Helvering v. Elkhorn Coal Co.
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
95 F.2d 732 (1938)
- Written by Eric Miller, JD
Facts
The Elkhorn Coal & Coke Company (the old company) shared most of its officers and shareholders with the Mill Creek Company. The officers wished to consolidate ownership of mines in a particular area of West Virginia under the management of one company, and so it was decided that the old company would transfer its mine, mining plant, and mining equipment in that area to Mill Creek. However, prior to this transfer, the officers formed a new company, Elkhorn Coal Company (Elkhorn) (plaintiff), to which they transferred all property of the old company except for the property to be transferred to Mill Creek. This amounted to a majority of the old company’s assets, which were transferred in exchange for 6,100 shares of Elkhorn stock, which were in turn distributed as a dividend to the stockholders. Several days later, the old company’s remaining assets were transferred to Mill Creek as planned, in exchange for 1,000 shares of capital stock in Mill Creek. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Guy Helvering (defendant) deemed the transfer to Mill Creek a taxable event. Elkhorn challenged this determination before the United States Board of Tax Appeals. The board found in favor of Elkhorn. Helvering appealed. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Parker, J.)
Dissent (Watkins, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 820,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 989 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
