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plaintiffs claimed as damages in the lawsuit (i.e., as losses)
that they suffered and continue to suffer
lost profits, loss of business, loss of business repu-
tation, loss of the reputation of FRED HENRY and DONNA
HENRY as orchid growers, diminution of sales, incurred
additional business expenses, have had a reduction in
the value of the business, have lost plants, have
suffered a diminution in the value of their nursery as
a result of chemical contamination of the soil, and
have suffered other consequential losses and damages.
Henry v. Commissioner, 77 T.C.M. (CCH) at 2214, 1999 T.C.M. (RIA)
at 1244-1245.
Although the plaintiffs claimed damages in the lawsuit for
injury to their business reputation and injury to their reputa-
tion as orchid growers, at the conclusion of the trial in that
lawsuit, which lasted about a month, the plaintiffs’ attorney
informed the jury in closing arguments that the plaintiffs were
not asking for damages for loss of reputation. He stated in
pertinent part:
Now, this is probably the simplest economic chart
ever presented in a case, but basically what it boils
down to is this. Remember we had Dr. Reavy come up and
explain to you that he looked at the inventory, and
what he did, he only did one thing with the inventory,
and that is, he reduced it from retail to wholesale.
In other words, when they had done the inventory, they
did it on a retail basis, and Dr. Reavy said, no, wait
a minute; if he’s going to be a wholesale grower, we’ll
put a wholesale value on it. Dr. Reavy actually re-
duced the inventory to this 3,254,000 to reflect the
wholesale value of the plants. Then, if you may remem-
ber, what we did then was I said, now, Dr. Reavy, if
you figure in just eight percent a year on that money
for the last two years, what are the losses to Fred and
Donna because of the loss of their inventory. When you
figure in the eight percent for two years, it comes out
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