Zenz v. Quinlivan
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
213 F.2d 914 (1954)
- Written by Eric Miller, JD
Facts
Carl Zenz founded Carl Zenz & Associates Company, a closely held corporation. Zenz died, making his widow (the taxpayer) (plaintiff) the owner of all 108 issued shares of stock. The taxpayer subsequently married another man, who took over the corporation. After this marriage ended in divorce, the taxpayer sought to dispose of the business. A prospective buyer purchased 47 shares of the taxpayer’s stock. The corporation redeemed the remaining 61 shares using profits and earnings. However, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (the commissioner) deemed the redemption to be a taxable dividend and assessed a deficiency. The taxpayer challenged this assessment in federal district court. The court sustained the assessment, reasoning that the taxpayer was attempting to avoid paying taxes on the earnings and profits used for the redemption. The taxpayer appealed. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Gourley, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 812,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 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.
