Litigation & Expert Witness Experience
Experience where the appraisal may be reviewed, challenged, or presented in court.
Christine Pyle-Banks performs valuation services for real property matters and has provided expert testimony in Superior Court and Bankruptcy Court proceedings involving residential real estate valuation issues.
Court and litigation-related appraisal work
Christine’s experience also includes assignments associated with federal court litigation and Federal Rule 26 expert witness disclosure requirements. In October 2026, the Superior Court of California, County of El Dorado appointed Christine Pyle-Banks as the appraiser in a matter before the court. Appraisal work remains independent and non-advocacy in nature regardless of the party, attorney, fiduciary, or other professional who retains the appraiser.
Representative assignment experience
- Estate litigation involving multiple valuation dates and disputed property conditions
- Rural property disputes involving easements, access limitations, and marketability concerns
- Marital dissolution matters involving disputed property conditions and valuation positions
- Property partition actions involving jointly owned real estate
- Bankruptcy valuation assignments involving residential real estate
Additional complex matters
- Title defect and diminution-in-value analyses
- Properties with unpermitted improvements
- Catastrophic property damage and casualty loss assignments
- Geologic hazard and landslide-affected properties
- Retrospective valuation for estate and trust administration
- Litigation support connected to federal, Superior Court, and Bankruptcy Court proceedings
How the practice works together
Christine Pyle-Banks is the signing appraiser and the appraiser with direct testimony experience. Christopher Pyle provides significant appraisal assistance where applicable, including research, analysis, report development, technical writing, and support on complex appraisal problems. His contribution is identified in the appraisal certification as required by the assignment.
This distinction matters. Court and testimony experience belongs to Christine; the practice’s broader strength comes from combining her direct appraisal and courtroom experience with Christopher’s analytical, research, and report-development support.
The report still has to stand on its own.
In review-intensive assignments, clear scope, disciplined research, transparent support, and understandable reasoning are essential. The objective is not to argue for a party’s preferred number. It is to develop and communicate an independent opinion of value that can be followed, evaluated, and defended based on the work itself.