Bankruptcy Court Grants Limited Stay of Proceeding Pending District Court's Decision on Defendants' Request for Interlocutory Appeal

Haskell v. Goldman, Sachs & Co. (In re Genesis Health Ventures, Inc.), 367 B.R. 516 (Bankr. D. Del. 2007) (Judge Peter J. Walsh)

In this adversary proceeding commenced by investors in reorganized debtor Genesis Health Ventures, the non-debtor defendants requested leave of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware to take an interlocutory appeal from a decision of the Bankruptcy Court denying the defendants, who were senior secured debt holders, the protections of 11 U.S.C. § 1144. The defendants moved for a stay of proceedings pending the district court’s decision. The bankruptcy court granted a limited stay of the proceedings, balancing the need to move forward with the possibility that the request may remain before the district court for an extended period without being decided.

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Expert's "Invented" Enterprise Valuation Methodology Found Unreliable and Inadmissible

In re Nellson Nutraceutical, Inc., 356 B .R.364 (Bankr. D. Del. 2006) (Judge Christopher S. Sontchi)

At trial to determine the enterprise value of the Debtors, the Debtors’ expert tendered a valuation opinion based on a metric of EBITDA minus capital expenditures. Because this methodology is not generally accepted by experts in the field, and, moreover, was invented by the Debtors’ expert for use in this trial, the Court held that this method lacked reliability, and the Debtors’ expert’s testimony was therefore inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.

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