Fred Henry - Page 44




                                        - 44 -                                         

          utation for growing quality plants.  See Fabry v. Commissioner,              
          supra at 306.  In connection with the operation of their nursery,            
          the Fabrys used Benlate on the plants that they grew and suffered            
          extensive damage to those plants, which they claimed was a result            
          of their use of Benlate.  See id. at 307.  The Fabrys sued du                
          Pont in the Court of the Ninth Judicial Circuit in and for Orange            
          County, Florida.  In that suit, they alleged that du Pont had                
          allowed Benlate to become contaminated so as to cause the damages            
          that they suffered from having used it on their stock of plants.             
          The Fabrys demanded a judgment for monetary damages from du Pont             
          under theories of negligence and strict liability in tort.  Under            
          both theories, the Fabrys claimed that they sustained damages in             
          the form of the lost value of destroyed or injured plants, damage            
          to their business reputation, lost income, and the lost value of             
          their business.  After mediation, the suit which the Fabrys                  
          instituted against du Pont was concluded pursuant to a stip-                 
          ulation under which du Pont agreed to pay them $3,800,000.  See              
          id. at 307.                                                                  
               The parties in Fabry v. Commissioner, supra, agreed that                
          $500,000 of the $3,800,000 which du Pont paid the Fabrys was                 
          allocable to damages for loss of business reputation.  See id. at            
          307.  The question presented to us in Fabry was whether, as                  
          argued by the Fabrys, that $500,000 payment was to be excluded               
          from gross income under section 104(a)(2).  See id. at 308.  In              





Page:  Previous  34  35  36  37  38  39  40  41  42  43  44  45  46  47  48  49  50  51  52  53  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011