- 50 - owes a fiduciary duty to the court and to the public. Estate of Halas v. Commissioner, 94 T.C. 570, 578 (1990). An appraiser is barred from presenting facts in a biased manner calculated to be favorable to the client's position. Id. Experts who author appraisal and valuation reports, moreover, serve as advisers to the courts. See Fed. R. Evid. 702; Estate of Williams v. Commissioner, 256 F.2d 217, 219 (9th Cir. 1958), affg. T.C. Memo. 1956-239. The appraiser's duty to the court exceeds any duty owed the client. Estate of Halas v. Commissioner, supra. An independent appraiser, therefore, could not subject himself or herself to the control of the client, as an agent must do, and still fulfill his or her duty to the court and to the public. Accord Kirk v. Raymark Indus., Inc., 61 F.3d 147, 163-164 (3d Cir. 1995) (expert witness generally would not be agent of client because an expert normally would not agree to be subject to the client's control with respect to consultation and testimony); Taylor v. Kohli, 642 N.E. 2d 467, 468-469 (Ill. 1994) (generally, the client can influence but not control an expert's thought processes). Compare 1 Restatement, supra sec. 14N, comment a (Independent contractor as an agent) with id. comment b (Non- agent independent contractor). Moreover, we believe that an agent appraiser must have to act as an advocate of the principal's position to fulfill the fiduciary duty an agent owes his or her principal. Such advocacy, however, is contrary to the duty owed the court and the public in general and precludes the assistance of the expert at trial. The Tax Court, in fact, hasPage: Previous 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 Next
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