Shirley L. Johnson - Page 14




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          Techs. Trust v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1994-366, affd. without             
          published opinion sub nom. Anderson v. Commissioner, 106 F.3d 406            
          (9th Cir. 1997); Ripley v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1987-114.  In            
          Trenerry v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1994-500, the taxpayer                  
          appeared pro se in a case in which the Court held that a trust               
          was to be disregarded for tax purposes.  The Court stated:                   
                    Petitioner relies on two legal opinion letters of                  
               Joe Alfred Izen, Jr. (hereinafter sometimes referred to                 
               as Izen) which she had obtained from Century.  Izen’s                   
               opinion letters, addressed to Century, dated                            
               September 25, 1986, discuss the legal status and tax                    
               status of contractual trust companies.  Although Izen’s                 
               opinion letters are dated almost 4 years after our                      
               published opinion in Zmuda [v. Commissioner, 79 T.C.                    
               714 (1982), affd. 731 F.2d 1417 (9th Cir. 1984)] (and                   
               more than 2 years after the published Court of Appeals                  
               affirmance), neither of his opinion letters refers to                   
               Zmuda.  We note the August 15, 1984, changes to the                     
               Trenerry Trust, in which petitioner (as grantor) warned                 
               herself (as trustee) “to beware of attorneys and to                     
               avoid them whenever at all possible.”  Perhaps this was                 
               one instance in which petitioner should have followed                   
               her own advice.  The Izen opinion letters do not help                   
               petitioner on the evidence in the instant case.  [Fn.                   
               ref. omitted.]                                                          
          See also Para Techs. Trust v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1992-575.             
               Cases in which Izen was counsel also reflect chronic failure            
          to comply with discovery orders or Court Rules.  In Oelze v.                 
          Commissioner, 723 F.2d 1162 (5th Cir. 1983), the Court of Appeals            
          affirmed dismissal of petitions where, in response to the Tax                
          Court’s repeated orders to comply with the Commissioner’s                    
          discovery requests and admonishments that failure to comply would            








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