Charles Leonard Braden and Joice Stieber Braden - Page 19

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             employment and had executed a comprehensive, general                     
             release of all claims against the employer.  See Morabito                
             v. Commissioner, supra; Taggi v. United States, supra at                 
             745.  In each case, the court rejected the taxpayer’s                    
             attempt to exclude all or a portion of the payment from                  
             income under section 104(a)(2).  Neither taxpayer had made               
             a claim against the employer before accepting the payment,               
             and both courts held that, accordingly, there was no                     
             settlement of a specific claim but merely a waiver of                    
             general rights.  See Morabito v. Commissioner, supra;                    
             Taggi v. United States, supra at 746.  Both courts further               
             held that the lack of any allocation of the payment to                   
             damages excludable under section 104(a)(2) required the                  
             entire amount to be included in income.  See Morabito v.                 
             Commissioner, supra; Taggi v. United States, supra at 746.               
             In Morabito we stated the legal principle as follows:                    

                  Where a settlement agreement contains a number                      
                  of claims, does not allocate the portion                            
                  excludable under section 104(a)(2), and there                       
                  is no other evidence that a specific claim was                      
                  meant to be singled out, the court must consider                    
                  the entire amount taxable. * * *                                    

                  The instant case is much different.  Petitioner had                 
             made a formal claim against State Farm for damages                       
             incurred in an automobile accident, and State Farm paid                  
             an amount limited to the motorist/underinsured motorist                  





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