David J. Edwards - Page 22

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          responsible for respondent’s costs reasonably incurred as a                 
          result of having to prepare to defend against all her frivolous             
          arguments.  However,  we will not include any of the time spent             
          by respondent in considering Ms. Spaid’s frivolous arguments in             
          preparing respondent’s posttrial briefs, which properly made no             
          more than a passing reference to the lack of content of those               
          arguments.  The time spent appears excessive and did not result             
          in any legal work product that was helpful to the Court.                    
          In our opinion in Edwards v. Commissioner, supra, we decided                
          we would award respondent costs under section 6673(a)(2) for Ms.            
          Spaid’s knowing and reckless advocacy of frivolous issues.  In              
          addition to her sanctionable conduct, Ms. Spaid exhibited a large           
          measure of disorganization and negligence in performing routine             
          litigation matters.  We will not award respondent’s costs for the           
          time spent by Ms. Zusi and Ms. Moe that was directly attributable           
          to responding to Ms. Spaid’s disorganization and negligence.  We            
          will reduce the fees requested by respondent to an amount that we           
          estimate is more commensurate with the time spent by Ms. Zusi and           
          Ms. Moe in responding to the frivolous arguments without regard             
          to the disorganized and negligent fashion in which Ms. Spaid                
          prepared for trial, including the time spent on discovery and               
          preparation of the second stipulation of facts, which was                   
          primarily designed to provide support for Ms. Spaid’s frivolous             
          arguments.  After considering respondent’s affidavit and Ms.                






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