Opinion

Waterman, Largen & Co., Inc. v. The United States

  • 419 F.2d 845
  • 189 Ct. Cl. 364
  • 24 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5841
  • 1969 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 5
Court
United States Court of Claims
Filed
Nov 14, 1969
Status
Published
Author
Davis
On the bench
Davis, Nichols, Cowen, Laramore, Durfee, Collins, Skelton
Cited by
14 cases

applying the “governing principles” of Booth Newspapers

How later courts described this case

  • applying the “governing principles” of Booth Newspapers

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

DAVIS, Judge

(dissenting):

I have been persuaded by Judge Nichols’ analysis and his general approach, but I cannot join in all the observations in his opinion. He seems to me quite right in stressing that (a) if the test is to remain (in shorthand) investment-mindedness vs. business-purpose, that gauge must be applied to the objective situation, rather than to the secret, unexpressed-at-the-time subjective intention of the taxpayers; (b) there are grave dangers in elevating the uncom-municated subjective intention of the taxpayers to a dominant, or important, role in applying the standard; and (c) in this case, the senior Kinney’s insistence that the taxpayer invest in the new company, and taxpayer’s acquiescence in that demand without any demur, require the conclusion that, objectively viewed, one of the taxpayer’s substantial purposes had to be investment, i. e. an interest in the profitability of the new company (and not solely in the taxpayer’s commissions). I note, in addition, that I am not yet convinced that the standard of investment or business purpose is appropriate for this type of case in which a permanent acquisition of stock is made, and I reserve my position on that point since the court accepts *856 the investment .test in this instance without further examination.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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