Helvering v. Bashford’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

58 federal appellate · 6 district ·

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 132 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The petitioner contends, we think correctly, that the section * * * is intended to enlarge the connotation of the term ‘a party to a reorganization’. * * * But the crucial question is whether Glidden was a party to the reorganization thus effected. Glidden received nothing from the shareholders of Indiana. The exchange was between Indiana’s shareholders and Ohio. * * * Glidden was, in the transaction in question, no more than the efficient agent in bringing about a reorganization. It was not, in the natural meaning of the term, a party to the reorganization. “It is argued, however, that Ohio was the alter ego of Glidden; that in truth Glidden was the principal and Ohio its agent; that we should look at the realities of the situation, disregard the corporate entity of Ohio, and treat it as Glidden. But to do so would be to ignore the purpose of the reorganization sections of the statute, which, as we have said, is that where, pursuant to a plan, the interest of the stockholders of a corporation continues to be definitely represented in substantial measure in a new or different one, then to the extent, but only to the extent, of that continuity of interest, the exchange is to be treated as one not giving rise to present gain or loss. If cash or ‘other property,’ that is, property other than stock or securities of the reorganized corporations, is received, present gain or loss must be recognized. Was not Glidden’s prior preference stock ‘other property’ in the sense that its ow”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United Light & Power Co. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue · 174 F. Supp. 702 - Maine Steel, Inc. v. United States

2. ““Any direct ownership by Atlas of Peerless, Black Diamond, and Union [Companies] was transitory and without real substance; it was part of a plan which contemplated the immediate transfer of the stock or the assets or both of the three reorganized companies to the new Atlas subsidiary. Hence, under the rule stated, the above distinctions are not of legal significance. The difference in the degree of stock control by the parent company of its subsidiary and the difference in the method or means by which that control was secured are not material. The participation of Atlas in the reorganization of its competitors into a new company which became a subsidiary did not make Atlas ‘a party to the reorganization.’ The continuity of interest required by the rule is lacking.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United Light & Power Co. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue · Anheuser-Busch, Inc. v. Commissioner