Dorrance v. United States, No. CV-09-1284-PHX-GMS, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37745 (D. Ariz. Mar. 19, 2013)

(plaintiff obtained shares of stock upon demutualization of insurance company; plaintiff later sold shares of stock and defendant asserted that plaintiff's income tax basis in stock was zero triggering 100 percent gain on sale of shares; court rejected defendant's position, and set forth computation for calculating basis in stock shares received upon demutualization; court grounded computation of stock basis in manner in which insurance company determined value of demutualized shares for initial public offering (IPO) for purposes of determining how many shares to issue to a policyholder; based on that analysis, court noted that company calculated fixed component for lost voting rights based on one vote per policy holder and variable component for other rights lost based on shareholder's past and anticipated future contributions to company's surplus; court estimated that 60 percent of plaintiff's past contributions were to surplus and 40 percent was for future contributions to surplus which plaintiff had not actually yet paid before receiving shares and are not part of stock basis; thus, plaintiff's basis in stock comprised of fixed component for giving up voting rights and 60 percent of variable component representing past contributions to surplus; end result was the plaintiff's stock basis is slightly over 60 percent of IPO value of stock).