United States v. ENGINEERS'CLUB OF SAN FRANCISCO

Decision Date10 December 1963
Docket NumberNo. 18214,18215.,18214
Citation325 F.2d 204
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. ENGINEERS' CLUB OF SAN FRANCISCO, etc., Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Louis F. Oberdorfer, Asst. Atty. Gen., Lee A. Jackson, Robert N. Anderson, Norman H. Wolfe, and Jerome Fink, Attys., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., Cecil F. Poole, U. S. Atty., and Richard L. Carico, Asst. U. S. Atty., San Francisco, Cal., for appellant.

Severson, Zang, Werson, Berke & Larson, and Kurt W. Melchior, San Francisco, Cal., for appellee.

Before CHAMBERS and DUNIWAY, Circuit Judges, and TAYLOR, District Judge.

FRED M. TAYLOR, District Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of appellee, a nonprofit corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of California, for the amount of excise taxes paid periodically by appellee, from January 1, 1952 through December 31, 1959, on dues and initiation fees collected by it from its members. The District Court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1346, and this court has jurisdiction by virtue of 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

Appellant relies on seven specifications of error which attack the trial court's findings made from facts not in dispute and the court's conclusion that appellee was not a social, athletic or sporting club within the meaning of Section 1710 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 and Section 4241 of the 1954 Code.1

The findings and holding which appellant claims were erroneous are in effect: that during the years in question appellee was not a social club or organization within the meaning of Section 1710 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 and Section 4241 of the 1954 Code; that appellee's luncheon activities were not susceptible of definition; that the facilities furnished by appellee where the club members were free to engage in conversation of their choice served a professional purpose of the club; that the principal purpose of the club was to bring members of the various branches of the engineering profession together to promote familiarity and cooperation; and that the club's social activities were occasional and minor in scope and not a substantial factor in enabling it to secure or retain members.

In essence appellant contends that according to the evidence and the law the appellee was organized and operated as a luncheon or social club (subject to admissions and dues tax) and that the trial court clearly erred in finding and concluding otherwise. We do not agree.

The status of an organization, whether social or nonsocial, is largely a question of fact. Engineers' Club of Los Angeles v. United States, 173 F.Supp. 934, 936 (D.C.Cal., 1959); Turks Head Club v. Broderick, 166 F.2d 877, 882 (1st Cir. 1948).

In substance the trial court found and...

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4 cases
  • Girardi v. Gates Rubber Company Sales Division, Inc.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit
    • December 31, 1963
    ... ... No. 18008 ... United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit ... November 21, 1963 ... Francisco, Cal., for appellant ...         Dayton Denious, Denver, Colo., ... ...
  • Engineers Club of San Francisco v. United States, C-83-5814-CAL.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of California
    • February 12, 1985
    ...asserts that the IRS is collaterally estopped from claiming that plaintiff is a club by virtue of United States v. Engineers Club of San Francisco, 325 F.2d 204 (9th Cir.1963). The Ninth Circuit there affirmed a decision of the district court that plaintiff was not a "social club" within th......
  • United States v. Howe
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit
    • October 25, 1965
    ...as social, athletic, or sporting within the meaning of the tax statute is largely a question of fact. United States v. Engineers' Club of San Francisco, 9 Cir. 1963, 325 F.2d 204. It has been said that the word "social", as used in the statute, "necessarily becomes a term of art, even thoug......
  • Engineers Club of San Francisco v. U.S.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit
    • June 6, 1986
    ...that the government is collaterally estopped from claiming that the Club is a social club by virtue of United States v. Engineers Club of San Francisco, 325 F.2d 204 (9th Cir.1963). We there affirmed the ruling of the district court that Engineers Club was not a "social club" within the mea......

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