Landreth v. Commissioner

1985 T.C. Memo. 413, 50 T.C.M. 728, 1985 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 225
United States Tax Court·Decided August 12, 1985·No. Docket No. 4432-83.·Unpublished

Opinion

IVAN K. LANDRETH and LUCILLE LANDRETH, Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Landreth v. Commissioner
Docket No. 4432-83.
United States Tax Court
T.C. Memo 1985-413; 1985 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 225; 50 T.C.M. (CCH) 728; T.C.M. (RIA) 85413;
August 12, 1985.
Robert J. Shaw and Paul R. Cressman, Jr., for the petitioners.
Theodore J. Kletnick and Gary Kirschenbaum, for the respondent.

SCOTT

MEMORANDUM FINDINGS OF FACT AND OPINION

SCOTT, Judge: Respondent determined a deficiency in petitioners' income tax for the calendar year 1978 in the amount of $132,468. The issues for decision are (1) whether petitioners are entitled to deduct losses from trading in gold commodity futures straddles for the year 1978 in the amount of $369,400 and losses in that year from trading in U.S. Treasury bills (T-bills) futures straddles in the amount of $48,034; and (2) whether legal fees and related expenses incurred and paid by petitioners in connection with the rescission litigation involving the sale of stock of a sawmill may be deducted in 1978 as capital expenses or must be deducted in the years incurred and paid.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of the facts have been stipulated and all stipulated facts are found accordingly.We will set forth herein only those stipulated facts that we consider necessary to an understanding of our conclusions.

Petitioners, husband and wife, who resided in Redmond, Washington, at*227 the time of the filing of the petition in this case, filed a joint Federal income tax return for the calendar year 1978 with the office of the Internal Revenue Service at Ogden, Utah. Petitioners' tax return for the calendar year 1978 and their returns for all periods relevant to this case were prepared on the cash receipts and disbursements method of accounting.

Ivan K. Landreth (petitioner) graduated from high school in 1933 and since that date, except for a period of approximately 9 years from 1945 to 1954, has been engaged in the lumber and sawmill business. In 1954 petitioner acquired the stock of a sawmill. He continued to operate this sawmill until 1977. On October 6, 1977, petitioners entered into a contract to sell their 76 percent stock interest in the Landreth Timber Co., Inc., a Washington corporation (the sawmill). This stock was held by petitioners as community property. Petitioners' sons, Ivan Landreth, Jr., and Theodore Landreth, each owned 12 percent of the outstanding stock of Landreth Timber Co., Inc. They were also parties to the contract for the sale of the sawmill stock. When petitioner signed the contract for the sale of the stock in October 1977, he*228 did not anticipate any difficulty or litigation concerning the contract. The purchase price of the stock was $3 million, to be paid $750,000 cash on November 16, 1977, and $2,250,000 on January 10, 1978. Between the closing of the contract on November 16, 1977, and January 4, 1978, differences arose between the parties with respect to the contract of sale. On January 4, 1978, a schedule of the differences between the parties was prepared by the purchasers and delivered to petitioners. At the time the differences amounted to $176,378. For their 76 percent stock interest petitioners received $532,000 cash in 1977 and $1,520,000 in 1978, making a total of $2,052,000. Throughout 1978 negotiations and correspondence between petitioners and the purchasers continued, and on November 1, 1978, an action for rescission and damages was filed by the purchasers in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington seeking to rescind the sales agreement. At the time this lawsuit was commenced petitioners anticipated that they would incur substantial legal expenses in 1979 and later years in connection with the lawsuit. The lawsuit against petitioners and others in the*229 District Court was dismissed in favor of petitioners in the spring of 1982, and this dismissal was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1984. A similar action was filed in a state court of the State of Washington by the purchasers of the sawmill stock and that action is still pending. In December 1978, petitioners were hopeful of negotiating a settlement of the lawsuit. During the years 1978 through 1982, petitioners paid legal and related expenses in connection with the rescission litigation in the following amounts:

1978$ 1,379
1979164,716
1980165,332
1981139,850
198285,025
Total1 $556,302

Prior to the year here in issues petitioner had invested occasionally in stocks and bonds and certificates of deposit and had some knowledge of commodity prices as a result of his sawmill business. During most of this time and during the year here in issue, petitioner's*230 account executive at Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith (Merrill Lynch) where he did his stock market trading was David A. Raymond, who was in Merrill Lynch's Seattle, Washington, office. Mr. Raymond was not very familiar with commodity straddles.

In the latter part of 1978, Mr. Raymond introduced petitioner to Jack Karczewski, a commodities account executive employed by Merrill Lynch at its Seattle office. Mr. Karczewski was the head of the commodities department for the Merrill Lynch Seattle office. Before Mr. Raymond introduced petitioner to Mr. Karczewski, he informed Mr. Karczewski of petitioner's financial background and told Mr. Karczewski t

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Landreth v. Commissioner, 1985 T.C. Memo. 413, 50 T.C.M. 728, 1985 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 225 (tax 1985).

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