Not perfect, but sufficient.

An issue in the Texas Supreme Court’s analysis of Bombadier Aerospace v. SPEP Aircraft Holdings, No. 17-0578 (Feb. 1, 2019), was whether an appraisal expert’s testimony created a legally sufficient foundation for the damages awarded. The Court found that it was: “Fogg did not attach specific dollar figures or percentage deductions to each of these issues to show exactly how he arrived at his 10% deduction. Nor did he examine a specific comparable aircraft; rather he conducted a general market examination for Challenger 300s. Indulging every reasonable inference in support of the verdict, we conclude that although Fogg’s reasoning for his valuation could have been more substantive, he sufficiently linked his conclusions about the Challenger 300’s value to available facts about its issues and the marketplace.” 

Notably, the expert explained credibly why certain valuation techniques were not used:  “[F]inding comparable values in the marketplace tends to be difficult for aircraft, and Fogg explained that the depreciation in value of an aircraft is a ‘variable number.’ And finding comparable values for aircraft with certain damage or issues may be impossible. Fogg made it clear that this particular Challenger 300 had unique issues and that the lack of documentation of all of these issues made the value uncertain . . . We note that Fogg’s experience with aircraft alone may be a sufficient basis for his valuation, and coupled with the engines’ issues, we conclude that he provided sufficient bases for his valuation opinion.”