We love our four-legged friends here in Maine. You’ll often see people bring their dog along with them on their adventures, whether that be to the beach, the lake, the mountains or even a brewery patio in Portland. Which makes sense, many of us recognize and cherish the emotional support and companionship our pets provide.  Continue Reading »

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, accepted the practice. To what extent this court’s position reflects  Continue Reading »

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one in five workers is aged 55 or older. By 2026, that number is expected to be one in four — meaning the proportion of young workers in the overall labor pool will shrink. In a state such as Maine — which, according to the U.S. Census  Continue Reading »

Exelon Corp. v. Commissioner In 2016, Tax Court Judge Laro ruled on the legitimacy of a series of Section 1031 transactions involving Exelon, an Illinois-based energy giant. The court agreed with the Internal Revenue Service that Exelon was liable for a deficiency of nearly $432 million as well as an $87 million accuracy penalty. The  Continue Reading »

Most employers try to strike a balance between encouraging healthy habits on the part of their employees and acting as a surrogate nanny. But as the use of e-cigarettes has become increasingly popular, the question of whether or not to allow vaping at work can be a thorny one to tackle. According to the Wall  Continue Reading »

Noven Pharmaceuticals v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals When it comes to document discovery, the “why and “when” matter greatly, as a recent New York ruling centering on a valuation report makes clear. The issue was whether a valuation the defendant had commissioned months before the plaintiff filed suit was privileged or protected by the work-product doctrine. No  Continue Reading »

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 to continue, causing some retailers to stop accepting cash from customers.  Continue Reading »

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 lacked the necessary experience valuing that type of company, but the court found the law did not require this  Continue Reading »

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 you should hold on to and what you  Continue Reading »

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 valuation expert who was unable to support critical elements of the valuation.  Continue Reading »