Barbara A. Owen - Page 11

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          the amount of $13,314.33.  The litigation and administrative                
          costs petitioner claims were computed using an hourly rate of               
          $195 for two of petitioner’s attorneys and included a claim of              
          $7,121.37 for petitioner’s alleged share of attorney’s fees (the            
          group fees) that her attorneys had charged to two groups of                 
          similarly situated Hoyt investor clients with pending section               
          6015 claims.  In support of the motion, petitioner’s counsel                
          attached billing records for petitioner’s account dated September           
          10, 2002, to April 16, 2004, that described in detail the                   
          attorney’s fees and costs petitioner incurred individually and              
          contained generic entries4 denoting monthly charges to                      
          petitioner’s account for her alleged share of the group fees.               
          Although petitioner alleged that the group fees were reasonable             
          and that her share of the group fees had been reasonably                    
          allocated to her, she did not include any supporting information            
          or documentation with respect to the group fees that showed the             
          nature of the work performed, the attorneys’ hourly rates, the              
          identity of the person who performed the work, the number of                
          hours billed for the work, the number of Hoyt investor clients              
          who shared in the group fees, or the manner in which the group              


               4Although petitioner agrees that the fee summary for her               
          account attached to the motion describes her share of the “Group            
          Innocent Spouse fees” as “flat” fees, petitioner contends that              
          the flat fee reference is simply the way in which the Pearson-              
          Merriam (petitioner’s attorneys’ law firm) billing program                  
          describes sum certain fees.  Petitioner’s representation is                 
          supported by a declaration of petitioner’s counsel.                         




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Last modified: May 25, 2011