Mediating Business Valuation Disputes

March 06, 2017

Mediation continues to grow in popularity as a means of resolving legal disputes in lockstep with the rising costs and delays attendant to litigation and arbitration. Mediation allows the parties to air their grievances face-to-face in a confidential setting and, with the help of a skilled mediator and a willingness to compromise on both sides, to arrive faster and more economically at a resolution of their own design rather than having one imposed on them by a judge or arbitrator.

An argument can be made that business divorce disputes are less amenable to mediation, not only because of the high emotions and sense of betrayal experienced by the co-owners, but also due to the loosely framed legal standards in the governing statutory and common law that give courts broad discretion in the exercise of their equitable powers. In other words, the bitterness and intrinsic uncertainty of business divorce litigation outcomes can foster a zero-sum approach on both sides that favors combat over conciliation.

On the other hand, if the relationship between feuding co-owners is terminally ill but the business nonetheless remains viable, chances are one side eventually is going to buy out the other, which is where, in my opinion, mediation can be most effective in bringing about a resolution by focusing on valuation of the equity interest of the selling business owner.

Which brings me to the topic at hand, my podcast interview of Arthur Rosenbloom (pictured above) for the Business Divorce Roundtable, a link to which appears at the bottom of this post.

Art is a veteran lawyer, mediator, and arbitrator who last year was appointed by the court to mediate a case in which I represented the majority owner in litigation that followed a cash-out merger of the minority owner who was contesting the value placed on his interest. What distinguished Art from other mediators was his in-depth knowledge of business valuation, much of it gained from his many years working as an investment banker. In the course of the mediation, Art employed his valuation expertise to critique each side’s valuation reports, and by doing so was instrumental in getting the parties to bridge the gap between their respective valuation positions.

In my interview with Art, he shares his insights on a number of issues vital to the mediation of business valuation disputes, including the different pathways to mediation, the optimal timing for mediation, the utilization of appraisal reports in mediation, the retention of a neutral appraiser to assist the mediation, the mediator’s role in critiquing the parties’ valuation positions, and how the mediator deals with the  intense emotions the parties often bring with them to the mediation.

After you listen to the podcast, I recommend you also read Art’s article, Mediating Valuation Disputes in Minority Oppression Litigation, published last year in the New York Law Journal.