Valuation and Litigation Insights (curated by Grobstein Teeple, LLP)

Hello

Welcome to the third issue of Valuation and Litigation Insights. Our mission is to bring hand-picked content intended to make your life a little easier and to help you help your clients make better decisions and get the results they deserve.

If you read the last issue, welcome back. If you are new, welcome aboard!

In this issue, we review how COVID-19 continues to impact litigation and damage claims. We also discuss a tool that can assist in evaluating whether to litigate or settle and take a look at recent updates to tools used to track COVID-related litigation. Finally, we identify situations where getting a rough calculation of value might be the best option, as well as a general framework for critiquing an opposing expert.

News and Trends

The COVID-19 Insurance Wars Are Just Beginning — Policyholder Pulse — September 23, 2020

The COVID-19 business interruption litigation wars are on. Insurers mostly won the early battles by knocking down hastily-developed claims. More recently, however, carefully-crafted complaints more consistent with policy coverage language (e.g., ones that support the claim of physical harm or damage) have brought wins to insureds.

Four COVID-19 Litigation Trends That Are Affecting Businesses and Individuals — Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz

COVID-19 litigation continues to impact businesses and individuals. This article discusses four recent key litigation trends: force majeure in contract disputes, deceptive advertising regarding COVID treatments, business interruption, and workplace safety.

Things to Know

5 Reasons to Get a "Quick-and-Dirty" Appraisal in Business Divorce Cases | New York Business Divorce

Sometimes a "quick and dirty" business valuation is just what you need. But when is that, and what advantages does a "quick and dirty" calculation have over a full-blown valuation? This article provides five reasons to get a ballpark valuation in a business divorce scenario.

The Rebuttal Expert Report: 4 Steps For Critiquing An Opposing Expert

Rebutting an expert report can be daunting. This article discusses four key considerations that form a framework for cross-examination or better understanding your own expert's rebuttal.

Tools and Tips

How to Handicap a Lawsuit: Decision Trees and Probability Analysis | LinkedIn

During this period of uncertainty and court closures, it is especially important to consider all alternatives to resolving disputes. Your expert might have estimated the value of damages, but what is the value of the claim? Should one settle? One tool that can assist in making such choices is a decision tree. Although they can get complex, they help clarify and visualize strategies, probabilities, and expected outcomes. A lot of articles discuss this topic, but this LinkedIn post is particularly insightful.

Lex Machina Enhances COVID Tracking Tools Announces Upcoming Webcast on COVID-19 Litigation Trends | LexBlog

COVID-19 litigation trackers continue to evolve. Lex Machina recently announced enhancements to their tools, including the ability to analyze a subset of cases in which claims which were caused directly or indirectly by the corona virus.

In Closing

That's it for now. If you found this issue of Valuation and Litigation Insights useful, please forward it to a friend or colleague. (Subscribe now and receive a COVID-19 timeline of significant events useful in determining when the pandemic began to impact business and the financial markets.)

Talk to you soon!

Will Thomsen
Director of Valuation and Litigation Services
Grobstein Teeple, LLP

Connect with me on Linkedin
Call me at 818-502-4950
Email me at wthomsen@gtllp.com