Arkansas Best Corporation v. Commissioner

Arkansas Best (plaintiff), a firm that invested in and controlled other companies, became majority owner of a bank and later sold most of its bank stock at a roughly $10 million loss when the bank's business declined, claiming an ordinary-loss deduction based on its business purpose in acquiring the stock; the Commissioner (defendant) treated the loss as a capital loss instead, and the tax court initially sided with Arkansas Best based on its business motive before the Eighth Circuit reversed.