- 23 -
Mr. McWade allowed Mr. Alexander to offer
misleading testimony to the Court during the trial of
the test cases regarding his understanding that his tax
liabilities would be reduced in exchange for providing
assistance to Mr. McWade. [Dixon III, 77 T.C.M. (CCH)
at 1696, 1999 T.C.M. (RIA), at 99-622 to 99-623.]
In sum, Messrs. Sims and McWade intentionally misled the
Court before, during, and after the trial of the test cases.
Further, the misconduct described above led the Court of Appeals
to remand the test cases to this Court for an evidentiary hearing
and has caused substantial continuing delay in the resolution of
the Kersting project cases. The Court and the parties have
expended substantial time, effort, and resources uncovering and
analyzing the effects on these proceedings of Messrs. Sims' and
McWade's misconduct. What we have found is a deliberate attempt
by Messrs. Sims and McWade to manipulate and abuse the trial
process of the test cases.
Considering all the circumstances, we conclude that the
actions of respondent's counsel Sims and McWade in entering into
the secret settlement agreements were undertaken and carried out
in bad faith. Further, the circumstances in which those actions
were discovered and brought to the attention of the Court and
petitioners have had the effect of multiplying the proceedings in
these cases "unreasonably and vexatiously". There is no
plausible justification for those actions; Messrs. Sims and
McWade engaged in a misguided attempt to bolster unfairly the
Commissioner's position in cases in which the Commissioner was
Page: Previous 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011