Caring People Holdco, LLC v. Shalom (Steven) East

Summary

The Delaware Court of Chancery denied a motion in limine seeking to exclude the expert report and testimony of Joseph W. Thompson in a commercial dispute involving alleged contractual breaches, competition, and lost profits. The court held that the challenges principally concerned the weight and credibility of the expert’s opinions rather than admissibility, and that the report had a reliable financial basis despite assumptions regarding liability and causation. The order was issued as a magistrate’s report, with exceptions stayed under Rule 144.

Holdings

1. The motion in limine to exclude Joseph W. Thompson's expert report and testimony was denied because his financial calculations had a reliable basis and were not so unsupported or untethered as to warrant pretrial exclusion.
2. The expert's assumptions concerning liability and causation did not require exclusion; they could be tested at trial and considered in determining the weight and credibility of his opinions.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the court should exclude a damages expert's report and testimony before trial because the expert assumed liability and causation and used assumptions about the causes and geographic scope of alleged lost profits.
2. Whether the challenged assumptions and factual basis went to the admissibility of the expert's opinions or instead to their weight and credibility.

Disposition

other