26- - personal property. The booklet merely lists items of personal property that Mrs. Oliver and her secretary claim were damaged because of the heavy rain and wind in 1988. We do not find a dry cleaning invoice convincing as to whether the items cleaned had been damaged by the heavy rain and wind. In addition, the independent, court-appointed expert concluded that out of 230 disputed items, 119 had no apparent water damage; 62 items had possible or probable water damage; and it was impossible to determine whether the remaining 49 items suffered any water damage. Petitioners argue that we should apply the rule in Cohan v. Commissioner, 39 F.2d 540, 543-544 (2d Cir. 1930), and approximate the amounts of the losses sustained by them as a result of the 1988 storm. Respondent argues that the approximation rule described in the Cohan case is inapplicable here. We agree with respondent because petitioners have failed to prove that they sustained casualty losses in excess of their insurance reimbursement and because their inexactitude in substantiating such casualty losses is of their own making. Based on the facts and circumstances contained in this record, we hold that petitioners did not sustain a casualty loss with respect to the 1988 rain and wind storm in excess of their recovered insurance reimbursement. Therefore, they are not entitled to a casualty loss deduction for the damage that resulted from that storm.Page: Previous 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Next
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