TaxEsqBlog -by Ronald J. Cappuccio, J.D., LL.M.(Tax)

So you think your $1 million liability insurance policy is enough to protect you? Not anymore! A woman who was beaten, raped and robbed at her Marietta, Ga., apartment was awarded $9 million in compensatory damages by a Fulton County State Court jury. One premises liability expert, Gilbert H. Deitch, said $9 million was the largest award he had ever heard for an apartment rape case. The sum also floored the lawyer representing the apartment owners. "Not to take anything away from that woman's suffering, but we were shocked at the amount," said defense attorney Charles Richard "Chip" Carson of Atlanta's Nall & Miller. "It was nine or 10 times larger than anything we'd contemplated during trial," added Carson, who made the unusual move in the middle of the trial of admitting the defendant was liable for the attack and focused only on arguing over damages. Peter A. Law, the plaintiffs counsel, said the circumstances surrounding the attack -- ...

The Internal Revenue Service today issued the 2006 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes. Beginning Jan. 1, 2006, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (including vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be: 44.5 cents per mile for business miles driven; 18 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes; and 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations, other than activities related to Hurricane Katrina relief. The new rate for business miles compares to a rate of 40.5 cents per mile for the first eight months of 2005. In September, the IRS made a special one-time adjustment for the last four months of 2005, raising the rate for business miles to 48.5 cents per mile in response to a sharp increase in gas prices, which topped $3 a gallon.