The Taxation of Defamation Recoveries: Toward Establishing Its Reputation

Authors

David D. Willoughby

First Page

621

Abstract

This Recent Development advocates that courts adopt the Ninth Circuit's Roemer approach to determine the nature of dam-ages for injury to reputation by focusing on the attack rather than the effects of the injury, but suggests that courts replace the Ninth Circuit's reliance on state law with a uniform standard. Part II of this Recent Development traces the evolution of the personal in-jury exemption and the confusing judicial treatment that courts have accorded economic damages which result from personal injuries. Part III of this Recent Development discusses the most recent treatment of economic damages by examining the Tax Court's decisions in Glynn, Roemer, and Church and the Ninth Circuit's decision in Roemer. Part IV advocates using the Ninth Circuit's approach, which would allow courts to determine whether to tax awards for injury to personal or business reputation by examining the nature of the attacks rather than the effects of the injuries that those attacks cause. Part IV suggests, however, that courts replace the Roemer court's reliance on state law for determining the personal or business character of damaging attacks with a uniform standard.

Recommended Citation

David D. Willoughby, The Taxation of Defamation Recoveries: Toward Establishing Its Reputation, 37 Vanderbilt Law Review 621 (1984)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/vol37/iss3/5