Opinion
23585-17 23593-17 23594-17 25174-18 25175-18
01-24-2023
YOSEF SEHATI A.K.A. JOSEPH SEHATI AND LILLY KOHANIM-SEHATI, ET AL., Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER
L. Paige Marvel Judge
On January 19, 2023, the parties' joint Prehearing Memorandum was filed. In the memorandum, the parties propose to calendar these cases for a special trial session beginning the week of July 17, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. The Court will refer to the prehearing memorandum as the parties joint proposed pretrial schedule.
A complete pretrial schedule that incorporates the parties' suggestions and imposes additional pretrial requirements is established herein and shall govern the pretrial preparation and trial in this case. The Court will calendar these cases for a 2-week special trial session beginning the week of July 17, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. Accordingly, it is
ORDERED that these cases are set for trial at a special session of the Court, for 2-weeks, beginning at 10:00 a.m. (PT), on Monday, July 17, 2023, in Courtroom 1167, Edward R. Roybal Center & Federal Building, 255 E. Temple Street, Los Angeles, California, 90012. It is further
ORDERED that the following procedures and schedule shall govern the pretrial preparation of these cases:
1. Pleadings. All motions with respect to the pleadings, including motions for leave to amend the pleadings, shall be filed on or before January 30, 2023.
2. Discovery.
(a) The parties shall attempt to attain the objectives of discovery through informal consultation or communication before utilizing the discovery procedures (formal discovery) provided in this Court's Rules of Practice and Procedure. This Court expects the parties to minimize discovery disputes whenever possible. No motion to compel discovery pursuant to Tax Court Rule 104 shall be filed unless and until the parties have met in an effort to resolve the dispute and, if the dispute remains unresolved following such meeting, have had a conference call with the Court to discuss the dispute.
(b) All interrogatories (Rule 71), requests for production of documents (Rule 72), and requests for admissions (Rule 90) shall be served on or before a date that will enable any required responses to be due on or before February 24, 2023.
(c) All depositions of fact witnesses shall be completed no later than February 24, 2023, unless a motion to compel answers to specific questions has been filed by that date.
(d) All motions to compel written discovery under Rule 104 and to review the sufficiency of responses to requests for admissions under Rule 90(e) shall be filed on or before March 20, 2023.
3. Summary Judgment. All motions for full or partial summary judgment pursuant to Rule 121, shall be filed on or before April 18, 2023.
4. Stipulations. The parties shall comply with Rule 91 except as modified by the Court and shall stipulate, to the fullest extent to which complete or qualified agreement can or fairly should be reached, all matters not privileged which are relevant to the pending case, regardless of whether such matters involve fact or opinion or the application of law to fact. Although the Court expects the stipulations to be comprehensive, the parties may conduct the stipulation process in a manner reasonably calculated to result in one or more stipulations of fact that together shall constitute a comprehensive stipulations of facts for purposes of this case. One or more executed stipulations of facts, together with exhibits, shall be submitted directly to the Court on or before May 19, 2023. This paragraph does not preclude the subsequent filing of supplemental stipulations of facts. Any motion to compel stipulations pursuant to Rule 91(f) shall be filed on or before June 2, 2023.
5. Expert Witnesses. The parties shall abide by the procedures and deadlines regarding expert witnesses set forth herein. The parties are reminded that any expert witness testimony is admissible only to the extent that it assists the Court in resolving one or more matters at issue in this case. The Court will consider excluding an expert witness's testimony, including but not limited to the expert's report, if the testimony is not helpful, or is so argumentative and adversarial that the expert witness appears to be an advocate for the party offering the witness. An expert witness's testimony may be excluded for failure to comply with the provisions of Rule 143(g) (as modified by this Order) and for failure to comply with this Order.
The following procedures and deadlines apply to expert witnesses:
(a) On or before February 7, 2023, each party shall exchange with the other party a written statement that identifies by name any potential expert witness to be called as part of the party's case-in-chief, and sets forth the expert witness' qualifications and a brief summary of the expected testimony.
(b) On or before March 3, 2023, the parties shall exchange and submit directly to the Court all expert witness reports, prepared in accordance with Rule 143(g), which the parties intend to introduce as part of their cases-in-chief. A party is prohibited from calling any expert witness as part of its case-in-chief if that party has not exchanged and submitted an expert witness report in accordance with this subparagraph.
(c) On or before April 4, 2023, the parties shall provide a written statement that identifies by name any potential expert witness to be called as a rebuttal expert witness and sets forth the rebuttal expert witness' qualifications and a brief summary of the expected testimony. A party's rebuttal expert witness need not be the same expert witness called to testify in that party's case-in-chief.
(d) On or before May 8, 2023, the parties shall exchange and submit directly to the Court all rebuttal expert witness reports. No party shall submit or exchange a rebuttal expert witness report for presentation at trial, unless that party previously exchanged an initial expert report in accordance with subparagraph (b) above. The parties shall also (1) exchange all documents and materials (other than marked up drafts of expert reports, comments on such drafts or other matters or communications protected from discovery by Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)) relied on by each expert to prepare his/her rebuttal report that have not already been exchanged, or that are not otherwise available commercially to the other party or are in the public domain, and (2) identify in writing and exchange all documents provided by a party or counsel to each rebuttal expert witness (other than marked up drafts of expert reports, comments on such drafts or other matters or communications protected from discovery by Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)) that have not previously been exchanged.
(e) On or before May 15, 2023, the parties shall serve notices of deposition of expert witnesses, if any, to be taken under Rules 74 or 81. Any expert deposition shall be completed by June 5, 2023.
6. Pretrial Memoranda. On or before June 20, 2023, each party shall submit to the Court and serve on the other party a pretrial memorandum setting forth the issues to be tried, a summary of the pertinent facts and the applicable law, and the evidentiary issues, if any, expected to arise at trial, as well as any other significant problem on which a ruling may be required. The pretrial memoranda shall also identify all witnesses expected to testify at trial, including expert witnesses, and shall set forth a summary of each witness's anticipated testimony. Witnesses who are not identified will not be permitted to testify at the trial without leave of Court for good cause shown.
7. Document Identification and Exchange. On or before June 16, 2023, all documents and materials to be offered as evidence at trial (except written materials to be used solely for impeachment) that are not stipulated shall be identified in writing and exchanged by the parties. Any written materials not so identified and exchanged will not be admitted into evidence unless otherwise agreed to by the parties or allowed by the Court for good cause shown.
8. Motions in Limine. On or before June 9, 2023, the parties shall file any pretrial motions regarding evidentiary issues or witness issues, including motions in limine.
9. Exchange of Demonstrative Materials. On or before June 30, 2023, the parties shall exchange with each other and shall provide to the Court any charts, diagrams or other demonstrative materials prepared for purposes of the trial that they intend to use in connection with their respective cases-in-chief. Nothing in this paragraph, however, shall preclude either party from presenting such additional or revised charts, diagrams or other demonstrative material as the circumstances at trial may warrant as long as the party offering the material has provided a copy of the material to the other party and to the Court at least 24 hours before the use of such material at trial.
10. Service of Document. Whenever, by the terms of this Order, the parties are required to serve, file, exchange or submit a document on a particular day, the parties shall do so either electronically or by delivering the document on that day by an overnight delivery service so that it is received by the opposing party and/or the Court on the next business day.