Opinion
11486-19 11637-19 11644-19 11645-19 11646-19 12015-19
03-03-2023
KENNETH J. LILL, JR., ET AL., Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER
Mark V. Holmes, Judge
These cases are on the Court's June 12, 2023 trial calendar. They all arise from respondent's challenge to a microcaptive-insurance arrangement created for a C corporation named Industrial Furnace Company by Retained Risk Managers in Arizona using Nevisian law. On February 23, 2023 the parties moved for a third continuance so we spoke with them today about case development.
It turns out that none of the cases arising from captives arranged by Retained Risk have been tried yet. (One was set for trial earlier this year but settled. Another may be heading for trial in early 2024.) It seems likely that once one of the Retained Risk captives gets to trial, settlement will become likelier in others. The Court also has a very large numbers - more than 300 at last count - of microcaptive-insurance cases before it. All this makes it reasonable to get these cases on a pretrial-order track.
It is therefore
ORDERED that the parties' February 23, 2023 motion for a continuance is granted in that these cases are stricken from the Court's June 12, 2023 Buffalo trial calendar. It is also
ORDERED that this division of the court retains jurisdiction. It is also
ORDERED that on or before April 3, 2023 the parties file a joint status report proposing a pretrial order that shall include dates for at least the following events:
• Identification of each witness expected to be called by name, address, qualifications of the witness, and a brief summary of the expected testimony of each such witness.
• Completion of formal discovery.
• Deadline for filing discovery motions.
• Deadline for exchange and lodging with the Court of expert witness reports.
• Deadline for filing any motions concerning stipulations of fact.
• Deadline for submitting any dispositive motions.
• Deadline for submitting any other pretrial motions (e.g. motions in limine to exclude evidence or to shift the burden of proof).
• Identification and exchange of any exhibits that each party may offer into evidence as part of his case in chief (excluding only exhibits to be used solely for impeachment).
• Lodging of stipulations of fact with Court.
• Submission of trial memoranda with Court.
These dates should be proposed so that these cases can be ready for trial by January 8, 2024. The Court expects, however, to be flexible in changing these dates as developments in the hundreds of microcaptive-insurance cases occur.