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grounds 749 S.W.2d 762, 766 (Tex. 1987). In Newspapers, Inc. v.
Matthews, 339 S.W.2d 890, 893 (Tex. 1960), the Texas Supreme
Court reaffirmed that a business is not the subject of libel and
that the defamation, if any, is of the owner of the business and
not the business itself, whether the owner be an individual,
partnership, or corporation.
If as a result of defamatory statements attacking the
individual's character, the individual suffers some impairment of
his professional relationships--in this case, petitioner's
relationship with his patients and hospitals--the injury is to
the person, although it may have derivative consequences for the
business. Roemer v. Commissioner, 716 F.2d 693 (9th Cir. 1983)
(a defamatory attack on one's character should not be confused
with the damage that flows from that injury), revg. 79 T.C. 398
(1982); see also Threlkeld v. Commissioner, 87 T.C. 1294 (1986)
(holding Roemer v. Commissioner, 79 T.C. 398 (1982), revd. 716
F.2d 693 (9th Cir. 1983), will no longer be followed by this
Court and expressing agreement with the reasoning for its
reversal by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit), affd.
848 F.2d 81 (6th Cir. 1988).
As the defamation of an individual is a personal injury
under the law of Texas, the expenses of litigating petitioner's
claim for personal injury are not deductible as ordinary and
necessary expenses incurred in carrying on a trade or business.
Petitioner cites McKay v. Commissioner, 102 T.C. 465 (1994),
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