- 20 - 680 (1982). While the underlying litigation was certainly adversarial, by the time the settlement agreement was executed on December 2, the parties were no longer adversaries. See Robinson v. Commissioner, supra at 133. An agreement in principle had already been reached on Thanksgiving Day, and was expressly referred to in the settlement agreement. The record reflects that Blount was not concerned with the amount of the settlement proceeds that was allocated to tortlike personal injury damages vis-a-vis other damages. As a result, petitioner in effect was able to unilaterally allocate the proceeds. The defendant's only concerns were that all of petitioner's claims be settled and that nothing be done to compromise the deductibility of the settlement to Blount. While not controlling, the deductibility of the payor's payment is a factor to be considered in determining whether the parties have adverse interests in regard to their allocations. See McKay v. Commissioner, 102 T.C. at 485. Indeed, we agree with respondent that, to the extent that such an allocation resulted in a larger net recovery to petitioner and had no corresponding negative impact on Blount, such allocation was equally favorable to Blount in that it aided its ability to resolve the lawsuit for the smallest settlement payment amount possible. Moreover, as in Robinson v. Commissioner, supra at 129, and Bagley v. Commissioner, supra at 409, but unlike McKay v. Commissioner, supra at 472, the allocation did not accuratelyPage: Previous 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Next
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