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Court Finds Compelled Purchase Option in SILO Case
In the recently decided AWG Leasing Trust case, No. 1:07-CV-857 (N.D. Ohio 2008), a federal district court found against a taxpayer that engaged in a cross-border sale-leaseback of a waste-to-energy facility located in Germany. The court found, as a matter of fact, that the lessee, a consortium of German municipalities that burned its garbage and purchased electricity from the plant, was “nearly certain” to exercise its fixed price purchase option at the end of the lease term. Based on that finding of a compelled exercise of the purchase option, the court used a “substance over form” legal underpinning to hold that the leaseback was not a “true lease” ' use and possession of the asset were certain to be returned to the lessee at the end of the lease. The case is appealable to the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and we understand at press time that the taxpayers intend to appeal.
The court disregarded the sale-leaseback and disregarded the nonrecourse debt that the taxpayer had incurred to purchase the facility. The overall transaction was recharacterized as a financing (non-true lease) of the equity portion of the purchase price that was paid by the taxpayer lessor to the lessee at closing. This deemed loan from the lessor to the lessee results in original issue discount (interest) income to the lessor. In addition all of the depreciation and interest expense deductions claimed by the taxpayer with respect to the facility and the nonrecourse debt were disallowed.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs
A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners
Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.
Coverage Issues Stemming from Dry Cleaner Contamination Suits
In recent years, there has been a growing number of dry cleaners claiming to be "organic," "green," or "eco-friendly." While that may be true with respect to some, many dry cleaners continue to use a cleaning method involving the use of a solvent called perchloroethylene, commonly known as perc. And, there seems to be an increasing number of lawsuits stemming from environmental problems associated with historic dry cleaning operations utilizing this chemical.