Opinion
23069-16
12-13-2023
KEVIN JOHN WITASICK, SR. & WHITNEY S. WITASICK, Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER
Albert G. Lauber Judge
This case is calendared for trial beginning on December 18, 2023, at a two-day remote special session of the Court, for which Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is listed as the place of trial. On December 11, 2023, petitioners' counsel filed, at docket entry #172, a document bearing the cover page "Pretrial Memorandum." The Standing Pretrial Order for this case, served October 23, 2023, stated that any pretrial memorandum must be filed "[n]o later than 21 days before the first day of the trial session," i.e., by November 28, 2023. The document appearing at docket entry #172 was filed seven days before the first day of the trial session, and thus outside the time prescribed by the Court for filing pretrial memoranda.
More problematically, the document appearing at docket entry #172 contains none of the information (e.g., identification of witnesses the party expects to call) that is required to be included in a pretrial memorandum. Rather, this document is captioned "Petitioners' Settlement Offer to [Respondent]," and the body of the document refers to the document as a "Settlement Offer." Any settlement offer petitioners wish to make to respondent must be directed to respondent's counsel, not filed with this Court. Indeed, attorneys appearing in our Court should avoid bringing any settlement discussions to the Court's attention, directly or indirectly. We will therefore strike this document from the record of this case. See Tax Court Rule 52.
For cause, it is
ORDERED that the document filed at docket entry #172 on December 11, 2023, is hereby deemed stricken from the record of this case.