- 14 - Petitioners’ claim is that the Bell payments were for services. The issue in the State court was whether Bell had committed acts of theft, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty against decedent. The State court found that she had not and, although the State court found that the payments there in question were gifts, the State court did not have before it the question of whether the payments were gifts or, alternatively, for services. It was not "essential" for the State court to find that the payments there in question were gifts for it to find that Bell had neither stolen anything from decedent nor breached a fiduciary duty. Because the issue in this case was not actually litigated in the State court, collateral estoppel is inapplicable, and petitioners are not estopped from denying that the Bell payments were gifts. III. The Bell Gifts A. Introduction Decedent kept handwritten journals showing his personal expenditures (the ledgers). The ledgers show the Bell payments, and, from the Bell payments, respondent calculated the Bell gifts. Petitioners concede that some of the Bell gifts are, indeed, gifts (i.e., those specifically annotated as birthday gifts, Valentine’s Day gifts, or gifts for other special occasions). Petitioners maintain that the remainder of the Bell gifts (the contested Bell gifts) are not gifts but reimbursementsPage: Previous 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Next
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