Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc. v. Commissioner

93 T.C. No. 42, 93 T.C. 521, 1989 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 139
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedOctober 31, 1989
DocketDocket No. 353-88
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 93 T.C. No. 42 (Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc. 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
Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc. v. Commissioner, 93 T.C. No. 42, 93 T.C. 521, 1989 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 139 (tax 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

FAY, Judge:

This case was assigned to Special Trial Judge Carleton D. Powell pursuant to the provisions of section 7443A(b)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and Rule 180 et seq.1 The Court agrees with and adopts the opinion of the Special Trial Judge, which is set forth below.

OPINION OF THE SPECIAL TRIAL JUDGE

POWELL, Special Trial Judge:

Respondent determined deficiencies in and additions to the corporate petitioner’s tax liability for taxable years 1976 through 1979, and determined deficiencies in the individual petitioner’s tax liability for taxable years 1977 and 1978. Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc., and Subsidiaries and the Hartz Group, Inc. (hereinafter Hartz or petitioner), maintained its principal offices in Secaucus, New Jersey, when it filed its petition. Leonard Stern and Judith Peck, who were husband and wife and filed joint Federal income tax returns during the taxable years in dispute, both resided in New York, New York, when they filed their petition. The individual petitioners filed a. joint petition with the corporate petitioner because both parties’ tax liabilities arose out of the same series of transactions and occurrences, and there are common questions of law and fact relating to the corporate and individual petitioners. The individual petitioners, however, are not involved in the matters currently under consideration.

This case is before the Court on respondent’s motion to compel the production of documents filed on March 1, 1989. A brief summary of the facts leading up to respondent’s motion is as follows. Hartz is a producer of pet products. In 1967, A. H. Robins and Co. (Robins), through its subsidiary Miller-Morton Co., acquired Sergeant’s, a pet products company. In February of 1978, Robins filed a civil complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia alleging that Hartz committed certain antitrust violations which harmed Robins’ pet products company.

In 1979, after settlement discussions, Hartz agreed to pay Robins $42.5 million, without interest, over 5 years. The settlement agreement entered into by Hartz and Robins did not allocate the payment to any specific damages incurred by Robins. For Federal income tax purposes, Robins characterized the $42.5 million as a payment for the loss of a capital asset. Hartz, to the contrary, alleged that the payment was made to compensate Robins for past lost income, and claimed the entire amount as an ordinary deduction under section 162. Respondent contends that Hartz’s payment to Robins resulted in a capital rather than an ordinary loss. This issue will be referred to as the antitrust issue.

A second issue involves Giret Desruors et Cie (Giret), a French company engaged in the pet products business. Hartz purchased 80 percent of Giret’s stock in 1973. In 1976, Hartz terminated Giret’s business and sold the bulk of Giret’s assets to a competitor. On its 1976 Federal income tax return, Hartz claimed an ordinary loss of $2 million based on its assertion that the Giret stock was worthless.

On May 16, 1988, Hartz filed a motion for partial summary judgment for both the antitrust and Giret issues. Petitioner submitted two affidavits from Arthur Andersen, petitioner’s in-house counsel, in support of its motion for partial summary judgment. In paragraph 3 of his supplemental affidavit, Mr. Andersen discussed and purportedly set forth petitioner’s internal position in the antitrust litigation:

The sole position of Hartz was that any monetary damages payable to Robins and Miller-Morton in settlement of the antitrust case could relate solely to alleged lost profits of Robins and Miller-Morton as a result of Hartz’ alleged antitrust violations. It was the internal position of Hartz that no substantial monetary settlement would be agreed to on the basis of alleged injury to goodwill or other alleged damage to capital assets.

By letter dated July 8, 1988, respondent requested petitioner to produce certain documents. On September 6, 1988, this Court ordered informal discovery to commence immediately and ordered formal discovery to commence, if necessary, on December 1, 1988.

On December 27, 1988, respondent served upon petitioner respondent’s first request for the production of documents. In his request, respondent requested documents, notes and minutes of board meetings pertaining to the negotiations, and settlement agreement entered into between Hartz and Robins. On January 27, 1989, respondent served upon petitioner respondent’s second request for the production of documents in which respondent requested documents pertaining to the Giret issue. Petitioner has produced approximately 80 boxes of documents in response to respondent’s requests.

On January 11, 1989, petitioner informed respondent that certain, documents were being withheld based on the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine. Respondent then filed his motion to compel. Generally, petitioner has withheld deposition transcripts and summaries and other memoranda pertaining to settlement negotiations between Hartz and Robins.

Pursuant to this Court’s March 24, 1989, order, petitioner submitted 13 documents (or sets of documents) to this Court for an in camera review. Petitioner claims that all documents are protected by either the attorney-client privilege or work product doctrine, or both. Respondent agrees that a memorandum concerning the Giret issue (designated as HP000161-167) is not discoverable. Respondent argues that the remaining documents, all of which pertain solely to the antitrust issue, are not protected from discovery. A hearing was held on respondent’s motion on May 8, 1989, in Washington, D.C.

This Court has reviewed in camera the documents submitted by petitioner. For the reasons set forth below, we find that (1) petitioner has waived the attorney-client privilege for all documents except document HP000001-02, and (2) petitioner has waived protection afforded by the work product doctrine.

Attorney-Client Privilege

The attorney-client privilege is the “oldest of the privileges for confidential communications known to the common law.” Upjohn Co. v. United States, 449 U.S. 383, 389 (1981). The purpose of the privilege is to “encourage full and frank communication between attorneys and their clients and thereby promote broader public interests in the observance of law and administration of justice.” Upjohn Co. v. United States, supra. The privilege applies to communications made in confidence by a client to an attorney for the purpose of obtaining legal advice, and also to confidential communications made by the attorney to the client if such communications contain legal advice or reveal confidential information on which the client seeks advice. Upjohn Co. v. United States, supra.

The party asserting the attorney-client privilege bears the burden of proving that the privilege applies. Weil v. Investment/Indicators, Research & Management, Inc., 647 F.2d 18, 25 (9th Cir. 1981). One of the elements that the asserting party must prove is that it has not waived the privilege. Weil v.

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Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc. v. Commissioner
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Bluebook (online)
93 T.C. No. 42, 93 T.C. 521, 1989 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 139, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hartz-mountain-industries-inc-v-commissioner-tax-1989.