- 28 - of such proceeds would not be includible in DCI's gross income, but would be includible in the gross income of the person to whom the District Court awarded such portion; and DCI would not be entitled to deduct any portion of the proceeds of the Farmers lawsuit that is at issue.19 If we were to find that the District Court awarded all of the proceeds of the Farmers lawsuit to DCI, all of those proceeds would be includible in DCI's gross income for the year at issue. In that event, we would have to address DCI's alternative contention that, because of a purported agree- ment entered into between DCI and the Diamonds pursuant to which DCI was to pay a portion of the proceeds of the Farmers lawsuit to the Diamonds, it is entitled to the deduction that it claimed under section 162 for the year at issue. We turn first to whether the District Court awarded all, or only a portion, of the proceeds of the Farmers lawsuit to DCI.20 In deciding that question, we shall focus on the District Court's opinions and judgments in the Farmers lawsuit, the pretrial order submitted in that lawsuit, and certain evidence presented at the 19 See supra note 16. We acknowledge that, for a given taxable year, including an item in gross income and then deducting a portion of it will generally produce the same result reached by excluding that portion from gross income and deducting no portion of the item in question. However, we must reach that result by following the path mandated by the facts that we have found and the applicable law. 20 Although there was a dispute at trial as to whether respon- dent's answer raised a new matter and altered the burden of proof, our determinations are made on the record without regard to that question.Page: Previous 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Next
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