Opinion
12106-20
01-29-2024
ROCKY COMFORT CREEK HOLDINGS, LLC, ROCKY COMFORT CREEK INVESTORS, LLC, TAX MATTERS PARTNER, Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER
Albert G. Lauber Judge
By Order served December 15, 2021, this conservation easement case was assigned to the undersigned for trial or other disposition. On January 24, 2024, the parties filed a joint status report requesting that the Court schedule a two-week special trial session beginning Monday, October 20, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia. The parties indicate that the expected length of trial may be reduced to 5-7 days "if the parties receive authorization and agree to a stipulation to be bound" in a related case also pending before the undersigned, Sand Valley Holdings, LLC, Sand Valley Investors, LLC, Tax Matters Partner v. Commissioner (Sand Valley), Docket No. 12141-20. The parties represent that they "expect to try these cases in a timeframe near to one another" and "have started discussing whether there is the possibility of consolidation or a stipulation to be bound." The parties have filed a joint status report in Docket No. 12141-20 requesting that the Court schedule Sand Valley for a two-week special session simultaneously.
The Court will schedule a two-week special trial session in Atlanta beginning October 20, 2025, as the parties request. The Court will issue separately a separate Order calendaring Sand Valley for trial during the same special session. It is the Court's hope that the parties will execute a stipulation to be bound so that only one of the cases needs to be tried. If that is not possible, the Court expects the cases to be consolidated. If that is not possible, the Court will try the two cases seriatim during the same two-week session.
In consideration of the foregoing, it is
ORDERED that this case is set for trial at a two-week special session of the Court starting at 10:00 a.m., on Monday, October 20, 2025, in Room 1136, Russell Federal Building and Courthouse, 75 Ted Turner Drive, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia, 30303. It is further
ORDERED that the parties shall file, on or before April 25, 2024, a status report (jointly if possible, otherwise separately) informing the Court of the then-present status of this case and the related case at Docket No. 12141-20.
This Order constitutes official notice of its contents to the parties.