- 10 -
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 587 (1993). As stated by
the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit: "federal law favors
the admission of probative evidence. In fact, (t)he Federal
Rules and practice favor admission of evidence rather than
exclusion if the proffered evidence has any probative value at
all. Doubts must be resolved in favor of admissibility."
Sabatino v. Curtiss Natl. Bank, 415 F.2d 632, 635-636 (5th Cir.
1969) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).
We find the disputed evidence probative to our determination
of value on the Valuation Dates. The best indicator of the value
of unlisted stock often is arm's-length sales of that stock at or
around the time of valuation, Estate of Andrews v. Commissioner,
79 T.C. 938, 940 (1982); Duncan Indus., Inc. v. Commissioner,
73 T.C. 266, 276 (1979), and the disputed evidence reflects the
mechanics of an arm’s-length sale between a willing buyer and
willing, unrelated sellers. Contrary to petitioner’s wishes, we
will not turn our backs to this evidence simply because the dates
of the offers and the redemption agreement were more than 1 year
from the Valuation Dates. See Jayson v. United States, 294 F.2d
808, 810 (5th Cir. 1961) (3-1/2 years not too remote);
Estate of Thompson v. Commissioner, 89 T.C. 619, 628-629 (1987),
revd. on other grounds 864 F.2d 1128 (4th Cir. 1989); see also
Estate of Jung v. Commissioner, 101 T.C. 412, 430-432 (1993), and
the cases cited therein. This passage of time, as well as the
financial data referenced by petitioner and the fact that the
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011