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104(a)(2) as damages received on account of personal injuries or sickness.
Respondent, in the notice of deficiency, reduced petitioner's income by the
amount of $534,932, which she computed as the amount of legal fees deductible.
The amount was computed by showing legal fees allowable for deduction as
$661,013.30, less legal fees claimed per return of $82,038, leaving
$578,975.30 of deductible legal fees not claimed on the tax return, which,
after the adjustment for 2 percent of adjusted gross income, left a deduction
of $534,932.30. Respondent, in the notice of deficiency, stated that these
legal fees were applicable to the taxable amount of the court-ordered award
and the out-of-court settlement payment and were deductible as miscellaneous
deductions subject to reduction by an amount of 2 percent of adjusted gross
income.
OPINION
The first issue we have for decision is what portion, if any, of the
$1.5 million paid to petitioner by IBP in connection with the settlement of
all claims (other than the tortious interference with present employment
claim, which had been disposed of by an entry of judgment by the District
Court pursuant to the opinion of the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
prior to the time of settlement), was paid in lieu of punitive damages.
The parties are not in disagreement as to the law with respect to the
allocation of an amount paid in a settlement, but have decided disagreements
as to how the law should be applied to the facts of this case. Both parties
agree that where an amount is paid in settlement of a case, the critical
question is, in lieu of what was the settlement amount paid. McKay v.
Commissioner, 102 T.C. 465, 482 (1994); Robinson v. Commissioner, 102 T.C.
116, 126 (1994); Church v. Commissioner, 80 T.C. 1104, 1109 (1983). The
parties agree also that all of the facts surrounding the settlement must be
considered in determining in lieu of what was the settlement amount paid.
McKay v. Commissioner, supra.
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