LITIGATION APPRAISING: SPECIALIZED TOPICS AND APPLICATIONS

Course overview

Litigation Appraising: Specialized Topics and Applications is one of three courses in the Professional Development Program designed to provide appraisers with the educational foundation needed to engage in litigation valuation work. This course provides a broad overview of numerous specialized topics involving areas of the law where the valuation of real estate is frequently an issue. Examples of these topics include environmental contamination, ad valorem tax assessments, construction defects, bankruptcy, fraud and misrepresentation, income and estate tax disputes, inverse condemnation, contract disputes, and equitable distribution in divorce cases, among others. Participants will gain an understanding of the terminology and concepts involved in providing litigation-valuation services in these and other specialty areas. Moreover, upon completion of the course, real estate appraisers will be better informed about the many opportunities available for expanding their practices in the area of litigation valuation. Good attorneys are experts at rules of evidence and can be masters of persuasion, but they are seldom well versed in real estate, let alone real estate values or valuation methodologies. Consequently, the importance of the appraiser's role in educating the attorney about real estate-oriented issues cannot be underestimated. When real estate values or market conditions constitute the primary issue of fact in a case, the ultimate outcome depends, to a great extent, upon the real estate experts' testimonies. The expert whose analysis and reporting of the real estate issues and values in question is most credible, and whose opinion is most clearly and convincingly communicated, will likely exert the greatest influence on the trier of fact. Through practice problems and group discussion questions, participants will apply these new concepts and address how to best handle valuation and reporting issues in a professional setting. An underlying theme of the course is that strict compliance with the applicable appraisal standards establishes a minimum standard for appraisal development and reporting. Failure to comply with appraisal requirements can be presented as evidence of negligence in appraiser liability litigation. We will discuss the appraiser's role in the context of a litigated case and discuss the review of other appraisers' reports for compliance with applicable appraisal standards and theoretical and mathematical errors.