Estate of Nathaniel M. Leichter, Deceased, Steven Leichter, Co-Special Administrator - Page 15




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          discounts applied.  For instance, he discounted for the loss of             
          Harvey Leichter in all three methods and after weighing all                 
          three, he discounted again for lack of marketability.  We found             
          this to be an attempt to discount for the same reasons he                   
          discounted the values initially.  For that reason among others,             
          we question whether his report can be relied upon.                          
               Significantly, Mr. Garvin fails to explain his reasons for             
          not including a pure liquidation analysis as part of his report.            
          In effect, Mr. Garvin is opining that Harlee is worth                       
          substantially less than its liquidation value.  He fails to                 
          explain why the hypothetical seller would choose not to liquidate           
          when he concludes that the going concern value is less than the             
          value of its assets.4                                                       
               Mr. John McCallum was hired by the estate for litigation               
          purposes and opined that the value of Harlee was $400,000 as of             
          December 31, 1995.  In reviewing Mr. McCallum’s report, we find             
          that his conclusions and analysis are brief and cursory in                  
          nature.  For instance, while acknowledging in the appraisal that            
          his date of valuation was 2 months after decedent’s date of                 
          death, Mr. McCallum merely states that “this date is                        
          appropriate.”  Mr. McCallum’s “Observations as to Conditions” of            
          Harlee is less than 10 sentences.  Mr. McCallum provides no                 


               4 The estate points out that Steven Leichter wanted to                 
          continue the family business and felt an obligation to the                  
          employees.  However, we can only consider the motivations of a              
          hypothetical seller or buyer, not those of Steven Leichter.                 




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