Task: songer_typeiss

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals.
Your task is to determine the general category of issues discussed in the opinion of the court. Choose among the following categories. Criminal and prisioner petitions- includes appeals of conviction, petitions for post conviction relief, habeas corpus petitions, and other prisoner petitions which challenge the validity of the conviction or the sentence or the validity of continued confinement. Civil - Government - these will include appeals from administrative agencies (e.g., OSHA,FDA), the decisions of administrative law judges, or the decisions of independent regulatory agencies (e.g., NLRB, FCC,SEC). The focus in administrative law is usually on procedural principles that apply to administrative agencies as they affect private interests, primarily through rulemaking and adjudication. Tort actions against the government, including petitions by prisoners which challenge the conditions of their confinement or which seek damages for torts committed by prion officials or by police fit in this category. In addition, this category will include suits over taxes and claims for benefits from government. Diversity of Citizenship - civil cases involving disputes between citizens of different states (remember that businesses have state citizenship). These cases will always involve the application of state or local law. If the case is centrally concerned with the application or interpretation of federal law then it is not a diversity case. Civil Disputes - Private - includes all civil cases that do not fit in any of the above categories. The opposing litigants will be individuals, businesses or groups.

ALDRICH, Circuit Judge.
Taxpayer, who has been in the fish business for many years, was a stockholder in a fish meal corporation, New Bedford Fish Products Corporation, hereinafter Products, and in a fish trucking concern, Meso, Inc. Fish meal processing is a potential nuisance, and Products held the required municipal license. In 1952 its plant was temporarily shut down because business became unprofitable. In 1956 it was sold. Because the license was not transferable, the purchaser could not simply buy the assets, but required the stock. Prior to the sale, taxpayer had loaned $42,874 to Products and $12,-216 to Meso, and other stockholders had made similar loans. Products was substantially indebted to Meso. The purchaser demanded that Products be free from debt after transfer, except to the extent that indebtedness might be represented by notes, in which event the notes were to be transferred to her without recourse. In response, Meso, whose stockholders and creditors were the same as Products’, cancelled its indebtedness. This obligation had been Meso’s sole asset. Products issued notes to its remaining creditors, including taxpayer, which were thereupon endorsed over to the purchaser. In return, the purchaser tendered cash and notes totalling $75,000, of which taxpayer received $21,562.
Taxpayer charged off his Products and Meso stock in his 1956 return as long-term capital losses. No question arises as to this. Next, he sought to deduct the debt owed him by Meso as a business bad debt becoming worthless during the taxable year. The government claims that it was not a business debt. This involves considerations that we need not go into. But the purchaser paid enough for Products so that a partial payment could have been made on its indebtedness to Meso. Accordingly, Meso’s total relinquishment of the indebtedness was a voluntary capital contribution by persons, including taxpayer, who were at once its stockholders, its creditors, and stockholder-creditors of Products. It was, in fact, so entered on Products’ books. In effect taxpayer got more out of Products and less, i. e., nothing, out of Meso, but this was the result of his own action and did not entitle him to claim, vis-a-vis the government, that the debt owed him by Meso was worthless. Raffold Process Corp. v. Commissioner, 1 Cir., 1946, 153 F.2d 168; Liggett’s Estate v. Commissioner, 10 Cir., 1954, 216 F.2d 548; Bratton v. Commissoner, 6 Cir., 1954, 217 F.2d 486. We are not concerned with what might have been the situation had Meso received a pro rata dividend on its indebtedness as an ordinary creditor of Products.
Similarly, taxpayer cannot assert what might have happened had he not sold the notes he received from Products against his indebtedness. Obviously, he cannot— and does not — say that he was paid for the stock and not for the notes. All he can claim is a loss. Levy v. Commissioner, 2 Cir., 1942, 131 F.2d 544, cert. den. Levy v. Helvering, 318 U.S. 780, 63 S.Ct. 858, 87 L.Ed. 1148; Graham Mill & Elevator Co. v. Thomas, 5 Cir., 1945, 152 F.2d 564; Von Hoffman Corp. v. Commissioner, 8 Cir., 1958, 253 F.2d 828; cf. Mitchell v. Commissioner, 2 Cir., 1951, 187 F.2d 706. This he has been allowed.
Judgment will be entered affirming the decision of the Tax Court.

Question: What is the general category of issues discussed in the opinion of the court?
A. criminal and prisoner petitions
B. civil - government
C. diversity of citizenship
D. civil - private
E. other, not applicable
F. not ascertained
Answer:

Answer: B