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Chicoine and Hallett’s settlement efforts displeased
Kersting. Kersting fired Chicoine and Hallett and retained Joe
Alfred Izen, Jr. (Izen), to try the Kersting project test cases
on behalf of the petitioners.
Before the trial of the Kersting project test cases,
DeCastro, on behalf of the Thompsons, and respondent’s trial
attorney, Kenneth W. McWade (McWade), with his immediate
supervisor, William A. Sims (Sims), agreed to a secret settlement
they did not disclose to respondent’s management, the attorneys
or other test case petitioners, or the Tax Court. The purpose
and effect of this settlement was to provide refunds to the
Thompsons that were used to pay DeCastro’s attorney’s fees to
represent the Thompsons in the test case trial as consideration
for the Thompsons’ staying in the test case array and Mr.
Thompson’s testifying at the test case trial.
McWade also entered into a secret pretrial settlement with
pro se test case petitioners John R. and E. Maria Cravens (the
Cravenses) that was much less advantageous to them than the
Thompson settlement was to the Thompsons or the 20-percent
reductions obtained by DeCastro and by Chicoine and Hallett was
to other Kersting program participants. The Cravens settlement
was on the order of but slightly less advantageous to the
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