Opinion
22396-19
03-20-2023
CARLITA KILPATRICK, Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER
David Gustafson Judge
This aging case will be tried in about seven weeks at the Tax Court's trial session beginning May 8, 2023. We will order the parties to file a status report about three weeks from now.
The petition was filed more than three years ago in December 2019, and this case is among the very oldest on the calendar for this trial session. On three previous occasions the case has been set for trial but has been continued at the request of the parties, in three motions filed over the years that stated as follows--first in 2020:
3. Based on discussions, the parties intend to conduct an
expansive search to obtain all documents and information relevant to petitioner's claim for innocent spouse relief at issue in this case; because tax years at issue date back as far as 2003, and due to the fact-intensive nature of petitioner's claim, the parties believe this could take considerable time. [Doc. 7, filed 11/19/2020.]
The second motion was filed in 2021:
3. The parties are still working through thousands of pages of documents from the examination of petitioner's 2003-2008, as well as exchanging documents pertaining to petitioner's spouse's criminal proceedings related to those tax years....
4. The parties remain optimistic that a settlement will be reached in this case without the need for trial. [Doc. 17, filed 11/14/2021.]
The third motion was filed in 2022:
3. The parties are still working through thousands of pages of documents from the examination of petitioner's 2003-2008, as
well as exchanging documents pertaining to petitioner's spouse's criminal proceedings related to those tax years....
4. The parties conferred on April 7, 2022 and remain optimistic that a settlement will be reached in this case without the need for trial. [Doc. 23, filed 4/8/2022.]
On January 12, 2023, we filed and served our notice of trial (Doc. 27) and our standing pretrial order ("SPTO"; Doc. 28). No substantive filing has been made by the parties in the last 11 months. The SPTO gave the parties instructions about preparing for trial, including the instruction to file pretrial memoranda by April 17, 2023, and the instruction to file their stipulation and proposed trial exhibits by April 24, 2023.
It is
ORDERED that, no later than April 7, 2023, the parties shall file a joint status report (or, if that is not expedient, then separate reports) advising the Court of their progress in pretrial preparation--especially the preparation of a joint stipulation of facts.