Thomas L. Freytag and Sharon N. Freytag - Page 16

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               In this case, under 11 U.S.C. sec. 505(a), the bankruptcy              
          court determined the liability of petitioner for the Federal                
          taxes and additions to tax asserted in respondent's notice of               
          deficiency and in respondent's amended proofs of claim.                     
          Petitioner did not dispute the underlying deficiencies, and the             
          court rejected the only opposition raised by petitioner to                  
          respondent's claims when it found that petitioner was not an                
          "innocent spouse".                                                          
               Petitioner's motion is based upon the premise that the                 
          bankruptcy court has resolved every issue in the matter before              
          us.  From this record, we agree with that premise in general.               
          But, petitioner then argues that the bankruptcy court's                     
          determination of these matters terminated the jurisdiction of               
          this Court.                                                                 
               The doctrine of res judicata "operates not as a                        
          jurisdictional bar but by way of estoppel."  Jefferson v.                   
          Commissioner, 50 T.C. 963, 966 (1968).  "This characteristic of             


               7(...continued)                                                        
               The rule provides that when a court of competent                       
               jurisdiction has entered a final judgment on the merits of a           
               cause of action, the parties to the suit and their privies             
               are thereafter bound "not only as to every matter which was            
               offered and received to sustain or defeat the claim or                 
               demand, but as to any other admissible matter which might              
               have been offered for that purpose."  The judgment puts an             
               end to the cause of action, which cannot again be brought              
               into litigation between the parties upon any ground                    
               whatever, absent fraud or some other factor invalidating the           
               judgment. [Commissioner v. Sunnen, 333 U.S. 591, 597 (1948);           
               citations omitted.]                                                    




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