Jade Trading, LLC v. United States

67 Fed. Cl. 608, 68 Fed. R. Serv. 112, 96 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5942, 2005 U.S. Claims LEXIS 264, 2005 WL 2100548
United States Court of Federal Claims·Decided August 30, 2005·No. No. 03-2164T·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO EXCLUDE DEFENDANT’S SUMMARY CHART EXHIBITS

WILLIAMS, Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Plaintiffs’ motion to exclude Defendant’s “summary chart” exhibits from trial on the grounds that they are untimely, unduly prejudicial, and violate Rule 1006 of the Federal Rules of Evidence (FED. R. EVID.).1 Because the charts were not timely disclosed and the documents underlying these summary charts were not reasonably made available to Plaintiffs until July 30, 2005, well after the Court’s order and rules dictated and roughly one month before trial, the Court excludes Defendant’s Exhibit Nos. 691, 692, 693, and 694, from trial. Accordingly, Plaintiffs’ motion is GRANTED.

Background

On September 12, 2003, Plaintiffs filed this action under Section 6226 of the Internal Revenue Code challenging the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) adjustment of their tax liability and assessment of penalties for 1999. In the Final Partnership Administrative Adjustment (FPAA) at issue, the IRS disallowed capital losses approximating $40,000,000 and assessed penalties of some $4,000,000, against the Ervin brothers, the real parties in interest.

Defendant contends that Jade was formed for the purpose of creating artificial tax losses intended to eliminate federal taxes on approximately $40 million in unrelated capital gains received by the Ervins in 1999. Plaintiffs counter that Jade Trading was a bona fide partnership, formed for the express purpose of making money from trading, and not with a principal purpose of reducing substantially the partners’ aggregate federal tax liability.

The parties engaged in extensive discovery, which generated multiple disputes ne[610]*610cessitating intervention by this court.2 Trial was originally scheduled to commence on June 6, 2005, then rescheduled to commence on July 25, 2005, over Plaintiffs’ objection after Defendant moved for a continuance,3 and again rescheduled to commence on September 6, 2005, at the request of nonparty witnesses.

The deadline for the exchange of exhibits was established in this Court’s January 18, 2005, Amended Scheduling Order, which provided in part:

3. Meeting of Counsel. The parties shall meet to satisfy the requirements of RCFC Appendix A 1113, including the exchange of exhibits and witness lists, and to stipulate to all matters as to which the parties agree, on or before April 4, 2005.

Exhibits 691 and 693 (Formerly Designated Exhibit 1060)

Pursuant to the Amended Scheduling Order, on April 4, 2005, Plaintiffs sent Defendant ten binders of exhibits they intended to rely upon at trial, see Pis.’ Suppl. Br. at 1, and Defendant sent an exhibit list to Plaintiffs, which included the following entry:

Deft. Exh. No. 1060. Summary exhibits of data regarding other investors in Jade Son of BOSS transactions (to be produced soon after production of BDO documents).4

See Def.’s Br. at Ex. 5; Pls.’ Suppl. Br. at 1. Defendant did not tender any exhibits to Plaintiffs at this time. On April 19, 2005, Plaintiffs supplemented their exhibit list to include their expert reports and Defendant’s supplemental responses to Plaintiffs’ first requests for admission, which had been filed on April 14, 2005. Pls.’ Suppl. Br. at 2 II iv and Ex. A. On or about May 6, 2005, Plaintiffs again supplemented their proposed exhibit list with several recently discovered bank statements chronicling the fees paid by the Ervins. See Pls.’ Br. at 2 and Ex. B. No objection to the supplement was received from Defendant. See Pls.’ Suppl. Br. at 2 n. 3.

On May 10, 2005, Defendant first produced Exhibit Nos. 691 and 693, attached as Tabs A and B to its opposition to Plaintiffs’ motion in limine on “pattern evidence.” See Def.’s Br. at 3; Def.’s Opp. to Pis.’ Mot. “Pattern Evidence,” Ex. A, B.5 These exhibits, coupled with Defendant’s Exhibits 693 and 694, which were produced later, were substitutions for what had been Defendant’s Exhibit 1060, which describe “summary exhibits” that were going “to be produced soon after production of BDO documents.”

Defendant describes Exhibits 691 and 693 as follows:6

[611]*611This ease involves a tax shelter. The evidence at trial will show that the shelter ... was designed and marketed by BDO and Sentinel to individuals who anticipated large capital gains. The shelter operated by allowing taxpayers to claim an artificially high basis in a partnership through the purchase of foreign currency options and then prearranged contribution to, and withdrawal from, a “partnership.” Based on this artificially high basis, the taxpayers claimed large capital gains on their income tax returns.
The Ervins contend that they engaged in the various steps of this transaction for economic reasons and that the claimed tax consequences were secondary. Our expert analysis will demonstrate that the steps the Ervins took here are inconsistent with market norms and are not well designed to produce economic benefits. The pattern evidence, in turn, shows that multiple taxpayers — all of them clients of BDO and Sentinel — took essentially identical steps to produce these same tax consequences without regard to economics. At Tabs AB [Exhibits 691 and 693] we have attached summary charts illustrating portions of this evidence____[T]hese few charts illustrate clearly the commonality one would expect to find among taxpayers who buy and execute identical, prearranged tax shelters:
1. The chart at [Exhibit 691] shows that the details of the trades were highly similar;
2. The chart at [Exhibit 693] shows that all of the taxpayers then contributed these options to a partnership under similar conditions; and
3. The chart at [Exhibit 693] also shows the highly similar conditions under which most of the taxpayers exited these partnerships.7
The ultimate question is whether the law supports plaintiffs proffered tax treatment. However, the fact that this case involves a mass-produced tax shelter is relevant to the Court’s analysis and fatally undermines any claim of economic substance and business purpose. For all their talk of an investment plan, the Ervins purchased an off-the-shelf tax shelter and executed it as other purchasers did. The court should consider this pattern evidence, which shows that the transaction was designed, marketed, and executed to produce tax losses, not economic benefits.

Def.’s Opp. To Pis.’ Mot’n In Limine “Pattern Evidence” at 2-3.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Jade Trading, LLC v. United States, 67 Fed. Cl. 608, 68 Fed. R. Serv. 112, 96 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5942, 2005 U.S. Claims LEXIS 264, 2005 WL 2100548 (uscfc 2005).

67 Fed. Cl. 608 (Jade Trading, LLC v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Herrmann v. United States
129 Fed. Cl. 780 (Federal Claims, 2017)
Hitkansut LLC v. United States
127 Fed. Cl. 101 (Federal Claims, 2016)
Davita Inc v. United States
Federal Claims, 2016
DaVita Healthcare Partners, Inc. v. United States
125 Fed. Cl. 394 (Federal Claims, 2016)
Scott Timber, Inc. v. United States
93 Fed. Cl. 221 (Federal Claims, 2010)
CCA Associates v. United States
87 Fed. Cl. 715 (Federal Claims, 2009)
Yankee Atomic Electric Co. v. United States
73 Fed. Cl. 249 (Federal Claims, 2006)
PR Contractors, Inc. v. United States
69 Fed. Cl. 468 (Federal Claims, 2006)