Ravitch v. Pricewaterhouse

�1 Appellant, Carl Ravitch, appeals from the order entered December 22, 2001 in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. The order granted judgment on the pleadings in favor of Appellees. We affirm. The well reasoned opinion of the trial court aptly sets forth the facts and procedural history as follows:

In the early 1980′s, Ravitch and the members of the class he seeks to represent invested as limited partners in real estate limited partnerships managed by Commercial Properties Group (“CPG”). The partnerships were tax shelters. By using a method called the “Rule of 78[']s” to calculate the interest that the partnership paid on real estate loans, the partnership generated large short-term losses. CPG employed Price Waterhouse to prepare the tax returns for the partnerships, to prepare the Schedule K-1 for each limited partner showing each partner’s share of the loss, and to audit and render opinions on the partnerships’ financial statements.

On June 6, 1983, the IRS issued Revenue Ruling 83- 84, 1983-1 C.B. 97, specifically disapproving of the Rule of 78[']s. Nonetheless, Price Waterhouse continued to use the Rule of 78[']s for the partnerships. Ravitch claims that Price Waterhouse told him and other limited partners that the revenue ruling did not apply retroactively and, therefore, did not apply to the limited partnerships.