Opinion
23349-12
10-20-2022
TIMOTHY HERBST, Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER
Mark V. Holmes Judge
This case was continued from the Court's September 22, 2014 trial calendar for Phoenix, Arizona. The long delay is due to a pending criminal investigation in Costa Rica. Petitioner -- an American living in Costa Rica - allegedly had a faithless assistant who embezzled a very great deal of his wealth. This has led to a criminal investigation and, more importantly for resolution of this case, the possession of his business records relevant to this case by the assistant and Costa Rican authorities.
All agreed to put this case on a long-term status-report track. But it entered its second decade without the completion of even informal discovery. We spoke with the parties in May and learned that it is entirely possible that the Costa Rican courts will grant yet another continuance when the criminal case is supposed to be ready next month. That has now occurred. As we explained then, we need to figure out a way to proceed by less direct proofs.
We spoke with the parties again today. Respondent made his deadline to send a Branerton letter; petitioner has produced some but not all of what records he does have. It is time to wrap up informal discovery and move on to formal discovery. It is therefore
ORDERED that on or before November 15, 2022 petitioner shall complete his production of documents in response to respondent's informal discovery requests. It is also
ORDERED that on or before January 17, 2023 respondent shall serve on petitioner any formal discovery and file any motions to compel depositions.
The parties may expect another teleconference in late January 2023 to discuss scheduling a trial.