- 18 - Petitioner and Mr. Greenspan believed that the case could be settled if it could be established that there were two distinct elements in petitioner's 1990 Federal income tax return--the $400,000 capital contribution taken as a loss and the $400,000 bad-debt deduction. Petitioner and Mr. Greenspan brought records to substantiate this particular contention. During this meeting, the records were photocopied by respondent's counsel and his assistant. This, in addition to the obvious settlement discussion in the beginning of the meeting, caused petitioner to believe that the entire session was for the purpose of settlement. Respondent's counsel, who is sophisticated and experienced in such matters, delineated between the initial settlement discussion and the beginning of the process of stipulating facts for trial. Petitioner and Mr. Greenspan, however, were not sophisticated and experienced in such matters. It was only toward the end of the meeting, when respondent's pretrial counsel advised petitioner to obtain counsel, that it could have become clear to them that the subject matter had turned to preparation for trial as opposed to settlement discussions. In addition, the subsequent telephonic discussions between petitioner and respondent's counsel concerned the question of duplicated $400,000 amounts and could have given petitioner the impression that the possibility of settlement was still under discussion.Page: Previous 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Next
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