in 2018 — a 40% decrease since 2012, according to the Federal Reserve. And that trend is expected...
Spring cleaning? Know which records to keep
If you’re spending one of Maine’s many rainy spring days to clean up your home or office, you may want to purge yourself of some old paperwork. But before completely cleaning out your filing cabinet or deleting old files from your computer, it’s important to know what...
$6 million award in lawsuit exposes rift in prominent Maine business family
Tucker Cianchette has won a nearly $6 million verdict against his father over the failed buyout of a Yarmouth car dealership, exposing a rift in one of Maine’s most prominent business families. Cianchette sued his father and stepmother, Eric and Peggy Cianchette, on a...
How Much Can Your Business Deduct for Vehicles Placed in Service in 2019?
While people are jumping in their cars and hitting the road here in Maine for some summer adventures, you and your small business may be hitting the road in a new vehicle. If you are adding a new car or truck to your business’ fleet, the purchase could qualify for...
Court Says Daubert’s ‘Gatekeeper’ Role Favors Inclusion, Not Exclusion
Ferraro v. Convercent, Inc. This Daubert case illustrates how courts may interpret the role of “gatekeeper” differently. The dispute featured a company that provided software-based services. The defendants claimed the plaintiff’s expert was unqualified because he...
Kress v. United States Signifies Approval of S Corp Tax Affecting
Kress v. United States In a gift tax case teeming with valuation issues, one notable aspect was that, in valuing the minority shares of an S corporation, both parties’ experts applied a C corporation tax rate to the company’s earnings, and the court, without ado,...
Analysis Holds Up in Divorce Litigation
Hultz v. Kuhn A Maryland divorce case illustrates the difficulties an appraiser charged with valuing a small company in the divorce context may face and how he or she may prevail in court. The wife was the sole shareholder in a tree services business. The issue at...