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share of group fees that were charged to common accounts for the
benefit of several Hoyt investor clients, including petitioner.
The fees and costs petitioner claims are summarized as follows:
Time Hourly
Attorney/Item expended rate Total cost
Wendy Pearson 10.0 hours $195 $1,950.00
Terri Merriam 3.2 hours 195 624.00
Jennifer Gellner 16.6 hours 150 2,490.00
Jennifer Gellner 3.9 hours 110 429.00
Legal assistant 4.1 hours 75 307.50
Contract assistance 6.3 hours 50 315.00
Tax Court filing fee -- -- 60.00
Postage -- -- 5.46
Online research -- -- 12.00
Share of group fees
and costs1 -- -- 7,121.37
Total fees and costs: 13,314.33
1The amount petitioner claims for her share of the group
fees and costs represents charges to separate accounts for two
groups of Hoyt investor clients and includes attorney’s fees
billed at an hourly rate of $195 for some of petitioner’s
attorneys and the costs of contract assistance, online research,
postage, copies, and the attorneys’ hotels, meals, and parking,
as well as the costs of work performed by legal assistants.
2. The Parties’ Arguments
Respondent contends that the costs petitioner claims are
unreasonable in that the hourly rate charged by some of
petitioner’s attorneys exceeds $150 per hour, and petitioner has
not shown that any of the three special factors enumerated in
section 7430(c)(1)(B)(iii) apply. Respondent further argues that
costs petitioner claims for her share of the group fees are not
reasonable because (1) the method of billing does not properly
account for the time expended or hourly rate at which the work
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