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unreasonable positions, "public policy" would be served by
granting their Motion for Leave.
We agree that section 7430 was enacted by Congress to deter
unreasonable conduct by the Commissioner. Indeed, the
legislative history of section 7430 sets forth some guidelines
for determining whether the Commissioner's conduct was
unreasonable:
The committee intends that the determination by the
court on this issue is to be made on the basis of the
facts and legal precedents relating to the case as
revealed in the record. Other factors the committee
believes might be taken into account in making this
determination include, (1) whether the government used
the costs and expenses of litigation against its
position to extract concessions from the taxpayer that
were not justified under the circumstances of the case,
(2) whether the government pursued the litigation
against the taxpayer for purposes of harassment or
embarrassment, or out of political motivation, and (3)
such other factors as the court finds relevant. * * *
[H. Rept. 97-404, at 12 (1981).]
Petitioners' counsel intentionally delayed submitting
petitioners' three motions because of his concern that a claim
for litigation costs might: (1) Cause respondent to withhold
concession of the amounts in issue in the present case and might
(2) negatively influence the resolution of a dispute in a
collateral matter. Neither of these reasons constitutes good
cause, and in the absence of good cause, we are unwilling to
allow petitioners to ignore the orderly procedures of this Court
as embodied in Rule 162. In short, the "public policy" of
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