United States v. Lansing

272 F. Supp. 170, 19 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1644, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10862
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedMay 8, 1967
DocketCiv. No. 41388
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 272 F. Supp. 170 (United States v. Lansing) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Lansing, 272 F. Supp. 170, 19 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1644, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10862 (N.D. Cal. 1967).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

ZIRPOLI, District Judge.

This action came on regularly for trial before the Court, Honorable Alfonso J. Zirpoli, United States District Judge, presiding, on April 26, 1967, at 2:00 p. m., pursuant to notice thereof given to all parties in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Rules of Civil Practice of this Court and the specific provisions relating to notice contained in the Court’s order of November 30, 1966, and pre-trial order of February 21, 1967, filed in this action. Appearing at trial for the plaintiff was John M. Youngquist, Assistant United States Attorney, for Cecil F. Poole, United States Attorney for the Northern District of California. No appearance was made at trial for any of the named defendants, either by counsel or in person.

The Court, having received the oral and documentary evidence introduced by plaintiff, and having duly considered said evidence and the points of law and authorities cited in plaintiff’s pre-trial statement, and having heard the oral argument of plaintiff’s counsel, and, being fully advised in the premises, having announced its decision in open court, now makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. On May 10, 1955, plaintiff’s District Director of Internal Revenue at San Francisco, caused an assessment in respect of individual federal income tax liability for the year 1949 to be made against the defendant Marie D. Lansing (hereafter referred to as Marie) in the sum of $15,517.03. Notice of the assessment and demand for payment thereof was mailed to Marie by the Director on May 11, 1955, but Marie failed to make any payment of the assessed sum until March 25, 1959, when the sum of $6,409.-58 was received by the Director from Marie and credited to the assessment leaving an unpaid balance of $9,107.45 which remains unpaid to date. (Pltf. Ex. 1.)

2. On and before April 30, 1955, Marie and the defendant Dean K. Lansing (hereafter referred to as Dean), her. son, were both aware of the existence of plaintiff’s claim against Marie for the additional 1949 income taxes which were formally assessed against her on May 10, 1955. (Pltf. Ex. 2 and 3.)

3. From the spring of 1952 through April 30, 1955, Marie and Dean did business as equal partners (each having an agreed one-half interest) in a partnership doing business under the name “Dean Lansing.” During said period the partnership conducted a logging business in Humboldt County, California, with [172]*172its principal office at 935 G Street, Areata, California. (Pltf. Ex. 2 and 3.)

4. As of April 30, 1955, the partnership owned certain tangible assets consisting of heavy logging equipment, several vehicles, a logging camp, and an airplane; it also owned intangible assets consisting of cash, accounts and notes receivable, advances on timber cut and to be cut, and prepaid expenses. As of the same date, these tangible assets had a book value (cost less depreciation accounted for on the partnership books) of at least $28,671.52, the intangible assets had a book value of at least $104,424.25, and the total assets had a combined book value of $133,095.77. (Pltf. Ex. 2(2), 4 and 5.)

5. As of April 30, 1955, the partnership’s liabilities comprised notes and accounts payable, accrued compensation insurance and taxes and totalled $41,153.75. (Pltf. Ex. 4 and 5.)

6. Substantially all of the partnership assets held as of April 30, 1955, other than those assets representing or acquired by partnership earnings, were acquired with contributions of Marie’s own money and property. By his own admission, Dean’s contributions to the partnership consisted principally of services and not of money or property. (Pltf. Ex. 2 and 3.)

7. On April 28, 1955, Marie and Dean agreed to dissolve the partnership and in connection therewith to sell all of the tangible partnership assets to the defendant Coast Timber Company, Inc. (hereafter referred to as Coast), a corporation then newly-formed and solely-owned by Dean. This agreement was made and executed in writing by Marie, Dean and Coast. By the terms of the agreement, as consideration for the sale Coast agreed to assume all liabilities of the partnership and to pay the difference between the book value of the assets and the liabilities it assumed. Payment of $5,000 in cash was to be made to Marie “in full and complete satisfaction of all of her right, title, interest and equity in the assets.” The balance of the consideration was to be paid to Dean in installments. (Pltf. Ex. 2(4) and’ 3.)

8. Since the total partnership book net worth as of April 30, 1955, amounted to $91,942,02, Marie’s one-half interest in the partnership book net worth as of that date amounted to $45,971.01.

9. On April 30, 1955, the partnership was dissolved and the partnership assets and liabilities were distributed. Marie received the agreed $5,000, and she has never received anything more than that sum in respect of her total one-half interest in the partnership. (Pltf. Ex. 2 and 3.)

10. Notwithstanding the terms of the agreement described in Finding 7 above, the actual distribution of the partnership assets and liabilities resulted in Dean, individMally, receiving partnership assets having a net worth (book values of specific assets transferred to less specific liabilities assumed by Dean) of $50,886.72 and Dean’s corporation, Coast, receiving partnership assets having a net worth (book values of specific assets transferred to less specific liabilities assumed by Coast) of $41,055.30. (Pltf. Ex. 4 and 5.)

11. The fair market values of the tangible partnership assets which were transferred to Dean and to Coast on April 30, 1955 totalled at least $127,522.-40, based upon evidence showing the sales prices received or trade-in values allowed on subsequent dispositions of certain specifically identified assets by Dean and Coast to unrelated third-party purchasers in transactions occurring within the 18 months immediately following April 30, 1955. The specific assets on which this valuation is evidenced were depreciating items of logging machinery, vehicles, buildings, and an airplane which would not have appreciated in fair market value during the time between the partnership transfer (April 30, 1955) and the subsequent sales and trade-ins. (Pltf. Ex. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.)

12. The fair market values of the intangible partnership assets which were transferred to Dean and Coast on April [173]*17330, 1955, totalled $92,141.83, discounting the book amount of accounts receivable by the sum of $12,282.42 subsequently determined to be uncollectible. (Pltf. Ex. 5.)

13. The combined total fair market value of the transferred partnership assets as of April 30, 1955, was therefore at least $219,664.23. The partnership real net worth, based on this minimum fair market value of assets, less the liabilities of $41,153.75, was thus $178,-510.48, and Marie’s, one-half interest fairly valued, was therefore at least $89,-255.24 at the time of dissolution and transfer.

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Bluebook (online)
272 F. Supp. 170, 19 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1644, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10862, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-lansing-cand-1967.