Expert Witness

W. Bartley Hildreth Ph.D., is a municipal bond expert witness and professor emeritus of public management and policy in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

Dr. Hildreth has been admitted as an expert witness on municipal finance, bankruptcy risk, municipal securities and the municipal bond markets by the U.S. Federal court system under the Daubert standard and in arbitration hearings by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and, earlier, the National Association of Securities Dealers. Additionally, he has been admitted as an expert witness on matters involving municipal bonds, capital markets, auction-rate securities, public budgeting and financial management, cost of governmental services, public finance, municipal management, and public pension affordability in trial courts in several states. A particular specialty is his ability to analyze a government's financial activities.

Witness Engagements

  • Deposed and admitted in federal court as a municipal bond expert under the Daubert standard to testify for the defendants about the municipal bond market in a fraud-on-the-market case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against an external auditor of a hospital system that subsequently filed for bankruptcy.
  • Testified in a National Association of Securities Dealers arbitration hearing as a municipal bond expert on behalf of a broker/dealer against a pay-to-play assertion by regulators, with the decision against the regulators leading to a subsequent regulatory change.
  • Testified in state court against a special authority that asserted that it was a state agency (and, thus, subject to certain legal protections) contrary to its own financial documents and regulatory filings that confirmed that it was a local public entity.
  • Testified in a state court municipal bond validation hearing that a special authority’s proposed new bond issue for property acquisition would exceed its ability to pay absent higher taxes than asserted.
  • Deposed in a state court case on behalf of a broker/dealer that its sale of auction rate securities to a sophisticated investor was consistent with industry practice and that the failure of auctions was due to systemic problems outside the control of the broker/dealer.
  • Testified in a Financial Industry Regulatory Agency arbitration hearing on behalf of a broker/dealer that its sale of auction rate securities to a sophisticated investor was consistent with industry practice and that the failure of auctions was due to systemic problems outside the control of the broker/dealer.
  • Testified in federal court on behalf of pension beneficiaries that a large city’s pension reform was premised on faulty ability-to-pay considerations (based on an extensive financial analysis of the city’s finances) and overlooked the city's long-standing unwillingness to pay the required annual contributions. Reprised similar points in a subsequent state court case expert report.
  • Testified in federal bankruptcy case on behalf of bondholders that gross toll revenues pledged as collateral for toll bonds are special revenues and that the primary government had reasonable fiscal alternatives instead of the taking of toll revenues for general government purposes.
  • Testified in state trial court against a municipal take-over of a private water utility based on an extensive financial analysis of the city’s finances, with special attention on the city's extensive use of subsidies and transfers to the general fund as a negative indictor of financial stewardship.
  • Deposed in federal bankruptcy case on behalf of bondholders regarding the roles of the issuer and the underwriting syndicate.
  • Deposed in federal court case on behalf of a local government in its determination of cost of service in suit against financial institutions.

Other Engagements

  • Consultant to a state in the evaluation of tribal gaming contracts, tribal financial affairs, and market practice concerning tribal municipal securities.
  • Consultant to a foreign financial firm on the subnational capital market in the United States.
  • Consultant on the public financing of amusement and theme parks.
  • Consultant to Chamber of Commerce to develop a debt affordability model showing the results of alternative revenue polices required to afford combined city-county and school debt plans.

Court and Regulatory Settings

  • Federal District Courts - in Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Puerto Rico
  • State Trial Courts - in California, Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Texas
  • Regulatory Arbitration Hearings - Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (and, earlier, the National Association of Securities Dealers)

Contact Information

  • W. Bartley Hildreth, Ph.D.
  • Email: BartHildreth at gmail dot com