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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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