- 15 -
Sunnen, 333 U.S. at 602. “If the legal matters determined in the
earlier case differ from those raised in the second case,
collateral estoppel has no bearing on the situation.” Id. at
599-600; see also Sydnes v. Commissioner, 647 F.2d 813, 814-815
(8th Cir. 1981), affg. 74 T.C. 864 (1980).
Petitioner’s principal argument against the application of
collateral estoppel is that the controlling facts and applicable
legal rules either have changed or differ significantly from
those considered in Campbell I. We reject petitioner’s principal
argument.11
Except for the taxable years and the amounts at issue, the
relevant facts in Campbell I and in this case are identical. The
per capita distributions made to petitioner during 1991, 1993,
11In Commissioner v. Sunnen, 333 U.S. at 601 (fn. ref.
omitted), the Supreme Court suggested that “if the relevant facts
in the two cases are separable, even though they be similar or
identical, collateral estoppel does not govern the legal issues
which recur in the second case.” It is not clear whether
petitioner is relying on the separable facts doctrine articulated
in Sunnen; however, even if he is, we still must reject his
argument. The separable facts doctrine has been questioned and
limited by the Supreme Court in Montana v. United States, 440
U.S. 147 (1979). See also Peck v. Commissioner, 904 F.2d at 527-
528 (“The Supreme Court has rejected the separable facts doctrine
in general terms, but has implied that it might have continuing
validity in the tax context.”). In addition, two Courts of
Appeals have concluded that the separable facts doctrine is not
good law after Montana. See American Med. Intl., Inc. v.
Secretary of HEW, 677 F.2d 118, 120 (D.C. Cir. 1981) (per
curiam); Hicks v. Quaker Oats Co., 662 F.2d 1158, 1167 (5th Cir.
1981). Whether or not the separable facts doctrine has any
continued viability, we conclude that there is no basis for
applying the doctrine in this case.
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