Opinion
16217-22 16218-22
10-24-2024
SOROBAN CAPITAL PARTNERS LP, SOROBAN CAPITAL PARTNERS GP LLC, TAX MATTERS PARTNER, ET AL., Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER
Ronald L. Buch, Judge.
This case has been submitted by the parties under Rule 122. In its opening brief, petitioner cited information that is outside the stipulated record of this case. The Commissioner promptly filed a Motion to Strike Portions of Petitioner's Simultaneous Opening Brief. In response, petitioner promptly filed a document captioned Motion to Reopen the Record and Opposition to Respondent's Motion to Strike. In that document, petitioner both sets forth an objection to the Commissioner's Motion and moves that the Court reopen the record to allow additional evidence. Documents such as an Opposition and a Motion generally cannot be combined. See Rule 54(b). As a result, petitioner's Motion is currently reflected on the docket merely as an Opposition to the Commissioner's Motion. We will order the Clerk to show the document on the record as a Motion to Reopen the Record and order the Commissioner to respond.
We do not have sufficient information to evaluate petitioner's Motion to Reopen the Record. Although petitioner has described the documents it seeks to have added to the record of the case, the Court does not have access to those documents. We have previously held, "A motion to reopen the record will not be granted unless, among other requirements, the evidence relied on: is not merely cumulative or impeaching, is material to the issues involved, and probably would change the outcome of the case. We also take into account other factors, such as the character of the additional evidence and the effect of granting the motion." Larkin v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2020-70 at *35-36, aff'd, No. 21-1103, 2022 WL 994768 (D.C. Cir. Apr. 1, 2022) (internal citations and quotations omitted). To assist the Court in evaluating petitioner's Motion, we will order petitioner to provide to the Court the evidence it seeks to add to the record of this case.
The Court is aware that the deadlines for the Commissioner to respond to petitioner's Motion, and the deadline for petitioner to supplement its Motion, will necessarily extend beyond the due date for the parties answering briefs, but as we cautioned the parties in our Order served October 15, 2024, "Neither party should assume that the Motion to Strike will be decided in its favor, and we caution the parties to prepare their answering briefs accordingly." Consistent with the foregoing, it is
ORDERED that the Clerk shall recharacterize Petitioner's Motion to Reopen the Record and Opposition to Respondent's Motion to Strike, filed August 16, 2024, as Petitioner's Motion to Reopen the Record. It is further
ORDERED that by November 15, 2024, petitioner shall supplement its Motion to Reopen the Record to include the exhibits they seek to add to the record. It is further
ORDERED that, also by November 15, 2024, the Commissioner shall file a response to Petitioner's Motion to Reopen the Record.