Markwardt v. Commissioner

64 T.C. 989, 1975 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 75
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedAugust 28, 1975
DocketDocket No. 3752-72
StatusPublished
Cited by210 cases

This text of 64 T.C. 989 (Markwardt 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
Markwardt v. Commissioner, 64 T.C. 989, 1975 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 75 (tax 1975).

Opinion

Simpson, Judge:

The Commissioner determined the following deficiencies in the petitioners’ Federal income tax:

Year Deficiency Year Deficiency
1965 _ $8,654.42 1967 $39.47
1966 _ 2,150.51 1968 12,105.09

We must decide whether the petitioners sustained a loss as the result of the worthlessness of an alleged covenant not to compete.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of Ihe facts have been stipulated, and those facts are so found.

The petitioners, Edwin E. and Odella G. Markwardt, are husband and wife, who resided in Grand Prairie, Tex., at the time of filing their petition herein. They filed their joint Federal income tax returns for 1965, 1966, and 1967 with the District Director of Internal Revenue, Dallas, Tex., and for 1968, with the Internal Revenue Service Center, Austin, Tex. Mr. Markwardt will sometimes be referred to as the petitioner.

Prior to 1965, the petitioner was employed as a bookkeeper in an accounting firm in Hurst, Tex. Through his work, he became acquainted with the owners of the Ready-Go Concrete Co. (Ready-Go). He was their bookkeeper for over 6 years and thus became familiar with the ready-mix concrete business. In December 1964, he became general manager of Ready-Go. However, a change in management soon occurred, and as a result, he decided to purchase his own ready-mix concrete business.

In February 1965, the petitioner learned that Top-Mix Concrete, Inc. (Top-Mix or the corporation), might be for sale. Top-Mix was a corporation engaged in the ready-mix concrete business and had plants in Grand Prairie and Euless, Tex. Homer C. Harrell and his wife, Lorene, owned 85 percent of its stock, and the remainder of the stock was owned by Mr. Harrell’s son-in-law and daughter, John and Virginia Morgan.

The petitioner contacted Mr. Harrell, who represented all of the shareholders of Top-Mix, to determine whether Top-Mix was for sale. Mr. Harrell described Top-Mix’s business to the petitioner. The corporation’s sales volume, profit margin, and the availability of materials were discussed. The petitioner inspected its plants and equipment and was provided with copies of its 1964 Federal corporate income tax return and a balance sheet reflecting the corporation’s book value as of January 31, 1965. Two days after his initial meeting with the petitioner, Mr. Harrell set a price of $293,000 for all the stock of Top-Mix, but he agreed to discharge certain corporate liabilities totaling $79,196 as part of the sale.

During the course of their negotiations, Mr. Harrell told the petitioner that he was selling his stock because he intended to get out of the ready-mix concrete business and that the petitioner need not worry about competition from him. As a result, the petitioner expected that Mr. Harrell would not compete with Top-Mix after the business was sold to him. It was important to him that Mr. Harrell agreed not to compete with Top-Mix. However, a written covenant not to compete with Top-Mix (covenant) was never prepared or executed by Mr. Harrell. Furthermore, the petitioner and Mr. Harrell never discussed allocating any portion of the purchase price to a covenant.

About 6 weeks elapsed between the time the petitioner first contacted Mr. Harrell and the time the sale was closed. During this period, the petitioner discussed the proposed transaction with his accountant, who advised him that the purchase price set by Mr. Harrell exceeded the corporation’s book value by approximately $131,000. He advised the petitioner that $93,000 could be allocated to the covenant and $38,000 to goodwill, although the accountant did not explain the basis of such an allocation. The petitioner never discussed this allocation with Mr. Harrell or the other shareholders of Top-Mix.

After they had completed their negotiations and had agreed on the terms of the sale, Mr. Harrell suggested that he and the petitioner contact an attorney, who had previously performed legal services for Top-Mix, to consummate the legal formalities. They went to the attorney’s office and told him what they wished done. Since they had previously agreed to terms and were in an apparent rush to complete the sale, neither sought the attorney’s advice on how to structure the transaction. The attorney prepared the stock transfers necessary to complete the sale, but never drafted a contract of sale. The petitioner and Mr. Harrell never discussed a covenant with the attorney; thus, he was never requested to draft a written covenant.

On March 15, 1965, the sale was closéd at the Grand Prairie State Bank, where the petitioner apparently borrowed a portion of the funds he used to purchase the stock. The petitioner paid $293,000 for all the stock of Top-Mix. Such payment was divided among the shareholders in proportion to their stock ownership.

After the sale, Mr. Harrell and his son-in-law, Mr. Morgan, continued to work for Top-Mix. Mr. Harrell worked for about 6 months before quitting. Mr. Morgan worked slightly longer before being fired. In December 1965, Mr. Harrell reentered the ready-mix concrete business by starting a new plant known as Harrell Concrete, about a mile from the Top-Mix plant and in direct competition with Top-Mix.

The petitioner thereupon sued Mr. Harrell and the other sellers of the Top-Mix stock for breach of an alleged covenant. A jury trial was held in the 16 2d District Court of Dallas County, Tex. (the District Court), in April 1967, and special issues were submitted to the jury. The jury’s findings in response to the special issues (jury’s findings) were that Mr. Harrell had promised not to reenter the ready-mix concrete business in competition with Top-Mix or the petitioner when he sold the stock to the petitioner, but that he did not intend to keep that promise when he made it. It also found that the promise was a material inducement to the petitioner which he relied upon. The jury found that the fair market value of the stock sold to the petitioner was $293,000 if Mr. Harrell did not reenter competition with Top-Mix and $210,000 if he did reenter competition. Finally, the jury found that Mr. Harrell’s promise not to compete was limited to the area served by Top-Mix and was a reasonable restriction on trade. However, the District Court sustained Mr. Harrell’s motion for judgment non obstante veredicto and held that the petitioner was not entitled to damages. The court found that the petitioner had admitted that the covenant was not limited as to time or area and that therefore the jury’s findings could not be sustained. This decision was affirmed on appeal. Markwardt v. Harrell, 430 S.W. 2d 1 (Tex. Civ. App. 1968). The petitioner retained his interest in Top-Mix until 1973 when he sold his stock.

After purchasing the Top-Mix stock, the petitioner proceeded to treat most of the assets of Top-Mix as if he had purchased them instead of having purchased the corporate stock. He purported to lease the assets back to Top-Mix, and a deduction for the rent was taken on the corporate income tax return. He reported the amount paid him as either rental income or as income earned in his sole proprietorship leasing business and claimed a depreciation deduction for the assets on his individual income tax return.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
64 T.C. 989, 1975 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 75, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/markwardt-v-commissioner-tax-1975.