Opinion
22313-18
07-11-2022
THOMAS TARO, SUSAN TARO, NEXT FRIEND, Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER
DAVID GUSTAFSON JUDGE
Still pending in this case is a motion to substitute parties and to change caption (Doc. 45). Next friend Susan Taro filed a response objecting to the motion, and we will now order her to file a supplemental response in light of recent events.
The petition in this case was filed by Mr. Thomas Taro. By our order of February 27, 2021, we granted the request of Mr. Taro's daughter, Susan Taro, to be recognized pursuant to Rule 60(d) as the "next friend" of Mr. Taro. However, Mr. Taro died on April 4, 2021, and thereafter Garnet Bean and Luis F. Romero filed a motion to substitute parties and to change caption (Doc. 45), informing the Court that Mr. Bean and Mr. Romero had been appointed as co-personal representatives of Mr. Taro's estate.
Ms. Taro filed a response (Doc. 48) objecting to the motion, on the grounds that "the Estate Representation question is currently the subject of a Petition for Caveat in the Orphans' Court for Howard County, Maryland.... Petitioner respectfully requests that approval of the Motion to Substitute Messrs. Bean and Romero be stayed until such time as the Caveat is fully adjudicated." We have deferred ruling on the motion to allow time for the Caveat to be adjudicated.
On July 11, 2022, the Commissioner filed (apparently by mistake) two copies of a status report (Docs. 57-58). We will strike the first. The second (Doc. 58) states as follows:
Thomas Taro Jr.'s ("Caveator") Petition to Caveat was denied by the Orphan's Court for Howard County, Maryland via Court Order dated May 26, 2022. Attached as Exhibit A is the Opinion and Order Denying Petition to Caveat. . . . The Order shows that the Caveator
failed to demonstrate the existence of undue influence and fraud in his attempt to overturn the will executed by the decedent, Thomas Taro, in 2016. Consequently, under the terms of the 2016 will, Garnet Bean and Luis Romero remain as the authorized co-personal representatives of Thomas Taro's estate.
If the Commissioner's report is correct, then it would seem that we should grant the pending motion. It is
ORDERED that Doc. 57 is deemed stricken, as duplicative. It is further
ORDERED that, in addition to regular service of this order, the Clerk of the Court shall serve a copy of this order on Mr. Bean and Mr. Romero at the address given on the certificate of service to the Commissioner's status report (Doc. 58). It is further
ORDERED that, no later than August 1, 2022, Susan Taro shall file a supplemental response to the motion to substitute parties and to change caption (Doc. 45). In that supplemental response, she shall state whether there is any reason that we should not substitute the estate of Mr. Taro as the petitioner in this case, remove Ms. Taro as "next friend", and grant the motion of Mr. Bean and Mr. Romero to substitute them as co-personal representatives of the estate. If we receive no timely response from Ms. Taro, then we expect to grant the motion.