REE Case Study: Expert Witness Regarding Tousa, Inc., Bankruptcy

RCLCO actively provides consulting and litigation support services regarding real estate issues, including serving as expert witnesses as required. One very prominent case for which RCLCO provided extensive litigation support and expert testimony was an outgrowth of the bankruptcy of TOUSA, Inc., once the 13th largest homebuilder in the country.

The case was originally decided by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in favor of RCLCO’s client, The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors. This finding, which resulted in a judgment in excess of $500 million, was based in large part on RCLCO’s valuation analysis and expert testimony. The Bankruptcy Court judge’s decision was subsequently overturned on grounds unrelated to RCLCO’s testimony. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the District Court’s decision and affirmed the original Bankruptcy Court decision that favored RCLCO’s client.

We took the occasion of the recent favorable decision in the TOUSA case to ask some of the attorneys we have worked with what makes for exceptional litigation support services and expert testimony. The following characteristics were mentioned most frequently:

• Specialized real estate expertise, including real-world experience
• Ability to understand the implications of key documents and to identify “hot documents”
• Strong analytic skills that hold up to scrutiny from attorneys and other expert witnesses
• Ability to identify critical flaws in reports and testimony of other witnesses
• Impressive and nimble when testifying or in depositions
• Ability to explain complex real estate issues to judges and juries in ways that are understandable to those without expertise in real estate
• Maintaining a pleasant demeanor and remaining unflustered when subjected to cross examination
• These are strengths that we bring to the table as part of every one of our litigation support engagements, and we are gratified that attorneys frequently commend us and recommend us to other lawyers.