Opinion
3325-15 8365-15
02-24-2022
DAVID ROMO, et al., Petitioners, v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER
Mark V. Holmes Judge
The lower-numbered case was originally on the February 22, 2016 San Francisco, California trial calendar, but we stayed most work on it while Mr. Romo was in federal custody. Docket number 8365-15, filed by Thomas Clark Dashiell, was first on the Court's March 7, 2016 trial calendar. The Dashiell case was then continued 6 times, ultimately coming to rest on this division's San Francisco trial calendar for October 25, 2021. In a call with the parties on June 25, 2021 about the Dashiell case, the Court became aware of the close connection between the two cases and we consolidated them.
There has already been some pretrial discovery in the Romo case, but all agreed that a reasonable first step is to get the nonprivileged parts of respondent's bulging administrative files in these cases to petitioners. Respondent recently reported that the process is underway but that the effects of pandemic has continued to slow progress, however respondent expects to complete this task in the next few weeks. The parties reasonably suggest reporting again in two months. It is therefore
ORDERED that the parties file a status report on or before April 28, 2022 describing their progress in informal discovery and their expected need for formal discovery.