Audano v. United States

• Decision Date: 26 June 1970
• Docket Number: No. 28306.,28306.
• Parties: Olga K. AUDANO and B. Randol Hardwick, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

428 F.2d 251 (1970)

Olga K. AUDANO and B. Randol Hardwick, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 28306.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

June 26, 1970.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Gene A. Castleberry, U. S. Dept. of Justice, Tax Div., Fort Worth, Tex., Johnnie M. Walters, Asst. Atty. Gen., Meyer Rothwacks, Atty., Tax Div. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., Eldon B. Mahon, U. S. Atty., William L. Johnson, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., Fort Worth, Tex., William A. Friedlander, Stanley I. Ruby, Attys., Tax Div., U. S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., Lee A. Jackson, Atty., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for appellant.

Roger Norman, Fort Worth, Tex., for appellees, Shannon, Gracey, Ratliff & Miller, Fort Worth, Tex., of counsel.

Before WISDOM, AINSWORTH and CLARK, Circuit Judges.

AINSWORTH, Circuit Judge:

In this case we are required to determine the proper tax treatment of certain payments made by a medical partnership of which taxpayer¹ was a member to three trusts set up by taxpayer for the benefit of his children. These payments were made as rent for the use of medical, surgical, and other equipment used in the partnership business, which equipment taxpayer had transferred to the trusts and which the partnership then leased, and ultimately acquired, from the trusts. This equipment comprised the assets of the trusts. Principally at issue here is whether, under the circumstances attending the transfers in trust, leaseback, and subsequent sale of the equipment, the trusts should be recognized as valid for tax purposes. Also questioned is the reasonableness of the rental payments made by the partnership to the trusts. If the rental payments were not ordinary and necessary business expenses of the partnership, they were not deductible by the partners in their calculations of their individual returns. If the trusts are not to be recognized for tax purposes, the payments received as rentals by them were taxable as income to taxpayer.

This is a tax refund suit brought by Dr. B. Randol Hardwick and his former wife, Olga K. Audano, to recover income taxes and interest assessed against them and collected by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue in the amount of $10,030.65 for the taxable years 1960 and 1961. The case was tried to a jury, which answered special interrogatories in favor of taxpayer, and the District Court entered a judgment on the jury's verdict. At the end of taxpayer's case and then at the close of all the evidence,² the Government moved for a directed verdict. Upon the entry of the judgment, the Government moved for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, alternatively, a new trial. All these motions were denied, and the Government appeals from the judgment and the order overruling its motion for a judgment n. o. v.³

The undisputed facts and the inferences that may be drawn from these facts points so strongly and conclusively against the reasonableness of the rentals paid and the existence of bona fide trusts that reasonable men could not arrive at a contrary verdict. Boeing Company v. Shipman, 5 Cir., 1969, 411 F.2d 365, 374 (en banc); cf. Helvering v. Clifford, 309 U.S. 331, 60 S.Ct. 554, 84 L.Ed. 788 (1940); Payton v. United States, 5 Cir., 1970, 425 F.2d 1324; Chace v. United States, 5 Cir., 1970, 422 F.2d 292; Furman v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 5 Cir., 1967, 391 F.2d 22; Van Zandt v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 5 Cir., 1965, 341 F.2d 440. Therefore, we reverse the judgment of the District Court and remand the case with instructions that a judgment notwithstanding the verdict be entered in favor of the United States.

I.

Taxpayer began the general practice of medicine in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1953. In the practice of his profession he acquired, among other facilities, medical and surgical equipment, furniture, and supplies. On January 1, 1957, taxpayer entered into a medical partnership agreement with Dr. Darrell W. Boren. In 1958, taxpayer's brother, Dr. Jack Hardwick, joined the partnership. This partnership was known as the "Ridglea Clinic." Until 1959, the "medical equipment"⁴ used by the Clinic and in issue here was recognized by the partners as property belonging to taxpayer.

Under three instruments, dated January 1, 1959, and showing notarization on that date, taxpayer created a trust for each of his three children (two daughters and a son). By the same instruments he transferred to each trust a certain undivided interest "in and to all of the medical and surgical equipment and non-expendable supplies owned by Creator and presently used in the operation of * * * Ridglea Clinic." The only differences among the trusts were the portions transferred for the benefit of each child: The son was given a one-sixth undivided interest, and each daughter was given a one-twelfth undivided interest. Taxpayer also executed three other documents, one for each trust and each bearing the date of January 1, 1959, by which he set forth the transfer of the specific undivided interest in the medical equipment to the trustees to hold for the benefit of the trust. Each document bore a receipt signed by the three trustees and dated January 1, 1959. The three trustees designated in the trust agreements and the separate conveyances were taxpayer, taxpayer's lawyer (Joe H. Eidson, Jr.), and taxpayer's accountant (Herbert E. Dickey).

Six basically identical instruments, three dated January 1, 1960, and three dated January 1, 1961, were signed by taxpayer as donor and by taxpayer, Dickey, and Eidson as trustees. Each instrument transferred an undivided interest in the medical equipment to the three Hardwick trusts. After the transfer in 1961, the son's trust was to own a one-half undivided interest in the equipment used by the Ridglea Clinic, and each daughter's trust was to own a one-fourth undivided interest in this equipment.

The medical equipment transferred to the trusts had been purchased by taxpayer through the years since he began his practice in 1953. The total cost of the equipment acquired during the years 1953-1959 was $14,570.68. Depreciation deductions on the equipment had reduced its basis, at the end of 1960, by $8,457.11. Taxpayer and the Government disagree regarding the value of this equipment during the years here in issue. The Government assigns the equipment an approximate value of $14,000 in 1959. Taxpayer, on the other hand, considers the equipment to have had a fair market value of approximately $21,000. The disagreement results from the parties' differing estimates of the value of an X-ray machine taxpayer had purchased at a forced sale in 1953 for $3,500. Taxpayer estimates that the machine was worth $10,000, and the Government looks to the cost figure.⁵

Beginning in 1957 or 1958, when the partnership was comprised of taxpayer and Dr. Boren, the partnership agreed to pay rent to taxpayer for the use of his medical equipment in the operation of the partnership. Taxpayer was to receive 5 per cent of the partnership's gross receipts as rent for the equipment. When the trusts were created in 1959, after taxpayer's brother had joined the partnership, a commensurate portion of the rent was allocated to the three Hardwick trusts. During 1960, the partnership paid two-thirds of the rentals ($5,331.08) to the trusts and the remainder ($2,665.54) to taxpayer. Over the five-year period 1958-1962 the partnership paid $58,000 in rentals on the equipment, of which the trusts received $43,780.

There was never a written lease between taxpayer and the partnership or the partnership and the trusts regarding the medical equipment. The record indicates that a lease was not signed between the trusts and the partnership because the partners disagreed regarding the sharing of partnership income among them and because Dr. Boren and taxpayer's brother did not intend to pay rent unless taxpayer was an income-producing member of the partnership.

At the beginning of 1961, the partnership orally agreed to lease the trust property for rent amounting to 10 per cent of the partnership's gross receipts in 1961 and 1962. In the years 1963, 1964 and 1965 the partnership was to pay 5 per cent of its gross receipts as rent. Then, at the end of 1965, the partnership was to own the equipment at no further cost to it. A draft of this agreement was made, but was not signed by the parties. In connection with this agreement, the partners agreed that each was to receive one-third of the partnership's profits, notwithstanding that taxpayer accounted for more than one-third of the partnership's income.

The partnership paid rent to the trusts in 1961 and 1962. At some time before the end of 1962, taxpayer decided to withdraw from the partnership. His retirement became effective on January 1, 1963. On or about January 1, Dickey and Eidson resigned their positions as trustees of the Hardwick trusts. They were replaced by the Fort Worth National Bank. Also at this time the trusts conveyed the medical equipment to the partnership, now comprised of Dr. Boren and taxpayer's brother, for one dollar, notwithstanding that the partners had agreed to pay rent to the trusts in 1963, 1964, and 1965.

In the District Court, following the close of all the evidence, the case was submitted to the jury on instructions that a transfer in trust and leaseback to the grantor of the trust will be recognized for tax purposes if (1) the trust is irrevocable (which was conceded by the Government), (2) the trustees are independent, and (3) the rentals are reasonable. The jury was also instructed to determine what a reasonable rental for each of the years in issue would have been, should it find the rentals paid to be excessive. The jury found that the trustees acted independently of taxpayer's control and that the rentals paid in 1961 and 1962 were reasonable at the time paid. A judgment in favor of taxpayer, and this appeal by the Government, followed.

II.

Section 162(...