Cornwall v. Commissioner

48 T.C. 736, 1967 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 51
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedAugust 22, 1967
DocketDocket No. 5147-65
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 48 T.C. 736 (Cornwall v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cornwall v. Commissioner, 48 T.C. 736, 1967 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 51 (tax 1967).

Opinion

Scott, Judge:

Respondent determined a deficiency in petitioners’ income tax for the calendar year 1961 in the amount of $71,752.08. The issue for decision is whether the amount of a cash distribution made to one of petitioners by an association which is taxable as a corporation constituted ordinary income or long-term capital gain.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of the facts have been stipulated and are found accordingly.

Petitioners, husband and wife who resided at the time of the filing of the petition in this case in Westfield, N.J., filed their joint Federal income tax return for the calendar year 1961 with the district director of internal revenue at Newark, N. J.

Harry F. Cornwall, referred to hereinafter as petitioner, was engaged for many years in the insurance business. He was a member of Cornwall & Stevens, an insurance brokerage partnership. From some time prior to 1927 he has been a member of Lloyds, New York, an unincorporated, nonstock, underwriting association, operating under a certificate of authority from the superintendent of insurance of the Department of Insurance of the State of New York.

Lloyds, New York, referred to hereafter as Lloyds or the association, was organized in 1892 by three persons two of whom were petitioner’s father and the father of Leighton H. Stevens. It has operated under its present name since 1909. Lloyds is engaged in the business of underwriting fire and allied lines, automobile physical damage, and inland marine risks. Lloyds is an association taxable as a corporation.

The brokerage firm, Cornwall & Stevens, sometimes referred to hereafter as the partnership, is engaged in the business of selling insurance. It is located in the same building as Lloyds and its address is the same as Lloyds. Approximately 70 percent of the business done by Lloyds comes from Cornwall & Stevens, which gives about half of its business to Lloyds. Originally all underwriters of Lloyds had been the participants in the brokerage business but this was not the situation in the years here involved and for some time prior thereto.

Under partnership agreements entered into on January 1,1951, and again on January 1, 1956, the partners of Cornwall & Stevens were: Harry F. Cornwall, Dudley M. Moore, Leighton M. Stevens, Charles E. Seelig, William J. O’Hara, and John E. Johaxmesen. In 1957 petitioner ceased to be a partner in Cornwall & Stevens. Under a partnership agreement executed as of January 1, 1958, the partners of Cornwall & Stevens included all the prior partners except petitioner and William J. O’Hara, and, in addition, included Wayne D. Moore, a son of Dudley M. Moore.

The articles of association of Lloyds as of both July 1, 1957, and July 1,1961, contain, among others, the following provisions:

Second. Appointment of Attorneys. Each of the Underwriters hereto shall execute and deliver to the attorneys-in-fact and managers, a power of attorney * * * giving to said attorneys the necessary power and authority to transact on behalf of the underwriters the business referred to in the first paragraph hereof.
*******
Fourth. Duties of Attorneys-in-Faot and Managers. The Attomeys-in-Fact and Managers shall have the power to take charge of all funds, assets and property * * * to direct the manner in which said property shall be kept or invested, used or applied, * * *; to supervise and make payment of all claims for losses; to collect all premiums and generally to supervise and control the conduct of the insurance business herein referred to and safeguard the respective interest of the underwriters.
Fifth. Revocation of Power of Attorney. Withdrawal and Accounting. Each of the parties hereto shall be at liberty to revoke his Power of Attorney and to discontinue all further transaction of the business contemplated and such revocation shall 'become binding upon the said attorneys thirty (30) days from the receipt of notice in writing to that effect by said attorneys.
* * * * * * *
Upon the withdrawal or retirement of an underwriter for any cause, or upon the death of any underwriter, neither the underwriter nor in the event of his death his estate shall have any right, title or interest in or to the charter, rights, or franchises of this Association, * * * except the right to an accounting by the attorneys of all business done in his name, or on his behalf, and all moneys paid by the underwriter, including any contribution made to the surplus of the Association. But said surplus shall at all times be subject to the provisions of these Articles governing the same.
The account of such withdrawing, retiring or deceased underwriter shall not be closed until the end of the year next after the expiration of all risks in which he may have been concerned, and all sums to his credit in said accounting, and all moneys belonging to him in the hands of said attorneys, at the time being shall constitute a fund irrevocably pledged to the payment of all losses for which he or they may be or become liable, or for other indebtedness growing out of the transaction of the insurance business herein contemplated. The remaining underwriters may, however, upon proper provision being made for the assumption of said liability by any other or new underwriter taking the place of the underwriter withdrawing or dying, close the account of said underwriter at a date earlier than the date hereinabove fixed.
Sixth. Contributions to surplus. Each underwriter, upon becoming a member of the Association, and as a condition precedent to becoming an underwriter to said Association, shall contribute in cash, bonds, stocks or other securities approved by a majority of the underwriters, to the surplus of the Association a sum not less than Twelve Thousand Five Hundred ($12,500.) Dollars, the intention being that the money so contributed by the underwriters and members shall constitute a surplus or reserve fund for the payment of losses, and shall under no circumstances be returnable in whole or in part to any member so contributing except in the event of the assignment of his interest and the assumption of the same by another underwriter as herein provided for.
Seventh. Limit of Liability. In every policy issued under the arrangements herein contemplated, all of the parties hereto at that time shall become insurers, and each underwriter shall be and become severally liable under each and every policy so issued for the following percentages: [The names and percentage of liability of each member is set forth in this paragraph of the Articles.]
Eighth. Interest of Underwriters m Association’s Assets and Income. The interest of each underwriter of the Association in the assets, funds and property thereof and in all profits or emoluments arising from the operation of its business shall be governed both by the respective capital account credited to each underwriter as defined in Article Eleven herein and also by the amount of liability assumed by the respective underwriter as covered by Article Seven above.
Ninth. Compensation of Attorneys.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Lisle v. Commissioner
1976 T.C. Memo. 140 (U.S. Tax Court, 1976)
Cornwall v. Commissioner
48 T.C. 736 (U.S. Tax Court, 1967)
Associated Machine v. Commissioner
48 T.C. 318 (U.S. Tax Court, 1967)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
48 T.C. 736, 1967 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 51, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cornwall-v-commissioner-tax-1967.