- 15 - justified. See Powers v. Commissioner, 51 F.3d at 35; Swanson v. Commissioner, 106 T.C. at 102; see also sec. 301.7430-5(c)(2), Proced. & Admin. Regs. In calculating the amount to award, we look to the issues on which petitioners prevailed. Powers v. Commissioner, 51 F.3d at 35. This case involved one primary issue (the classification issue) and two alternate issues (the pension and self-employment tax issues). Petitioners were the prevailing party only on the classification issue; therefore, we shall not award any fees or costs related to the pension or self- employment tax issues. We do not assign all issues equal weight because the time and expense spent on each issue was not the same. This is evidenced by the following: The primary issue in Lozon I was the classification issue; virtually 100 percent of the trial was dedicated to the classification issue; approximately 50 percent of petitioners' original brief was dedicated to the classification issue;9 and approximately 85 percent of petitioners' reply brief was dedicated to the classification issue.10 Therefore, based on a review of the entire record, 9 Approximately 10 pages of the argument section and 4 pages of the findings of fact section were dedicated to the classification issue whereas approximately 13 pages of the argument section and 2 pages of the findings of fact section were dedicated to the pension or self-employment tax issues. The rest of the brief, which dealt with preliminary matters, background matters, and other issues, is negligible in amount. 10 Approximately eight pages of the argument section and (continued...)Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011