United States v. Dale King De Bonchamps, United States of America v. Winston S. Cowgill and Geraldine King Cowgill, United States of America v. Ada N. King

278 F.2d 127 UNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. Dale King DE BONCHAMPS, Appellee. UNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. Winston S. COWGILL and Geraldine King Cowgill, Appellees. UNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. Ada N. KING, Appellee. Nos. 16098-16100. United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit. April 8, 1960. Charles K. Rice, Asst. Atty. Gen., Helen A. Buckley, James P. Turner, I. Henry Kutz, Lee A. Jackson, Attorneys, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C., Lynn J. Gillard, U. S. Atty., San Francisco, Cal., for appellant. Henry V. Colby, Joseph B. McKeon, San Francisco, Cal., for appellee. Before CHAMBERS, STEPHENS, POPE, BARNES, HAMLEY, HAMLIN, JERTBERG, MERRILL and KOELSCH, Circuit Judges. MERRILL, Circuit Judge. 1 These three cases, consolidated for our decision, present the question whether legal life tenants are taxable either as owners or as fiduciaries on capital gains realized in sales of portions of the corpus. In all three cases, gains were realized by sales of estates assets. Taxes were paid thereon by the life tenants as owners; claims for refund were made and these actions were brought to recover such refunds. In each action the United States has…