- 12 -
signed’s Notice of Substitution of Counsel had been
returned and stamped “Not admitted U.S. Tax Court”.
The undersigned again left a voice mail message for Mr.
Lehotsky and forwarded discovery requests to his office
address. After having had no reply from Mr. Lehotsky
the undersigned contacted Mr. Binge who advised that
his office had been in contact with Mr. Lehotsky and
that he had assurances that he would be admitted to
practice in the Tax Court or would co-counsel with
another attorney admitted to practice who would shortly
enter an appearance. The undersigned cautioned Mr.
Binge about the importance of timely complying with
discovery and the sanctions that could be imposed for
failure to comply.
On September 4th [2001] the undersigned received
District Counsel’s Motion to Compel and very shortly
thereafter the Court’s Order directing petitioner to
respond to the Motion to Compel and the undersigned to
file a motion to withdraw as counsel on or before
September 13th [2001]. The undersigned contacted Terry
Bentivegna, an assistant to James Binge, who advised
that he was contacting Mr. Lehotsky who would take care
of the matter.
After having not had any communication with Mr.
Lehotsky the undersigned contacted Mr. Binge on Friday
the 7th [of September 2001] and related the urgency of
complying with discovery and the possible sanctions for
failure to comply. Mr. Binge indicated that he was
about to go out of town for a conference and that he
would have to attend to the matter when he returned to
the office on Tuesday. As a result of the Court’s
Order requiring a reply by the 13th [of September 2001]
and Mr. Binge’s inability to address the situation
until the 11th [of September 2001] the undersigned
called the Petitioner and advised that an immediate
response to the Court’s order was required and that the
undersigned would be available to assist him without
charge in formulating a reply. Petitioner rejected any
such offers and expressed confidence that his position
would be vindicated in Court.
On the evening of the 10th [of September 2001] the
undersigned contacted James Binge at home who advised
that the Petitioner had contacted him and that they did
not with [sic] to speak with the undersigned. The
undersigned was advised to send the Court’s Order
Page: Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011