Bernardo v. Commissioner

104 T.C. No. 33, 104 T.C. 677, 1995 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 36
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJune 20, 1995
DocketDocket No. 24694-93
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 104 T.C. No. 33 (Bernardo v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bernardo v. Commissioner, 104 T.C. No. 33, 104 T.C. 677, 1995 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 36 (tax 1995).

Opinion

OPINION

Wells, Judge:

The instant case is before us on respondent’s motion to compel production of documents and petitioners’ motion to compel answers to interrogatories and to compel production of documents. Respondent determined deficiencies in petitioners’ Federal income taxes for their taxable years 1987, 1988, and 1989, as well as additions to tax and penalties for such years.

Background

The facts leading up to the parties’ motions to compel are summarized as follows. On their 1986 Federal income tax return, petitioners claimed a $593,000 charitable contribution deduction for the donation of a 21-foot granite sculpture entitled Omphalos1 to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (the authority). The Omphalos sculpture was created by Dimitri Hadzi. It is currently situated in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Petitioners’ contribution base under section 170 2 was zero for their taxable year 1986. Petitioners claimed carryover charitable contribution deductions in the amounts of $40,406, $262,355, and $188,057 for their taxable years 1987, 1988, and 1989, respectively.

In the notice of deficiency, respondent denied the charitable contribution deductions petitioners claimed on their 1987, 1988, and 1989 Federal income tax returns on the grounds that petitioners failed to establish that they are entitled to a deduction under any section of the Internal Revenue Code. The notice of deficiency alternatively states that, if petitioners are able to establish that they are entitled to claim a deduction for the donation of Omphalos to the authority, the amount of the deduction petitioners are entitled to claim is limited to $100,000, rather than the $593,000 petitioners claimed on their 1986 Federal income tax return.

Petitioners resided in Wakefield, Rhode Island, when the petition in the instant case was filed.

Respondent’s Motion To Compel

Respondent filed a motion to compel the production of documents, and petitioners timely filed an objection to respondent’s motion. Respondent filed a response to petitioners’ objection. A hearing on respondent’s motion to compel the production of documents was set, and petitioners were directed to file a response to respondent’s response to petitioners’ objection. Petitioners then filed a supplement to their objection, which stated that petitioners opposed the production of certain documents on the grounds that such documents are privileged, and that such documents, therefore, are not subject to discovery. As part of their supplement, petitioners submitted a privilege log that listed the 39 documents they are withholding from production to respondent. Subsequently, petitioners filed a second supplement listing an additional seven documents that they are withholding based upon privilege.

At the hearing, petitioners offered the affidavit of Mr. Benjamin G. Paster, a partner in the law firm of Adler, Pollock & Sheehan.3 Mr. Paster was engaged by petitioners during the early 1980’s to render legal advice concerning a possible donation of Omphalos to the authority. Mr. Paster provided petitioners with legal advice concerning the structure of the donation of the sculpture to the authority, and whether petitioners should claim a charitable contribution deduction on their Federal income tax return based upon that donation.

In his affidavit, Mr. Paster states that he would not have been able to render the legal advice concerning petitioners’ donation without the assistance of Mr. Kenneth J. Linsner, a professional art appraiser, and Mr. Daniel J. Ryan, a certified public accountant. As to Mr. Linsner’s services, Mr. Paster states:

Mr. Linsner, [was] the professional art appraiser who in early 1987 produced the appraisal of Omphalos of $596,000 [sic] that the * * * [petitioners] submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) in support of the charitable deduction which * * * [petitioner Marybeth Bernardo] claimed in connection with the gifting of Omphalos, [and] it was I who first interviewed Mr. Linsner, and who engaged him on behalf of Marybeth Bernardo.
The only communications which I have ever had with Mr. Linsner were with respect to the valuation of Omphalos. All of my communications with him were for the sole purpose of obtaining his best professional opinion as to the fair market value of Omphalos as to which, for lack of training and expertise, I had no opinion, either professional or personal. In turn, the sole purpose of seeking his opinion as to fair market value was to assist me in providing legal advice to the * * * [petitioners] regarding the proposed gifting of the sculpture to the MBTA * * *.

During the hearing, petitioners’ counsel stated that Mr. Paster did not pay Mr. Linsner’s fee but that he engaged him “in the sense that he located Mr. Linsner as the professional art adviser, talked to him about the terms of his engagement and saw to the engagement of Mr. Linsner”. In his affidavit, Mr. Paster states that he expected that his communications with Mr. Linsner would be kept confidential, and that, to the best of his knowledge, Mr. Linsner has kept such communications confidential. Mr. Paster acknowledged sharing the substance of those communications with petitioners and Mr. Ryan.

During the hearing, Mr. Ryan testified to the following facts. Petitioners engaged him to assist them with the preparation of their Federal income tax returns beginning in 1982. Mr. Ryan oversaw the preparation of petitioners’ Federal income tax returns for the taxable years 1987, 1988, and 1989, the taxable years in issue in the instant case.4 Mr. Ryan also represented petitioners during the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS’s) audit of petitioners’ Federal income tax returns for the taxable years in issue, and filed a protest with the IRS’s Appeals Office. The notice of deficiency indicates that a copy of the notice was sent to Mr. Ryan in his capacity as petitioners’ authorized representative.

Mr. Ryan was aware that petitioners had engaged Mr. Paster to structure the donation of Omphalos to the authority. Mr. Ryan provided Mr. Paster with information regarding petitioners’ Federal income tax returns. During April of 1991, the IRS notified Mr. Ryan that its Art Advisory Panel had determined that the fair market value of Omphalos was substantially less than the amount of the charitable contribution deduction petitioners claimed on their 1986 Federal income tax return. Upon receiving the notice of the Art Advisory Panel’s findings, Mr. Ryan informed petitioners that he believed that they would have to legally challenge the IRS’s position as to the fair market value of the sculpture.

Mr. Ryan also provided information about petitioners’ Federal income tax returns to Mr. Lawrence McCarthy III and Mr. Gerald DeMaria. Messrs. McCarthy and DeMaria are partners in the law firm of Higgins, Cavanagh & Cooney, and they represented petitioner Bradford C. Bernardo in his divorce from petitioner Marybeth Bernardo.

Mr. Ryan testified that he kept all of his communications with petitioners and their attorneys confidential. Mr. Ryan was hired and paid by petitioners. Mr. Ryan never received a letter of engagement from petitioners’ attorneys.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
104 T.C. No. 33, 104 T.C. 677, 1995 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 36, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bernardo-v-commissioner-tax-1995.