Shirley L. Johnson - Page 16




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          result of the taxpayers’ failure to respond to requests for                  
          admissions or to comply with other Rules.  The Court stated:                 
                    We have not found this case to be particularly                     
               satisfying.  The record before us is sketchy.  The case                 
               appears to revolve around a family trust but we have                    
               been told very little about it.  In addition, the                       
               various returns filed by petitioners are confusing                      
               because of the inconsistent treatment of the items                      
               reported therein.  All of this is compounded by the                     
               seemingly contradictory positions taken by petitioners                  
               before this Court and by respondent’s failure to be                     
               more precise in his requests for admissions.  Be this                   
               as it may, we have tried our best to reach a just                       
               result.                                                                 
          See also Ripley v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1985-555.  Izen’s                
          tactics demean the process and those involved in it and                      
          accomplish nothing.  In the language of section 6673(a)(2), it               
          appears to the Court that Izen “has multiplied the proceedings in            
          * * * [these cases] unreasonably and vexatiously”.  He has                   
          persisted in these tactics despite warnings and sanctions imposed            
          on his clients in similar cases.  He has pursued claims that have            
          been rejected so frequently that they are “entirely without                  
          colorable pretext or basis and are taken for reasons of                      
          harassment or delay or for other improper purposes.”  The Nis                
          Family Trust v. Commissioner, supra at 548; see Harper v.                    
          Commissioner, 99 T.C. 533, 546-549 (1992).  An award under                   
          section 6673 is fully justified.                                             
               Although the Court rejected Johnson’s Fifth Amendment                   
          claims, we exclude from the award the fees that are attributable             
          to those and to the first round of discovery motions.  Our                   





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