“On balance, we find little change in Mr. Bicknell’s manifest attitude toward his long-established domicile,” the court held in its 2013 ruling—seven years after the sale. The court awarded Kansas $42.5 million.

But it didn’t end there. Bicknell, now 86, has spent the past five years unsuccessfully fighting to overturn the ruling. In 2016, the Kansas legislature changed some procedural rules for tax appeals, breathing new life into his case. A new court decision may come as soon as this week. A spokesman for the Kansas Department of Revenue declined to comment. Bicknell’s spokeswoman declined to immediately comment.

California Tries to Force a Turnover
It wasn’t looking good for National Football League star Keyshawn Johnson.

In 2017, California was demanding $2.2 million in taxes for the six years the former wide receiver said he was living out of state. His 11-year career included stints with the New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers. Tax authorities cited Johnson’s real estate holdings in California as evidence of his residency when he was playing for teams elsewhere, according to a California Department of Tax and Fee Administration summary of the case. He built two homes of more than 11,000 square feet and added a 2,000-square-foot gym to a third, the state said. Most of his medical, financial and legal advisers lived in California, and the Los Angeles native even opened a restaurant there, according to the state.

California also argued that an NFL player works only part of the year anyway, so Johnson could consider California his true home while playing somewhere else. They even cited his 1997 autobiography, Just Give Me the Damn Ball!: The Fast Times and Hard Knocks of an NFL Rookie (co-written with Shelley Smith), where he mused about how he always liked to return to California to rest.

“Everybody needs a break,” Johnson wrote, “To me, that meant getting my butt to Los Angeles.”

In a 2017 hearing in Sacramento, Johnson and his lawyers argued that his California real estate holdings were either investment properties or purchases for family members, including for his ex-wife and children.


When Johnson was traded to Tampa Bay in 2000, he ended up opening a restaurant there, too, while building himself a lavish home nearby. In a transcript of the hearing, Johnson’s lawyers argued that California was underestimating the time commitment of a football player. No matter what a contract states, they said, coaches can and do demand more than just the regular season.

“Because you know what they do to you? They look at you and they frown,” Johnson told the State Board of Equalization at the hearing. “It means you better be at [training] camp or we got somebody else to replace you.”

In the end, Johnson won. The board voted that the player, now 46, wasn’t a California resident for five of the six years in question and owed just $218,857 in taxes. This month, California’s Office of Tax Appeals rejected the state’s request to rehear the case. Johnson’s attorney and state authorities declined to comment.