Rickey v. United States
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
592 F.2d 1251 (1979)
Facts
Horace Rickey, Sr., president of Horace B. Rickey, Inc. (the company), owned 1,292 of the company’s 2,255 shares of common stock. Rickey died, survived by three children: Horace Jr., Robert, and Elizabeth (the taxpayers) (plaintiffs). In accordance with Rickey’s will, the company redeemed his 1,292 shares, paying $383,194 to his estate. The taxpayers reported no income on this redemption, which they treated as a complete redemption of stock owned by Rickey. However, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue determined that the distribution essentially functioned as a dividend to the taxpayers as beneficiaries of Rickey’s estate. The taxpayers waived the right to receive statutory notice of deficiencies, paid the newly assessed taxes, and filed for a refund in federal district court. The court ruled in favor of the taxpayers. The United States government (defendant) appealed. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Fay, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 710,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 44,600 briefs, keyed to 983 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.
