- 3 -
Rule 183(d) provides that due regard shall be given to the
circumstance that the Special Trial Judge had the opportunity to
evaluate the credibility of witnesses, and the findings of fact
recommended by the Special Trial Judge shall be presumed to be
correct.
We have duly considered petitioners’ Objections and are not
convinced thereby that the Special Trial Judge’s meticulous and
exhaustive recommendations are in any substantive way incorrect
or incomplete. We therefore conclude that they should be adopted
as the report of the Court. We have made no changes to the
recommended findings of fact and conclusions of law, except to
relocate a footnote into the text and renumber the remaining
footnotes, change several headings, insert an explanatory
parenthetical sentence, and modify certain introductory
provisions. The recommended findings of fact and conclusions of
law of Special Trial Judge Lewis R. Carluzzo, as so modified, are
hereinafter set forth as the report of the Court.
After concessions by respondent,1 the issues for decision
are as follows: (1) Whether respondent’s positions in the
administrative and court proceedings are substantially justified;
(2) whether petitioners unreasonably protracted the
1 Respondent concedes that petitioners: (1) Exhausted their
administrative remedies, see sec. 7430(b)(1); (2) substantially
prevailed, see sec. 7430(c)(4)(A)(i); and (3) satisfy the
applicable net worth requirement, see sec. 7430(c)(4)(A)(ii).
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 10, 2007