Business Valuation Expert Witness not allowed to testify because the court opined that his testimony was not based on reliable methodology.
Facts: This case (Chung et al v. Washington Interscholastic Activities Association – United States District Court – Western District of Washington – May 18th, 2021) involves a claim by former and current tennis players of the defendant. The plaintiffs say that they observe the Sabbath and have brought this lawsuit alleging that the defendant violated their rights of free exercise of religion and equal protection under the United States Constitution. In order to backup their claim, the defendant hired Business Valuation Expert Witness William E. Partin to provide testimony. The plaintiffs have filed a motion to exclude the expert witness testimony of Mr. Partin.
The plaintiffs claim in their motion to exclude that Mr. Partin’s testimony is not sufficiently tied to the facts of the case and that his testimony is not based on reliable methodology. The plaintiffs state that Mr. Partin’s report shows the financial impact of rescheduling all of the state championship games and only analyzes tournaments starting Monday through Thursday. The court agrees with the plaintiffs on this part of the motion by stating that Mr. Partin’s testimony is not sufficiently tied to the facts of the case.
In addition, the plaintiffs argue that Mr. Partin’s expert witness testimony is not reliable. They claim that Mr. Partin assumes that weekday versus weekend basketball attendance is a reliable indicator of other of the defendant’s athletic events. In addition, the plaintiff notes that Mr. Partin assumes that the day of the week is the only factor as to if a spectator will attend a championship event. The court agrees with the plaintiffs and opines that it has failed to demonstrate reliability under Daubert.
The court also notes that Mr. Partin ignored pieces of literature that would go against his position that different attendance rates are driven by the day of the athletic contest.
Conclusion: The plaintiffs motion to exclude the expert witness testimony of William E. Partin is granted by the court.