Jerry and Patricia A. Dixon - Page 26




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          decided under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, we           
          concluded in Harper v. Commissioner, supra, that a reasonable               
          hourly rate is the hourly fee that attorneys of similar skill in            
          the area would typically be entitled to for the type of work in             
          question.  See id. at 551, and cases cited therein.                         
               We agree with respondent that Messrs. Izen, Jones, and                 
          Sticht have failed, in varying degrees, to provide the Court with           
          sufficient information to determine the exact number of excess              
          hours that they reasonably expended in these cases as a result of           
          the Government misconduct, and that Messrs. Jones and Sticht have           
          neither addressed the reasonableness of their hourly rates nor              
          furnished detailed billing statements.  We are particularly                 
          troubled by Mr. Izen's persistent failure to produce the                    
          documentation requested by the Court despite repeated extensions            
          of time for compliance.  Nevertheless, the fact remains that the            
          test case and nontest case petitioners who participated in the              
          evidentiary hearing, as well as many other Kersting petitioners             
          who were not formal participants in the evidentiary hearing but             
          agreed to help fund the effort, incurred substantial attorney's             
          fees and costs following the remand of the test cases by the                
          Court of Appeals.  Though presented with less than an ideal                 
          record, we shall award attorney's fees to petitioners based upon            
          an approximation of the amount of the excess attorney's fees and            
          costs that petitioners incurred as a consequence of the                     
          Government misconduct.  See Ragan v. Commissioner, 135 F.3d 329,            




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