Columns | May 20, 2013
Featured Columns
Timing of Expert Disclosure in Context of Summary Judgment Motions
In his New York Practice column, Patrick M. Connors, a professor at Albany Law School, discusses Appellate Division decisions that have imposed sanctions for a failure to comply with the obligation to disclose the identities of expert witnesses expected to be called at trial in the context of a motion for summary judgment made well in advance of the trial.
Outside Counsel
Implications of Statute Establishing Unemployed as a Protected Group
Geoffrey A. Mort, of counsel to Kraus & Zuchlewski, discusses the stigma of unemployment and the New York City act, which takes effect in mid-June and represents the most assertive legal step taken to date anywhere in this country to assist the unemployed after several years of efforts in a number of states to address this issue.
Special Reports
Significant Reform Initiatives Target Investment Management
Paul Hastings partner Domenick Pugliese discusses four significant reform efforts that have directly targeted funds and their advisers: money market fund reform, registration requirements for hedge fund advisers, higher net worth requirements for clients who are charged performance fees by their advisers and for investors in hedge funds, and CFTC regulation of investment advisers managing mutual funds that are deemed to be functioning as "commodity pools."
Special Reports
Prepare for the Next Real Estate Bubble
Elliot M. Ogulnick and Harry C. Steinmetz of accounting, tax, and advisory firm WeiserMazars write: The most recent real estate bubble burst under the weight of a market saturated with overpriced properties and subprime mortgages. Unfortunately, this bubble likely won't be the last. When real estate values again spike to unsustainable levels, will your clients be prepared? What methods should real estate owners and investors use to establish accurate values for their properties before a bubble and what issues should they be prepared for if properties fall into bankruptcy?
Special Reports
Admissible and Persuasive Valuations of Debtors-in-Possession
James C. Thoman, a partner at Hodgson Russ, and Craig T. Lutterbein, an associate with the firm, write that expert opinion testimony is often the key to successfully contesting the enterprise value of a debtor in possession. After an expert has demonstrated that his opinion testimony is admissible as evidence, the second hurdle is convincing the court that his opinion is the correct opinion. As one recent decision demonstrates, the failure of an expert to apply accepted valuation methodologies in a nonbiased manner will prevent a court from seriously considering the expert's testimony.
Special Reports
Identify and Valuate Intangible Assets and Intellectual Property
Craig Jacobson, director of valuation and forensic services at Citrin Cooperman & Company, reviews some of the reasons to separately value intangible assets (which are already baked into the conclusion of enterprise value), two common standards of value, and the cost, income, and market approaches which are commonly used to value intangible assets, and provides examples of valuations that arise frequently, such as customer lists and patents.
Business Law / Intellectual Property / Intellectual Property
Featured Columns
Home Sweet Home: Mandatory Medicaid Home Care
In his Elder Law column, Daniel G. Fish, a principal in Daniel G. Fish LLC, writes that whether managed long-term care benefits seniors or benefits the plans that administer the care is an unresolved issue, but what is clear is that this program is already in effect and must be monitored closely.
Featured Columns
Supreme Court Articulates Rigorous Standard for Class Certification
In his Antitrust column, Elai Katz, a partner of Cahill Gordon & Reindel, writes that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a district court should not have certified a class of cable subscribers asserting antitrust violations by their cable provider because the plaintiffs did not adequately demonstrate that their damages could be measured on a class-wide basis.
Antitrust / Civil Practice / Intellectual Property / United States Supreme Court
Outside Counsel
Seeking Answers on Fourth Amendment Emergency Exception and 'Mitchell'
Bronx Criminal Court Judge John H. Wilson discusses the U.S. Supreme Court's 2006 holding that refused to accept the New York Court of Appeals' requirement that police officers be primarily motivated by the need to respond to an emergency and not by intent to arrest or collect evidence before entering a residence without a warrant, and how state courts have responded since then, given that the Court of Appeals has not acknowledged this change in the law.
Featured Columns
AIG Offers Lessons for MBS Fraud Plaintiffs
Andrew E. Tomback, a partner at Zuckerman Spaeder, and Megan Quattlebaum, an associate at the firm, write that the AIG settlement offers a simple yet consequential lesson for the attorney general and the plaintiffs' bar: hurry - because when both the state and private parties are litigating these types of claims at once, the first party to settle will win the restitution prize.
Banking / Business Law / Civil Practice / Consumer Protection / Damages / Government / Torts
