FEI Files Amicus Brief With Supreme Court On Textron Case

On Jan. 27, 2010 Financial Executives International, an association of 15,000 senior financial executives, filed an amicus curiae "friend of the court" brief with the Supreme Court of the United States in support of a petition for review of the U.S. vs. Textron case.


The petition, submitted jointly by FEI's Committee on Taxation and Committee on Corporate Reporting and prepared by the law firm Miller & Chevalier, maintains that a 2007 lower court decision in favor of Textron appropriately balances the competing interests of the IRS, the investing public, and the fairness considerations that protect attorney work product. However, the lower court decision was reversed by the en banc court of appeals and, accordingly, the Supreme Court is now being asked to weigh in on the issue.


"The issues in the Textron case are extremely important to FEI's membership, and have a direct effect on all publicly held companies and their ability to prepare financial statements and efficiently file tax returns," said Matt Miller, FEI's Senior Director of Government Affairs. "We strongly encourage the Court to grant review in this case so that the Court can clarify the scope of work-product protection. We hope the Court will reach a decision that will allow companies to act in the best interest of their shareholders."


The Supreme Court is expected to act upon the Textron petition early this spring. A copy of the FEI brief is available upon request. A brief timeline of the case, along with related actions taken by FEI, can be found in the FEI press release.

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