Opinion ID: 4562750
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Amending Verdict

Text: Most broadly, the Parkers argue that the trial court should have amended the verdict by adding approximately $5 million in damages, to reflect the stipulated 13 value of the assets the bank transferred out of the LLC. We disagree. We assume for the sake of this argument that the jury was required to include in its damages award the consequences that flowed from the bank’s actions in dissolving the LLC and transferring its assets without compensation to the LLC or its members. Even so, it is not clear that the proper measure of those damages would be the entire stipulated value of the transferred assets. To flag one of a number of possible complexities, if the bank had instead sold Mr. Bealer’s interest in the LLC to the Parkers, the Parkers seemingly would have had to compensate the bank (as the representative of Mr. Bealer’s estate). Specifically, the operating agreement (drafted in contemplation of there being three members of the LLC) provided that the remaining members would be required to pay one third of the assessed value of the LLC, less ten percent. The trial court therefore correctly declined to amend the verdict by simply adding the entire stipulated value of the transferred assets to the damages award.