Opinion
27911-21
02-15-2024
CONOCOPHILLIPS AND SUBSIDIARIES, Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER
Emin Toro, Judge
This case is currently calendared for trial during the Court's January 27, 2025, Houston, Texas, special trial session. By Order served December 20, 2023, the parties were directed to file on or before January 29, 2024, a joint report describing the status of the case and to include a proposed pretrial schedule.
On January 29, 2024, the parties filed a Joint Status Report (Doc. 47). The Status Report proposed a schedule for future proceedings in the case. Upon due consideration, it is hereby
ORDERED that the schedule proposed in the January 29, 2024, Joint Status Report is adopted, as modified below:
1. The last day to file motions to amend the pleadings without leave of Court is no later than February 15, 2024.
2. Informal discovery shall be served no later than March 1, 2024.
3. Formal discovery, including interrogatories (Rule 71), requests for production of documents (Rule 72), and requests for admission (Rule 90), shall be served no later than May 1, 2024.
4. An executed First Stipulation of Facts, together with exhibits, shall be filed with the Court no later than June 3, 2024.
5. Discovery shall be completed by August 30, 2024, i.e., all discovery requests shall be submitted to the other party or filed with the Court, as appropriate, with a response date no later than August 30, 2024. "Discovery" in this context includes request for admission (either informal or formal). Further, all depositions taken without leave of the Court shall be completed no later than August 30, 2024.
6. An executed Second Stipulation of Facts, together with exhibits, shall be filed with the Court no later than September 30, 2024.
7. All motions for summary judgment and all other dispositive motions shall be filed with the Court no later than October 29, 2024.
8. The parties shall, no later than November 13, 2024, file a Motion for Leave to File an Expert Report and lodge with the Court all opening expert witness reports, prepared in accordance with Rule 143(g). The parties are prohibited from calling any expert witness (Expert) as part of their case in chief for whom such a motion has not been filed and for whom such report has not been lodged on or before such date. Draft reports of Experts will not be produced by or discoverable by either party (Rule 70(c) (4)(A)) and communications between a party's counsel and an Expert will not be produced by or discoverable by either party, except as provided in Rule 70(c)(4)(B).
9. All motions to compel stipulations (Rule 91(f)) shall be filed with the Court no later than November 29, 2024.
10. The parties shall, no later than December 13, 2024, file a Motion for Leave to File Expert Report(s) and lodge with the Court all rebuttal expert witness reports, setting forth any comments on the other party's Experts' reports. Such rebuttal reports shall be prepared in accordance with Rule 143(g). The parties are prohibited from calling any expert witness on rebuttal (Rebuttal Expert) for whom such a motion has not been filed and for whom such a report has not been lodged on or before such date. Draft reports of Rebuttal Experts will not be produced by or discoverable by either party (Rule 70(c)(4)(A)) and communications between a party's counsel and a Rebuttal Expert will not be produced by or discoverable by either party, except as provided in Rule 70(c)(4)(B).
11. Unless a basis for settlement has been reached, petitioner and respondent shall each prepare 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 dispute which may require a ruling. Pretrial Memoranda shall be exchanged by the parties and filed with the Court no later than December 30, 2024. If a basis for settlement has been reached, no later than December 30, 2024, the parties shall file with the Court a Proposed Stipulated Decision. If the parties have reached a basis for settlement and need additional time to file the Proposed Stipulated Decision, the parties shall file with the Court a joint status report including a summary of the basis of settlement no later than December 30, 2024. The Status Report must state the reasons for the delay in filing the Proposed Stipulated Decision.
12. All witnesses expected to testify at trial, including Experts and Rebuttal Experts, shall be identified in the Pretrial Memoranda with brief summaries of the anticipated testimony of those witnesses. Witnesses who are not identified will not be permitted to testify at the trial without leave of the Court upon sufficient showing of good cause.
13. The parties shall, by January 3, 2025, file with the Court any motions in limine.
14. All documents and materials to be offered as evidence at trial (except written materials to be used solely for impeachment), but which are not stipulated, shall be identified in writing and exchanged by the parties as Proposed Trial Exhibits no later than January 6, 2025. Any written materials not so identified and exchanged will not be received into evidence unless otherwise agreed to by the parties or allowed by the Court for good cause shown.
15. The parties shall, by January 13, 2025, file with the Court any responses to motions in limine.
16. The parties shall, by January 24, 2025, identify and exchange any demonstrative exhibits expected to be used at Trial during opening statements.
17. The parties shall, by January 24, 2025, file with the Court either a Supplemental Stipulation of Facts with any agreed Proposed Trial Exhibits or any unagreed Proposed Trial Exhibits.
18. Trial shall begin on January 27, 2025.
19. Except as provided in the immediately following sentence, whenever, by the terms of this Order, the parties are required to serve, file, exchange, or submit a document on a particular day, they shall do so by delivering the document on that day to an overnight delivery service so that it is received by the opposing party and/or the Court on the next business day. With respect to documents that must be electronically filed or lodged with the Court, the Tax Court's Rules of Practice and Procedure and the Court's electronic filing guidelines control the appropriate method for filing or lodging such documents with the Court.
Any event not addressed in this Order will be governed by the timeframes set forth in the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.