1930 BTA LEXIS 2076 | B.T.A. | 1930
Lead Opinion
The evidence herein establishes that in 1920 and 1921 the petitioner was embarrassed, harassed, annoyed, and interfered with by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Ohio, with the result that its reputation and standing in Catlettsburg, Ky., and vicinity, and among its customers and depositors were injured, its earning power was crippled, and its earnings less than they otherwise would have been. The petitioner brought an action against the Federal Reserve Bank for the wrongful acts of the latter and asked for $50,000 actual and $100,000 exemplary or punitive damages. The action was settled by payment to the petitioner of $18,500 in satisfaction of its claim, out of which the petitioner, paid costs and expenses of the suit. The net proceeds, amounting to $13,792.96, have been included by the respondent in the petitioner’s income for 1925, the year in which the compromise was effected and the money paid. The petitioner contends that no part of this amount constitutes income, but was paid to compensate for injuries done to the petitioner, the effect of the payment being to place the petitioner in the same position as it was before the wrongful or unlawful acts were committed by the Federal Reserve Bank.
The respondent has included the entire amount of the settlement in the petitioner’s income for 1925. The burden is on the petitioner to show that the respondent’s action is erroneous. We are of opinion that it has failed to meet that burden. The record fails to show that there was damage done to the petitioner’s reputation and business other than that reflected in reduced earnings for the period of the coercive acts of the Federal Reserve Bank. However, assuming that such damage did occur, we are unable to determine from the evidence what its extent or amount was, or what part of the settlement was intended to compensate for it and what part to make up to the petitioner the amount it would have earned except for the course pursued by the Reserve Bank. On the record we must affirm the respondent.
Judgment will be entered for the respondent.